Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-07

The Palace hotel, the sturdy walls OF
which have stood since the fire as
grim reminders Of its past splendors
VIII soon be a memory, as are already
the many brilliant fetes which once
took place within its glittering ball
rooms. In four months not one YES
tige of the world-famed hostelry will
be left on its site. The work begun a
week ago by the Il. w. Mcclellan com
pany I'm razlng the staunch walls is
progressing rapidly, and already the
Annie and Jessie street section has been
wrecked and carted away.
Where once a talented orchestra made
beautiful music for the pleasure of the
loungers of the famous imperial palm
garden, now can be heard the chug
and wheeze of a donkey engine, the
r8sptng sounds cchoing strangely
through the gaping corridors. Where
once richly clad and bejeweled women,
and men in evening dress, promenaded
the inlaid, tapestry y-hung halls, now
srimy laborers toll, scaling the bricks
OF all that is left of the once palatial
hotel. The afternoon sun instead of
shimmering, as of old, into some
princely apartment, now falls aslant
the blackened walls or pierces a gap
ing window
Orchestra Is StilIed
Yes, the sweet music of the orchestra
Is stilled; the gay crowds move lazily
through the gorgeous corridors no
longer In their stead are naught but
Scared walls and oscillating cornices
grinding a weird cacaphony.
And yet, there is about that which is
left the same serenity, the same ma
jesty, the same frmness which DOM
mated 1t of old. The Palace hotel was
perhaps the most solldly constructed
building in San Francisco. Erected
over thirty years ago 1t stood as a
splendid sample of the architecture of
the seventies. The bricks were nodded
together with a mortar composed of
lime and cement, with strips of Nor
way iron and steel cables intercepting.
The mortar is so adhering that it is
impossible to scale the bricks by ma
chinery, and all this work is being
done by hand. .1assive girders of iron
weighing seven tons each formed the
supports. There were 100 Of these in
the building.
While considerable difficulty is being
experienced tearing down the walls,
when they do come down, they fall
is complete strips, the bricks failing
to become disodge- even after strik-
ing the ground, and it is necessary to
then bring into play the pick and
chiscl. Two mighty hoist engines of
thirty y-horsepower, equipped with inch
and a half cables. are used in the work.
These engines have a pulling strength
of 5000 men. When the window arches
of a wall have been severed, a small
blast is inserted in the lower part, so
as to undermine and weaken 1t. Double
cables are then rugged around the wall,
and, after the combined jerking of four
shive blocks the engine relaxes the
cable, and one more mighty pull usually
topples the wall over.
Three Hundred Men at Work
A force of three hundred men is now
employed in the work, and soon will be
night and day. Two steam
shovels will be brought into play for
the purpose of conveying the debris to
cars and wagons.
To show the magnitude of the task,
a few picturesque statistics might be
advanced. There are 10000 cubic yards
of material in the structure. 1t will
take $4,000 wagonloads to remove this.
These wagons, If placed in row, would
reach from San Francisco to Mt Shasta
and encircle it's snow covered crest.
1t is estimated that there are 100000
bricks in the building. These, If placed
in a row, would extend across the
Pacific to the Hawaiian islands. The
ltOlCl was SqulpPCu Wilh oSPoio ~
places and fiues. These would make a
wireless pole as high as Niagara falls.
There were 200 tons of fire escapes.
which would make a ladder long
enough to cross the Golden Gate.
Grders Cut by Electricity
An extremely novel and unique cleo
trical process is being used in the work
of cutting up the wrought iron girders
which formed the supports Of the great
glass roof of the court. These fell into
a disordered, twisted heap to the bot
tom of the court, and it is impossible
to remove them by hoist. The method
used is known as the electrical arc
process, and is of late invention. BY
forcing electrical heat of 5000 degrees,
generated by huge dynamo, into the
mass of iron, cash is rapidly melted
out and the girder cut into pieces easy
to- handle. 1t takes about twenty min
utes to cut through foot girder The
glare from the tip of the needle used
is so intense that it cannot be looked
at, and the men operating are COM