Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-11-25
WASHINGTON MONUMENT.
Queer Facts About the Great White
Shaft.

Shaft.
The distance at which the Washing
ton Monument is visible has always
been q matter of debatable interest
with Washington people, says The
Star of that city. Not a train ap-
proaches the city, nor boat speeds
up or down the Potomac, but carries
a group of people anxious to see at
Just what point they can last see the
white marble against the sky as they
depart or first find it as they come.
Probably the greatest distance at
which the monument is seen is from
the summit of the Blue Ridge, at
Smokers Gap, about 43 miles in an
air line. The elevation there is 1000
feet above the Potomac. The noun
taineers years ago, with their keen
eyes trained to long and sharp sight
in the mountains, detected the white
spot cleaning on the horizon, and they
can always quickly determine its place
on the horizon line. But to city folks
the location of the white shaft is not
an easy matter. Thousands of Wash
ington people every summer invade
that region as summer boarders, to
subsist on fresh milk and fried chicken,
and incidentally in their excursions
up on the mountain to get sight OF
the monument. On clear days it is dis
tinctly visible, especially to those who
are familiar with the precise location.
1t is more easily seen at sunset than at
any other hour, as the sharp reflection
of the suns rays brings out the white
surface of the marble. The point from
which the monument was first seen
from the Blue Ridge is the mountain
farm of Mr.. Louis P. Shoemaker of
this city, and the place is called
"Monument View"
There are hundreds of ladies in
Washington who wear upon their hats
the plumage of birds which have lost
their lives flying against the tall mass
of marble in the dimness of twilight
or daybreak. Every morning one of
the watchmen who spends the night in
the monument finds about its base
quite a number of dead birds. This
mortality includes nearly all the birds
known in this region. Strange to say,
few English sparrows lose their lives
by flying against the monument, but
the beautiful golden fnches, cedar
birds, starlings, tanagers, grosbeaks,
and many others of bright plumage
and great rarity, have been found.
The watchman takes these birds up
town to a taxidermist, who stuffs and
mounts the rarer specimens, and they
are sold for good round price to COL
lectors, and the skins of those less rare
are prepared for the milliner.
Another queer thing to know about
the monument is that its height and
width vary. 1t is taller in summer
thanIin winter, and in ther latter season
| its width on the south side is about an
inch greater than on the north, east,
or west side. This is due to expansion
under the heat of the suns rays.
This phenomenoI was determined by
Captain Green during the erection of
the shaft. Plumb lines were hung at
each corner of the marble wall, and
the plumb "bobs," or plummets, were
suspended in pots of glycerine or mo-
lasses. Across the top of each pot was
laid a finely graduated steel bar, and
three times a day an army engineer
"took off, the registration thus made
of the expansion of the walls. 1t was
held that the pluDmets moved precise.
ly with the points at which the plumb
lines were attached to the top of the
shaft, and the glycerine held them
firmly without vibration or oscillation,
so that the officer could note any
change of position. All these regis
trations, twice day every day of the
year, were recorded in book during
the seven years that were occupied in
finishing the monument.