Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1911-08-16

- / SlumDered Tor 81 centuries be
81 fore the coming Of Christ-the
n Great Pyramid OF Cheops. or Khu-
"a flu. II still stands there, eight
miles from Cairo. defying time.
the elements and the vandals, ali
working together, barely able to
stretch its skin. Psychologists worked
at it; Napoleon fought one OF his
splendid battles in its shadow. And
an American. Dow Covington, has
brought out the latest word from its
mysterious depths; be has almost
solved its secret.
MIR. Covington has cleared every
passage that can be found. He has
made 1t possible for visitors 70 reach
the mysterious subterranean chamber
within it's shaft. which goes as far
down as the level OF the Nile in 2l7O
b. c.
Best Of all. he has cleared the sin
gle remaining course just above the
sands of the desert and revealed to
the world that its outer sheath
was of pure white limestone,
which nobody knew before. be-
cause the great mass of stone had
been used as a common quarry for
thousands Of years The limestone
sheathing makes mosque in Egypt
today When the tomb Of Cheops was
first reared It was as white as mar
BILE mansion o. our times But it is not
so now.
Few OF us can realize what thirty
means. That is 5,611 years ago. The
technical work Of those days was mar
yelous. The masonry is absolutely
unrivaled-there is nothing better in
all the world today Monuments and
| palaces have come and have gone a
hundred tI13as since the great pyra-
raid was built. They have persisted;
| II remains.
| For twenty years 100000 men toiled
/ at the stones They built their great
/ pile facing exactly north and south.
! They chose base Of nearly a sew
enth of a mile. 761 feet. to be exact.
| This was a plot covering nearly 10
acres There were 210 perfect courses
of stone. almost invisibly joined, OF
! Mokattem limestone blocks. At an
angle OF a little more than fifty-one de-
/ grees it's four sides swept up tapering
/ to the pointed apex. 431 feet above the
ground.
In 1t we're s5,OO0.000 cubic feet of
stone. put up by people who had no
/ modern machinery. There are about
| 1900, 600 individual blocks. Treated
/ for centuries as public quarry. all its
outer stones and facings have been
taken to Cairo and elsewhere, chiefly
for mosque construction. The anti
/ 1uaries never knew about this outside
el cath until Mr. Coyington Of America
came there with permission from the
! British government to make his ex-
| pl1rations.
Mr.. Covington began his work nine
years ago, making his camp in the
shadow of the great pyramid. He
started where the Caliph Mamoun left
off In SIS A. D.. nearly LOO years ago
II was MamouD who forced the first
/ passage into the stern depths Of the
monster of stone, but after he found
It nothing more was done for cen
| turtles. Whole generations came and
went before anything was learned OF
the mystery.
First OF all the American seareher
cleared away all the debris. Then he
started at the descending or entrance
passage, Just below its granite plugs.
| and found the mysterious chamber be-
/ low the ground--burrowed out OF the
living rock beneath the mighty pile
above-"The stones Of darkness and
| the shadow OF death" What this
chamber was for is not yet known.
The passage leading TO 1t may now be
used by cautious visitors. 1t is $50
feet long and through the natural rock
slopes down not half an inch out OF
| plumb. You must go or your hands
1 and knees because II is but four feet
high and a little more than three feet
wide.
When he got TO the bottom Of this
chamber Mr.. Coyington realized that
there was more 10 do He found
well shaft. I92 fec long. piled up with
twenty feet Of debris. When this was
cleared away there started current
of strong. fresh air. 1t swept down
the entrance passage. up the well
shaft. thence down the descending
passage out by the forced passage
made By Mr.. Mamoun. Immediately
the temperature dropped 2 degrees.
When Mr.. Covington cleared the de-
bris from the lower end Of the kings
chamber south air channel, ia feet
long. he reduced the temperature
again.
The ordinary man may but visit the
great pyranid--or any Of tEs Others
for that matter. Unless he have au-
thority from the British government.
which has Sir CASTOR Maspero as its
director general Of antiques. no man
Is allowed 70 touch single pebble
much less explore But Mr. Coviugton
did such good work at the beginning
that he has been authorized 10 clear
away the sixty.nine feet Of debris
which obstructs the upper and o1ter
end Of the channel which leads to the
great chamber OF the king-the great
Cheops. or Khufu, himself Then Tor
the first time IN history the interior
Of this wonder Of the world vii Be
free from all distractions.
Beneath the great Kings chamber,