The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-05-13
FAMOUS FERRIS WHEEL
WRECKED BY DYNAMITE
Unique Feature Of the Chicago
and st. Louis Fairs Is Will
fully Destroyed.

CHICAGO, May 12.-Blown to pieces
by a monster charge OF dynamite. the
Ferris wheel came to an ignominious
end yesterday at ST. Louis, after a va
ried career of thirteen years. AT It's
ending Iewas unwept and unsung.
Constructed as one of the engineering
feats of a century the wheel first was
a feature OF the Chicago Worlds fair
In 1898.
Removed to st. Louis.
Then for long period Of monumcn-
tai and improbable inactivity IT tow
cred In an amusement park at North
Clark street and wrightwood avenue; 1t
form for the second time the huge me-
chanical marvel of a great exposition.
For more than a month heavy wa
CONS laden with the 1900 tons of steel
of its construction, numbered through
ChicaGo's streets The old wheel,
which had become ST. Louis white ele
phant. died hard. 1t required 200
pounds of dynamite to put 1t out of
business.
Foundation Is Wrecked.
The first charge was exploded under
the supports at the north Side of the
structure. wrecking its foundation and
permitting the wheel to drop to the
ground, a matter of but few feet.
AS the wheel settled 1T slowly turned,
with It's bottom as support, and then
after tottering n moment like a huge
giant in distress, 1t collapsed, slowly,
Within a few minutes IT was a tangled
mass of steel and iron thirty or forty
feet high.
Crushed by the Weight.
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 re-
semblance to the wheel which was 80
familiar to Chicago and st. Louis and
TO their 100000 amusement seekers from
all over the world. who, in the DAYS
when 1t was In operation made the trip
to the tops of its height Of 264 feet and
then slowly around and down to tho
starting point,
Second Charge Required.
Following the blast that wrecked the
wheel, but which failed to shatter its
foundation, came an explosion Of an
other charge OF 100 pounds OF dynamite
lne SUCKS were sunk In holes drilled In
the concrete foundations that supported
the pillars OH the north side Of the
wheel
The wheel was the wonder of two
continents, by reason Of It's cost of
$3.50. .000 Its dimensions. and its utter
uselessness, 1t was the rival of the
Eiffel Tower of Paris. Chicago was
glad to get rid of It. and ST Louis Is
said to have witnessed It's destruction
with satisfaction.
History Of Invention.
George Washington Gale Ferris.
president OF Pittsburg engineering
firm, originated the idea OF the wheel
that bore his name, taking the notion
from a bicycle and adapting the con-
structive principles of steel bridges In
Its erection.
Ferris financed the wheel, built Il In
Pittsburg, erected 1t at the Chicago
Columbian exposition. and took in $780,
600 at 80 cents a ride. Then Ferris took
a Kaleidoscope trip to Europe. Later
he lost all interest In the monster, and
died In Pittsburg OF tuberculosis He
was only 40 years old.
The stockholders. who had made 100
per cent profit out of the wheel In 1893,
later leased the ground on North Clark
street and re-erected 1t there. Ferris
wheel park was not success, and the
wheel was taken down again and re-
moved to st. Louis on June 3, 1908 The
cost of taking down the wheel was
$4,000. Its ruins are estimated as
worth $4,000 as scrap iron