Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-15
TO USE WHITE GRANITE
In Construction of New Union
Station.
OBJECTION TO MARBLE
DECISION OF CONSULTING EN-
GINEERS WAS UNANIMOUS.
Prospect That Preliminary Work on
the Great Structure Will Be-
gin in Short Time.
Special Dispatch to The Evening Star.

Special Dispatch to The Evening Star.
PHILADELPHIA, October 15-The an
! nouncement was made today that it has
| been definitely decided to construct the
| union railroad station in Washington, D.
| c., of the best grade of white granite.
White marble as stipulated. or rather sug
gested. by the act Of Congress authorizing
| the construction of the magnificent S5,
| 100000 terminal, will not be used. There
| are two objections to the use Of marble.
| One is that it would involve an additional
| cost over granite Of about 100000 An
other reason for giving preference to gran
| lite over marble is that granite is by far
the more durable stone and greatly supe-
| rior from a utilitarian standpoint.
Architect Bsrnham, who designed the
| structure; Chief Engineer William H.
| Brown of the Pennsylvania railroad. Pres
| ident A. J. Cassatt of the same company
and bids were sought agreed that granite
1 should be selected. A marble building, it
was also agreed would in the course Of a
few years become badly disfgured by the
united action Of the weather and the
| smoke from bituminous coal, which is
used exclusively by the engines Of the
| Pennsylvania, Baltimore and Ohio, South
ern and Seaboard roads, which will use the
mammoth terminal jointly. This disfig-
| urement, experts declared, would be SO
pronounced as to necessftate the scraplng
| least once in every five years, and prob
| ably once in every three years.
Would Entail Perpetual Expense.
This would mean never-end1ng expense,
| aggregating many thousands Of dollars in
a comparatively short term Of years.
Fears were entertained as to possible OBJ
| 10 Commissioners
| District Of Columbia, but these officials,
| presumably have been convinced that the
| conditions demand granite, for the con-
| tract will specify white granite
| At the general offices of the Pennsylva-
mia railroad in this city it is stated that the
| award of the contract is now only ques-
| ton of a few days The award will be
| made from the office of Chief Engineer
Brown.
AS announced in The Star last Saturday,
| the award will be made to Roydhouse, Arey
| & Company of Philadelphia, as the general
contractor. This firm was the only one of
| the scores Of bidders that was asked to re-
| wise it's bid, and unless some wholly uneX-
| pected contingency shall arise it will get
| the contract. The firm up to today had not
been officially notified of it's selection as
| general contractor, but as the Pennsylvania
| railroad officials are still in possession of
| the plans upon which revisions were made
the outcome is regarded as certain to be in
| its favor.
dispatch from Mortified, VT, which
| stated that E. B. Ellis had been awarded
| the contract for supplying the granite to be
| used in the new terminal, is premature, to
| say the least. The contract price named
therein-from 50 100000 to SO 900 0O0-is, it
| is announced, at least double the estimates
submitted. While it is probable that Yer
| mont granite will be utilized no contract
of this nature has been made nor will be
/ signed until after the main contract has
been duly executed.
Work on Site to Begin Soon.
1t was learned today from an authori-
| tative source that the preliminary work,
which must necessarily be done before
the actual work Of construction can be
begun, will be commenced within short
| time after the official award of the con-
| tract shall be announced by the Penn
sylvania railroad. Before a month shall
| have elapsed, and possibly inside of two
| weeks, small army of workmen will
descend upon the site of the proposed
| terminal The initial work will be the
erection of a high board fence which
will completely inclose the site.
1t is not the purpose of the builders to
| await the removal of any buildings that
( may now be standing on the location.
| The task of excavating will be begun at
| a section already cleared, or which may
| be cleared, upon the arrival of the I'M
| skilled workmen, who will precede the
| skilled artisans, whose services will be
| required later. About 400 carts and a
CORRESPONDENCE large force of laborers,
| foremen and superintendent will COM
prise the advance guard of the army Of
! some $500 toilers, who will be engaged
| for three years or longer in constructing
| the terminal.
President Cassatt has been informed that
| the great terminal can hardly be completed
| under three years. When he urged that the
| railroad companies interested were desir-
| Gus of having the station finished in two
| years, he was Informed that the actual
work Of building could be done within his
| time limit but 1t would hardly be possible
| to collect the vast amount of necessary
materials within that period 1t was ex-
| planned for example. that each one Of the
| thousa nds of blocks of granite for economic
! reasons have to be cut to size at the quar-
rieS before shipment to Washington.
| Similar delays will be met with in practi-
cally every branch of the work, and con-
siderable time will be consumed in securing
| and organizing the working force necessary
| to successfully undertake and satisfactorily
| complete contract of the magnitude thus
| involved.
To Be Built in Sections.
| Proof of the intention and determination
| to rush the work is found in the decision
| to erect the terminal section at a time.
| Just as soon as a sufficient amount of ex-
| cavating shall have been done the immense
| foundations of masonry will be built This
will not be delayed until the entire site has
been dug up. For instance the walls of
given section will have been built before
other sections Of the foundation shall have
been made.
Regarding the approaches to the station
proper the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Company will have supervision over the
building Of the eastern approach to the
new station. The cost involved for this por-
ton of the work is $2,0O0,OO0, and includes
the stone viaduct from Monticello three
miles distant. on the Washington branch
of the B. and O.; the freight yards, round
houses and connecting tracks The south
ern approach, with the tunnel under Capt.
toll Hill, has been assigned to the Pennsyl-