The Topeka state journal., 1906-05-12
FERRIS WHEEL END
Monster Machine Blown to
Pieces With Dynamite.
One of Big Features of Chicago
Worlds Fair.
WAS WHITE ELEPHANT
Required 200 Pounds of Ex-
pIOsiVe to Destroy It.
Cost $3.50, 900; as Scrap Iron
Value is $4,000.
WAS WHITE ELEPHANT

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
varied career of thirteen years At
its ending it was unwept and unsung.
Constructed as one Of the engineer
ing feats of a century. the wheel nrst
was a feature of the Chicago world 5
fair in 1898.
Then for a long period of monu-
mental and Improbable inactivity It
lowered in an amusement park at
North Clark street and Wrightwood
avenue, it finally was removed to St.
Louis to form for the second time the
huge mechanical marvel of a great ex-
position.
For more than a month heavy
wagons laden with the 1900 tons Of
steel entering into its construction
numbered through Chicago's streets
The old wheel. which had become a
white elephant" died hard. It 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. a matter
of but a few feet.
As the wheel settled it slowly
turned, with its bottom as a support,
and then after tottering a moment like
huge giant in distress. it collapsed,
slowly. Within few minutes it was a
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 framework.
When the mass stopped settling 1t bore
no resemblance to the wheel which
was so familiar to Chicago and St.
Louis and to 100000 amusem ent
al he zx-10n
in the days when it was in operation
made the trip to the top of its height
of 264 feet and then slowly around
and down to the starting point.
Following the blast that wrecked
the wheel, but which failed to shatter
is foundation. came an explosion OF
another charge Of 100 pounds Of
dynamite. The sticks were sunk in
holes drilled in the concrete founda-
tions 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
S360000. its dimensions, and its utter
uselessness. It 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 its destruction
with satisfaction.
George Washington Gale Ferris, pres
ident of a Pittsburg engineering firm,
originated the idea of the wheel that
pore ms name tdhliS lis iOtlOH from
bicycle and adapting the constructive
principles Of steel bridges in its erec-
ton
Ferris financed the wheel, built it in
Pittsburg, erected it at the Chicago
Columbian exposition and took in $780,
600 at so cents 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 30 years old.
The stockholders. who had made 100
per cent profit out of the wheel in 1893
later leased the ground in North Clark
street and re-ereeted it there. Ferris
wheel park was not a success and the
wheel was taken down again and re-
moved to st. Louis on June g. 1903
The cost of taking down the wheel
was $4,000 It's ruins are estimated as
worth IS ono as scran iron