Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1910-04-21
WELL GUARDED CASH
The Millions Piled Up In the Mint
at Philadelphia.
STORED IN ARMORED VAULTS.

The Whole Building Is Embedded In a
Solid Concrete Foundation, and the
Underground Strong Rooms Are In
pregnabIe-The Night Watch.
The Philadelphia mint always con
tains coin and bullion which huctuates
in value each day between half and
three-uuarters Of billion dollars. One
hundred millions of dollars OF this
amount is in silver dollars stored for
several years in u room by itself 100
by 90 feet in area. About $3OO.O0O.OO0
is in gold coin. ready to be put in cir
culation or to be stored in the national
treasury at Washington against the is
sue of corresponding number of gold
certificates. a million or two Is in
bronze and nickel coins Finally an
amount of bullion varying from Il
small quantity to several hundred mil
lions Of dollars worth occupies the
four massive vaults designed for the
uncoined metal.
Now. how is this vast hoard pro-
tected?
Firs, of all. the whole mint is en-
bcdde,l in solid concrete foundation
about three feet deep. Concrete. as
every one knows. is one of the strong
est of all known substances and the
most inipervious to drilling or wear
Then ON the interior. where the vaults
are placed. within this concrete protec-
steel six inches thick. 50 strong that
an expert working on 1t u week could
scarcely make an impression. much
less penetrate it by hand tools.
The vaults themselves are sunken
deeply below the ground. Descending
several flights Of stairs and passing
by doors guarded by Il fearsome ar
ray uf rifles for use by the night
guards. Il 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
bronze bullion lies in another room by
itself. but as II few dollars worth OF
this substance makes an uncomfOrta-
bly, heavy load it is not thought nee
essary to surround it with the minute
safeguards used in the case Of the
precious metals
The vaults themselves have double
combination. That to the outer door
is known by the cashier only and that
to the inner door by the custodian Of
the vaults only. To enter vault both
men have to be together, and 1t is a
rule of the department that both shall
stay together till the inspection or
other object for which the huge safe
is opened is accomplished.
Entering one of these great cages
after five minutes working at the
combination. one finds himself in a
huge room partitioned off in fifteen
compartments by steel gratings of the
strongest kind a straight passage
six feet wide and the height of the
chamber goes down the length OF the
room from the door. At the entrance
are stored the bronze coins. the cents.
amount varies from day to day. Next
come the more precious nickel coins.
of which the value usually totals
about 100000.
Beyond these storage places stee!
grated door in the passage itself has
t,, bn and than Cfi11 another
to get completely to the end of the
room All along the length Of this
passage way. from the entrance to the
vault to the end. are the compart-
ments for the coins, separated from
the passageway by exactly the same
kind of gratings as those which divide
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 compart-
ments. each locked. These compart-
ments are examined shortly after the
end of the fiscal year and are then
sealed by the examiners. so that any
entrance to them would be 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 $4,000 each in half
eagles. eagles or double eagles. and
then these bags are arranged twenty
on shelf Each shelf has thus $780,
600 on it. The shelves are arranged In
rows downward ten from top to bot
tom of the compartment. each row
having thus s.. OO0.O 900 in gold in 1t.
Electricity lights the entire section
of each vault. and the electric current
is so arranged that If it were possible
for the vaults to be tempered with the
electricity would Immediately give no.
tice outside that something was wrong.
A detachment Of guards every night
is stationed at 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
fire we'll drilled fire brigade has
charge of the extinguishing apparatus.
l.; 81, e,to