The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-09-27
BIG FEDERAL BUILDING.
THE BREEZY HEIGHT OF ITS DOME.

Com pIetion.
 The widest. windiest, most eyrie spot in Chicago upon which a man can find footing is the little six-foot square plat form on the top of the new Federal building. It is three hundred and six ty-five feet above the street level, high CT than the Masonic temple, higher than the Auditorium observatory. From the piles on which the vast foundation rests, up through the miles of girders and column supports to the base of the fagpole, the dome structure is separate from and independent of the main building, of which it is part. The cir conference of the dome, compared with that of the building, is small, yet within 1t could be placed the Marquette build ing, with room to spare. The contrac- tors expect to complete the stoneWork on the dome before August 20, and to put the finishing touches on the gold tfling, which will constitute the curved roof of the lofty structure before cold weather sets in. When the work is at an end one of the greatest feats of me- chanical engineering in the history of the United States will have been &C., complished. It will stand in the class typiffed by the new suspension bridge over the East river, New oYrk. And most important to Illinois is the fact that all the materials used in it's con- struction, with the exception of the stainless cement, part of the granite and the steel, are products of this state. < These materials include the bricks and the brick cement, the concrete, the terra cotta, the piles, the limestone, the pre- pared sand, and the plumbing pipes. The carving on the huge pilasters and window columns, and the work on the structural steel is all done here, and by Illinois workmen.
 One day last week the writer was es- corted to the top of the dome by Leo Canrnan, special representative of the government in the work of construc- tion. He has been in Chicago since the first pile for the foundation was driven, and has inspected every piece of mate rial used. With the exception of P. H. Mclaughlin, of Washington, MT Can- man is the only civil-service man on the spot. MT. Mclaughlin is government inspector of granite. MT. Cobb and his associates are all special appointees, and none of them holds any regular po- sition in the United States treasury de- partment, under the direction of which the building is being erected. Before beginning the ascent, MT. Canman eX- plained the mysteries of foundation building. While walking in and out among the huge piles of granite on the street level, which make the interior of the building look like nothing so much S as a vast stone quarry, MT. Canman talked.
 sThirty-seven feet below us are the tops of thousands of fifty-foot piles" he ~said. "They were driven down through sand and clay until their lower ends touched the hard, rock-like formation that nderlies all Illinois soil. Yes, these piles are under the entire bilding, but the ones am speaking of now are those that support the dome structure alone. They have no connection in any way with the piles under the building foun- dation. The great wings, and even the building itself, might be torn down, yet
 
 yet the dome structure would in no way be weakened. It would stand staunch and true in it's massive strength, typical of the great government it represents. It may strike the average person as startling that thsi mighty structure of steel and stone depend entirely upon wood for it's solidity and endurance. Such is the fact. The tops of the wood en piles are covered with a fourteen by fourteen oak grillage, over which is laid salid oak flooring, twelve inches thick. Then come three feet of the finest con- crete, made here, of crushed stone, ce- ment and sand.
 ssEven at that point the workmen were still below the level of the street. On top of the concrete they laid 'dimen- sion stones twenty y-four inches thick. The stones are a; lime formation from Joliet, and are tremendously heavy. They are capped with an iron grillzage, buried twenty inches deep in Portland cement. On this grillage rests the base of the structural ironwork of the great dome" Nj. Canman concluded his de- scription with an impressive upward movement of his hand. Now we'll be- ginBour climb" he said. Have you a good pair of sturdy legs? If you have, you'll need 'em. If you haven't, you'd better remain where you are.''
 The ascent seemed interminable. The < first part of it was made over shaky stairways of rough lumber, roughly knocked togethe. High over our heads above the surrounding buildings were the girders on which the inside or false" dome is to rest. But the sense refused to receive the impression of their great height, for above them rose the massive supports of the true" dome, so far away as to seem ITO larger than lead pencils. Up, up, rising to the < top with swing so abrupt that one grows dizzy merely with looking. go these supports. We had paused a mo- ment on narrow foot bridge connect ing two stairways to gaze. Come" :" said Mir. Canman, suddenly. "We can- not afford to stand here craning our necks. The first thing we know we shall be bending over so far backward that we shall fall off," Now, one does not enjoy the idea of falling off when the nearest place to land is nearly two X hundred feet below, so we moved on. We crossed the foot bridge and climbed the last flight of stairs. After that .l lzI