Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1906-01-19
WASHINGTON MONUMENT.
Twelve Thousand People Visit II
Each Month.

"A greater nuIDDeT Oh PERSONS dSCenueu
to the top of the Washington Monument
in the year which has.just ended than in
any previous year of its history. More
than 145, 900 have visited the great white
shaft, of which number 110,969 were
taken up in the big elevator, while a.
362 made the trip on foot
Included in this number were persons
from all nations on the earth. Sight
seers from Europe, Asia, Africa and
South America as well as citizens of
this country were among them.
The largest number of sightseers in
any one month was in March, when a.
573 tourists attracted to the Capital by
the Inauguration exercises, visited the
Monument. In January, owing to re-
pairs being made on the elevator, there
were but 1898 passengers carried to the
top. The average number of monthly
visitors for the year was 12,105.
According to the custodian of the
Monument the elevator has averaged,
since the shaft was opened to the public
in 1888, 1S trips day. AS the Monu-
| lltul Is open OOU udy . III tie year, JneTe
were 4,452 trips made the past year,
from January to the Goth of December
Taking the number of trips made in the
past year a conservative average for
each year since the completion of the
Monument, there have been more than
9S, 900 trips made by the car, and as it
travels 900 feet each round trip it has
lOurneyed in the past seventeen wears
more than $4,000 miles.
The one great fear that visitors ex-
press in riding in the elevator is that the
cables supporting it may break and
allow 1t to drop to the first floor. Such
a happening, in the opinion of Custodian
William A. Craig, is very remote.
The present elevator is a new one having
been installed in 1901. 1t is operated by
electricity, and has all the modern safety
appliances. 1t has two large steel cables
one of which is sufficient to carry five
times the capacity of the elevator. In
addition to the cables there are appliances
to prevent it from falling These are
controlled by governors one on the drum
in case of an accident to the shaft, and
another on the motor to prevent too high
a rate of speed. In addition to these
safeties, the car is oiled and inspected
daily, and receives a special inspection
from the first engineer once every two
weeks. A monthly inspection is held by
the United States Casualty Company
With all these precautions and means
for safeguarding the visitors, Custodian
Craig feels that any danger from an
accident is highly improbable.
No point of interest in Washington at
tracts more sightseers each year than
the Monument. From its windows at
the top the visitor can get a perfect view
of the topography of the surrounding
country. To the west on clear days the
vague outlines of the Blue Ridge Noun
tains may be seen, while on the north
a person with good eyes can see the
faint silhouette of the AlleghenIes
Sugar Loaf Mountain and the peak near
Harpers Ferry are the most easily dis
cernible. Looking to the south one sees
the historic Potomac, with its numerous
windings, and set in a plat of trees,
Mount Vernon appears to be only a
stones throw away.
Very few of the thousands of persons
who visit the Monument and become
lost in contemplation of this wonderful
work of human hands are aware that it
is responsible for more deaths than any
other piece of masonry in the world-not
human deaths to be sure but those of
helpless birds. Flying blindly in the
night during the migratory seasons of
the spring and fall, large numbers of
birds dash against the sides of the shaft
and either are killed instantly or become
stunned and die when they fall to the
ground. 1t is not an unusual thing for
the Waterman to pick up in the morning
a dozen or more dead birds that have
been killed at night. Most of these birds
are robins.
Among the most interesting sights in
the Monument are the 172 memorial
stones that are placed at the different
landings in the interior. Besides the
beautifully carved stones set there by the
several States and Territories and private
organization, there are stones from many
foreign nations, all suitably inscribed
with the name of the donor.
The Monument though begun in 1913,
was not thrown open to the public until
in the fall of 1898. 1t measures from
the base to the pinnacle 555 feet. At the
base it is 50 feet square on the outside
and % feet in the interior. The foun-
dation is 80 feet deep and meaaures 1876
feet square. The thickness of the walls
tapers from 10 feet at the base to lS
inches at the pinnacle.
The face of the Monument is made of
Maryland marble. On the inside blue
stone is used for the first 100 feet, the
rest being granite. The total cost of the
shaft was 81 100000.
Veteran Merino Sheep Breeder
Retires After AS Years in
Business.