Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1893-01-11
The Biggest Monolith.


at the worlds fair will be a monster
monolith, which has just been
quarried at Ashland in this state.
This monolith will be 115 feet long.
10 feet at the base and 4 feet square
at the top. The apex will be taper
ed to about six-inch tip. The
monolith, which is of Lake Superior
brown-stone, will rest on a founda-
ton Of granite ten feet high and
twelve feet square, and will be one
of the wonders of Jackson Park at
Chicago. This imposing shaft will
be the largest on earth, being near
ly ten feet longer than the Egyp-
tian obelisk.
The monolith is the result of
discussion between Frederick Prem
tice, who owns the quarry from
which it was taken and who direct
ed the work of quarrying it, and
ex-Gov. Samuel s. Fi6eld, of Wis
consin. Prentice, in the course of
the discussion, declared that he
could surpass the largest Egyptian
productions from his quarries. He
offered to deliver such a stone free
Of cost if the State of Wisconsin
would accept and erect the monolith
at the worlds fair. Though the
state geologist declared that such
mass could not be mined, the
worlds fair commissioners practic-
ally accepted Prentice's offer, and
the work was undertaken and sue
cessfully carried out. The first
steps were taken on the LIST day of
August last with five steam chan
nelers and forty men, and the work
was industriously prosecuted until
November Is, when a large assem-
blage met to witness the great mass
broken from it's resting place.
This was done by the driving of
feather wedges along each side of
the monolith, which had been saw
ed at either end. Fifty men on
either side drove these wedges at a
common signal, and soon parted the
huge block in it's entirety. The
completion of the work was the
signal for local celebration. An
analysis of the stone made by Prof.
G. F. Chandler, Ph. D., of the school
of mines, Columbia College, shows
it to be composed as follows. Silica,
1910; farric oxide, 200; alumina,
3.43; lime, .25; magnesia, none;
potash, 2.39; soda, IA; sulphur,
none, carbonic acid, none; moisture,
.05; total of 99.75 per cent, and
has all average weight of $50
pounds to the cubit foot, and show
ing compression of strength Of T.
49l pounds per square inch.
This Wisconsin production is un-
doubtedly the largest monolith in
the world, as claimed, and its pro-
portions are in general conformity
with those of the east.
The apex in the typical obelisks
of ancient Egypt was sheathed with
a bronze cap. The proportions of
the thickness to the hight is nearly
the same in all Egyptian obelisks,
that is between one-ninth and one
tenth. The thickness at the top is
never less than half nor greater
than three-fourths of the thickness
at the base.
These monoliths of Egypt record
ed the honors and triumphs of the
kings. The two largest were erect
ed by Sesostres at Heliopolis. The
hight of these was seventy-eight
feet, and they were removed to
Rome by Augustus. Two obelisks
in Alexandria, known as Cleopatra's
needles, were given by Mehemet
Ali to Great Britain and France
The French chose instead the Luxor
obelisk, which was erected in the
Place de la Concorde in Paris. That
chosen by the British was erected in
London in 1878. It's hight is SO feet
81 inches, and it's dimesions at the
base are 7 feet l04 inches by 7 feet
5 inches. The companion obelisk
was afterward presented to the city
of New York, where it was erected
in Central Park in 1880. "Pom-
pey's Pillar" is the most striking of
the obelisks, the shaft of which is
IS feet long and 20 feet 8 inches in
circumference, very much smaller
than the shaft that will advertise
Wisconsin at the worlds fair.