The Greeley tribune., 1910-06-09
WELL GUARDED CASH
The Millions Piled Up In the Mint
at Philadelphia.
STORED IN ARMORED VAULTS.
The Whole Building is Embedded In q
Solid Concrete Foundation, and the
Underground Strong Rooms Are In
preonable-The Night Watch.

The Philadelphia mint always CON
tains coin and bullion which huCtuateS
IN value each day between half and
tAree-Quarters of billion dollars. One
hundred millions of dollars of this
amount is in silver dollars stored fol
several years i'll room by itself loJ
Sy IS feet in area. About S3uo,uo0.Do
h in gold coin, ready TO be put in cir
culation or to be stored in the national
treasury at Washington against the is.
sae of corresponding number OF gold
certificates million or two is in
bronze and nickel coins. Finally an
amount of bullion varying from a
ANAL quantity to several hundred mil
hons Of dollars worth occupies the
fosr massive vaults designed for the
uncoined metal
Now. how is this vast hoard pro-
tected!
First of all, the whole mint is EN-
beaided in solid concrete foundat tion
about three feet deep, Concrete, as
every one knows. is one OF the strong
est of all known substances and the
most impervious TO drilling or wear
Then on the interior, where the vaults
are placed, within this concrete protec-
ton. comes a solid armor of battleShlp
steel six inches thick, So strong that
an expert working on il a week could
scarcely make an impression, much
less penetrate it by hand tools.
The vaults themselves are sunken .
deeply below the ground. Descending 1
several flights OF stairs and passing /
by doors guarded by a fedrsome ar
ray of rifles for use 10y the night
guards, a long. fairly wide corridor
Of solid concrete masonry shows the
entrances to the six vaults. one for
the silver already referred to, one for
all kinds of coinage. but mostly for
gold, and the remaining four for the
gold, silver and nickel bullion. The
lfonze bullion lies in another room by
itself, but as few dollars worth OF
this substance makes an unco mfortA-
~ heavy load it is not thought nee
eaary to surround it with the minute
safeguards used in the case OF the
pEecious metals
The vaults themselves have a double
That to the outer door
= known by the cashier only and that /
- the inner door by the custodian Of |
tAe vaults only. To enter u vault both |
DaA have to be together. and II In 4
rue Of the department that both shall
SAy together till the inspection or
03Aer object for which the huge safe
b opened Is accomplished.
Entering one Of these great cages
after five minutes working at the
one nnds himself In a
1aGe room partitioned Oh In fifteen
BY steel Kratings Of the
0lTOngest kind. A straight passage
II feet wide and the height Of the
chamber goes down the length Of the
Foon from the door, At the entrance
ase stored the bronze coins. the cents.
about $S0.OOO worth Of them. but the
anOunt varies from day to day. Next
eome the more precious nickel coins.
sf which the value usually totals
ahsut 100000.
btoi 9kS PtdICo u bttrt
grated door in the passage itself has
b be opened and then still another
t. get completely to the end Of the
room. All along the length OF this
passageway. from the entrance to the
vault to the end. are the compart-
1Bents for the coins separated from
the passageway by exactly the same
Sv,N NJ ,, t.,k a
the way itself into sections.
The bottom. the sides and the top of
this vault are lined with steel plates
and about the entire vault is the three
foot protection Of concrete. Within the
vault itself are the separate conpart
ments. each locked. These compar,
ments are examined shortly after the
end OF the fiscal year and are then
sealed by the examiners, 80 that any
entrance to them would he impossible
without the breakage of the seals. IN
each compartment devoted to the stor-
age of gold the coin is stored first In
bags which contain 5000 each In half
eagles. eagles or double eagles, and
then these bags are arranged twenty
81 shelf. Each shelf has thus $780,
60 on 1t. The shelves are arranged in
rows downward. ten from top to bot
tom of the compartment. each row
having thus S1.0OO,OO0 in gold in It, r
Electricity lights the entire section
Of each vault. and the electric current
n 80 arranged that II 1t were possible
for the vaults to be tampered with the
electricity would Immediately give no
tice outside that something was wrong
A detachment of guards every night
In stationed ut the entrance to the
stairways leading to the corridor
which gives access to the vaults them.
selves. Their orders are to shoot down
any one attempting an entry.
For the protection Of the mint from
Gre n we'll drilled Arc t,rifnda ha =