The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-01-24
UNCLE SANS WINE CELLAR.
Ho Doesn't Drink, but He IIas Lots of Rars
Wines Hand.

He Doesn't Drink, but He Has Lots of Rare
Wines on Hand.
a ghostly silence pervades tho place.
1t is like the silence of the tomb. The
outside world seems already centuries
away. Tho air is cool and soothing,
and three tiaring gas jets cast an intri-
cate combination of shadows upon the
massive masonry of the arches. says
writer in the Boston Herald, in describ-
ing the wine vaults under the Boston
custom house.
After hundreds of years, when Bos-
ton is only a hole i'll the ground like the
ancient cities in the Mediterranean,
some archmologist will dig down
through tho accumulated dust of CEN
turtles and find those hewn arches stand
ing as they stand now
And yet the whole substantial struc-
ture is like the foolish mans house,
founded upon the sand and mud of Bos-
ton harbor. Three thousand tall pine
trees. stripped of their limbs, were
driven down close together in the black
ooZe to form a foundation for the build
ing. These piles would last but few
short years in the outer air, but sunk
in the harbor mud they are believed to
be as indestructible as the earth itself
When it was built, the custom house
was upon tho water front, and even now
tho cellar is below high water mark,
yet there is no drier cellar OH Beacon
hill. The builders seemed to have been
the builders of pyramids and cata-
combs relncarnate, and tho work was
done to stand after the builders them
selves were long forgotten. Upon the
heads of tho piles, in tho form of a
Maltese cross, was laid q Gaping Of
granite in hydraulic cement. Around
it were built the massive walls of solid
granite feet thick, which were to be
protection against heat and cold, fire
and water and all the elements. With
in these walls rose the puzzling scheme
OF sturdy pillars and arches which made
tho cellar maze of low rooted cham
bers, inches, crypts and passages.
When the visitor enters the basement
and storehouse, which is on the street
level. he feels instinctively conscious of
tho huge pile of granite over his head
This floor, within the surrounding row
of offices, is used for tho storage of
champagne and bottled wines. The
cases, winch hold two dozen bottles, are
piled i'll regular tiers as high as tho cell
ing, and under tho main entrance they
arc packed in solidly. There are usually
between 5000 and 1000 cases, or over
40, 600 bottles, which if popped all at
onco would make the granite dome
trcmble and might drown the attend
ants in il foaming flood.
When Il consignment of rum, which
means anything from champagne to
brandy, is landed from foreign vessel,
| the government orders it to be sent to
tho custom house cellar. Ii no owner
appears to claim it, it is kept for year
and then is sold at auction to pay the
duties and warehousing charges.
If the owner appears, he can pay the
duties and withdraw his liquor for i'm
mediate consumption, or he can give
bonds for the duties and keep his stool,
stored in the government vaults until
he wishes to withdraw it. The govern
mcnt charges him storagcs according to
the capacity of packages and allows
him to take it away by degrees as he
needs it, paying duty only on the
amount withdrawn
Very often an importation of wine
and spirits may change hands several
times while it lies in bond deep under
the granite dome. In such cases il is
sold i'll bond, and the owner instead of
the importer, pays the duties and makes
tho final entry OF the merchandise.