Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1904-08-17
THE FERRIS WHEEL
A Great Engineering Product at
st. Louis

st. Louis
The great ExpOsitiOns held dur
ing the last fifteen years have. pro
duced two marvellous examples oil
engineering and constructive abil-
ity. One of these, the Fife
Tower, was designed and built by
a Frenchman at Paris for the Elk
position of 1889; the other, the
Ferris Wheel, was designed and
built by the late Geo. w. G. Ferris
for the Worlds Columbian Ex'
position at Chicago, in 1893.
Paris again held great EXPOSE
ton in 1900 but failed to produce
any feature to take the place OF
the Eiffel Tower. In America, St
Louis, in 1904, planned and pro-
duced the greatest Exposition the
world has ever seen. Scores Of
attempts were made to invent
something more wonderful and
more attractive than the Ferris
Wheel, but rs Paris failed to out
do her own Eiffel Tower, so did
st. Louis fail to equal the far
famed Ferris Wheel of the World s
Columbian Exposition Of 1898.
Arrangements were accordingly
mnde to take the Ferris Wheel to
the Louisiana Purchase EXPOSE
ton, and it was given a location
near the geogre phical center Of the
grOunGs.
The problem of moving the
Ferris Wheel from Chicago to St.
Louis was stupendous-4, 200 tons
of material, including the 70-ton
axle, besides engines, boilers and
derricks and falsework, had to be
transported. One hundred and
seventy.five freight cars were re-
quired to move this material.
A brief resume of the dimen-
sions and description of the Ferris
Wheel may be interesting. The
wheel is built upon the bicycle
principle, with immense tension
spokee, 2 1916 in. in diameter. The
wheel is $50 it. in diameter ard
stands 264 TT. high. In reality it
is two wheels securely braced to-
gether. Between the outer rims
of these wheels the eleven-ton
cars are suspended on 81 IN. pins,
6 #. long. These cars are Ii IT..
wide, 26 it. long, 8 fit. high and
will carry 80 persons each. There
are 36 of them, so the total capa-
city of the wheel is 9, 100 persons.
AT several times in its history the
wheel has been filled to its capa-
city. The axle of the wheel is a
solid steel forging, 80 in. in
diameter and As TT. long.
Two revolutions are given each
passenger, and the time required
is from 20 to 30 minutes. Tie
view during this half-hour ride is
most interesting and instructive.
Gradually, as the majestic and
mighty wheel rolls one up higher
and higher, a grand panorama un-
folds itself TO view A fifty mil
lion dollar Exposition in all its
grandeur is before you. The loca-
ton of the wheel in the center Of
the Fair Grounds gives one an OPP
portunity to thoroughly familiar
ize themselves with the lay of the
grounds and get better general
idea of the Fair than they could by
days of tramping.
The Cascades, the Plateau OF
States, ali the big buildings, the
Pike, Festival Hall, the Art Build
ing, Foreign Buildings, Philippine
Reservation, the Air Ship En-
closure, in fact, every point OF IN
terest in the grounds can be seen
from the big wheel. In addition,
one gets view Of st. Louis, the
Mississippi River, and the bea uti-
full forests, hills and dales for fifty
miles around. At night, the view
of the illumination of the build
ings and grounds is simply magnih-
cant. Eye has not seen nor ear
heard of II more striking spectacle
than the night view of the great
Exposition from tie top of the
Ferris Wheel.
Hundreds of thousands Of in
candescent lights bring the out
lines of all the buildings in bold
relief. The Festival Hall and the
Plateau of States are flooded III
turn with white, red and green
lights, making startling and
very beautiful effect. The best
point to view this grand illumina-
ton is from the Ferris Wheel.