The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-02-28
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 medicine chest and every MDssW m H~ travellers grip. They are invaluable when the stomach nN
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SOME BIG GRANITE PILLARS.

SOME BIG GRANITE PILLARS. 1 How They Were Carried from Quincy
 to Boston Sixty odd Years Ago. | The Boston Custom House is one Of the most interesting buildings in that
 old city by the sea. Built of Quincy
 granite, with its massive dome and enormous pillars it looks as though lit could withstand the storms of a
 thousand years Men and women, boys and girls, have looked upon this building
 and noticed it's majestic huted pillars. How many have wondered how they
 got there? Thirty-two of them in all; twelve complete and separate from the
 structure itself, twenty forming part of the walls, more than flVe rect III diameter at the base, and four, perhaps
 at the top, thirty feet in length, each
 single solid block of granite weighing more certainly than those of the Sutfolk County Court House, which tipped the
 scales" at sixty-four tons. The Quincy
 quarries are ten miles from Boston. How should these monstrous columns
 be transported from the quiet hills to their new home in the hurrying city?
 Here was a problem for the Granite
 Railway company and the other granite workers of Quincy to whom the contract of furnishing the stone was awarded. There was no steam railway in Massachusetts in 1884, al-
 though there was one in South Caro- lima, but it is doubtful if, had there
 been one, the Superintendent of Freight
 would have cared to receive any such
 overgrown merchandise. Besides, even
 had he, there was the casting to and
 from stations to be done. A voyage by
 the river and the sea was hardly practi-
 cable. The monsters must go overland,
 but how?
 Yankee ingenuity with it's home in the fertile brain of MT Gridley Bryant was equal to the emergency. He said: We
 will carry them on the snow." An
 enormous sled in two parts, much like
 mudscows, was built, without runners,
 but with an iron keel four inches square to prevent any motion sideways, which would have been disastrous, land- ing the scows and column, mayhap, in
 the gutter. The contrivance worked to a charm as long as the snow was deep and solid. One-half the mighty pillars were thus transported to their destination. But one unlucky day the unique turn- out struck thin snow and came to q standstill. All the enormous strength of the oxen Chow many the record does not state) could not budge the load an inch. That relentless keel, friend so long, now brought disaster. It cut into the earth and made progress impossi- ble.
 roJl cd from the sled. The bottom of the | scows was planked, shutting in the keel, the stone reloaded and new start | made. "All went merry as a marriage ] bell'' for a short distance, when cad to relate, the load slued entirely from the street and landed in the ditch by ! the roadside. What could be done? Nothing. The patient oxen were un- hitohed and headed toward Quincy, to which place the solemn cavalcade made its slow way minus the overgrown mudscows and their splendid burden. i The mighty pillar slumbered in it's | ignoble bed through the dreary winter and the freshening spring. Not so the busy brain of Mir Bryant. He knew that the United States Government | could not wait until the deep snows of another winter for the remaining pil- lars for it's needed Custom House. They must be delivered in the early summer without fail They must be carried to Boston. They could not go by water. They could not go on the snow. They could not go through the air. They must go over the solid earth on a wagon. There was no other way. But where was the wagon that could carry a hundred tons. There was none on this continent nor any other. He must make one, and he did. Here is the description of it given by the Rev. A. K Teee in in his history of the town 0f Milton:
 "The body was made of two pairs of heavy oak timbers between 30 and 40 'eet long by about 16 inches high and inches wide. The pairs were placed ? feet inches apart, leaving room to allow hind wheel to revolve between them. These timbers rested on the axle .rees and were separated so as to give 'oom for the load to be suspended be- tween them. The two pairs of timbers vere held together by heavy beam at each end extending across the whole wagon, and to these each of the tim- 1ers was firmly bolted. To the cross- beams the load was attached by ,hains and left to swing when in notion. It was the intention of the designer to have the load carried main- y by the hind wheels and for this >yvtfyyyyyyvyyvyy1YYYvyYYy7YYYYYY1YL@