Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-13
FERRIS WHEEL
BLOWN TO PIECES
WORLDS FAIR RELIC NOW A
MASS OF IRON
Several Charges Of Dynamite Convert
Mammoth Specimen Of Engineer
Ing Feat Into Thousands
Of Pieces
BY Associated Press.

BY Associated Press.
CHICAGO, May 12.-Blown to pieces
by monster charge of dynamite, the
Ferris wheel came to an ignominous
end yesterday at st. Louis, after q
varied career of thirteen years. At It's
ending 1t was unwept and unsung.
Constructed as one Of the engineer
ing feats of a century, the wheel was
first a feature of the Chicago worlds
fair in 1898.
Then for a long period of monu-
mental and improbable Inactivity 1t
lowered in an amusement park at
North Clark street and Wrightwood
avenue until IL was finally removed to
st. Louis to form for the second time
the huge mechanical marvel of great
exposition.
Contained 1900 Tons of Steel
For more than month, however,
wagons laden with the 1900 tons of
steel used in it's construction, lum-
bered through Chicagos streets. The old
wheel, which had become st. Louis
white elephant, died hard. 1t re-
quired 200 pounds of dynamite to put
it out of business. The first charge
was exploded under the supports at
the north side of the structure, wreck
ing its foundation and permitting the
wheel to drop to the ground, which
was but few feet distant.
Wheel CoIIapses
AS the wheel settled it slowly turned
with it's bottom as support, and then
after tottering a moment like huge
giant in distress 1t collapsed slowly.
Within few minutes 1t was tangled
mass of steel and iron thirty or forty
feet high.
The huge axle, weighing seventy
four tons, dropped slowly with the
remnants of the Wheel crushing the
smaller braces and steel frame work.
When the mass stopped settling it bore
no resemblance to the wheel which
was so familiar to Chicago and st.
Louis and to 7,500000 amusement seek
ers from all over the world, who, in
the days when 1t was in operation,
made the trip to the top of it's height
Of 264 feet and then slowly around
and down to the starting point.
General Explosion Follows
Following the blast that wrecked
the wheel, but which failed to shatter
its foundation. came an explosion of
another charge of 100 pounds of dy-
Mantle. The sticks were sunk in holes
drilled In the concrete foundations that
supported the pillars on the north side
of the wheel.
The wheel was the wonder of two
continents by reason of its cost of
$360,OOO, it's dimensions and it's utter
uselessness. 1t was the rival of the
Eiffel tower of Paris Chicago was
glad to get rid of 1t and ST. Louis is
said to have witnessed its destruction
with satisfaction.
Former. Owner Dead
George Washington Gale Ferris,
president of a Pittsburg engineering
firm, originated the idea of the wheel
that bore his name, taking the notion
from bicycle and adapting the con-
structive principles Of steel bridges In
its erection.
Ferris financed the wheel, built it in
Pittsburg, erected it at the Chicago
Columbian exposition and took in $780,
600 at so cents a ride. Then Ferris
took a Kaleidoscope trip to Europe.
Later he lost all interest in the mon
ster and died in Pittsburg of tuber-
culoss. He was only 40 years of age.
The stockholders, who had made 100
per cent profit out of the wheel in 1898,
later leased the ground in North Clark
street and re-erected it there. Ferris
Wheel park was not a success and the
wheel was taken down again and re-
moved to st. Louis on June 3, 1905.
The cost of taking down the wheel was
$4,000. It's ruins were estimated as
worth $4,000 as scrap iron.