The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1911-07-27
WHERE JOHN DIS
WEALTH REPOSES
Steel Citadel Under One of New
YOrk'S Big Banks.
TEN LOCKS AND THICK DOORS

Vault That Guards $20o,ooo,ooo In Sc
curities Cost 100000 to BuiId-MiI-
lion Possible Combinations to the
Locks, and 1t Is Impossible For Any
One to Pick Them.
Under the northeast corner of the
New York Produce Exchange reposes
the bulk of the collateral wealth of
the richest man in the world-John D..
Rockefeller. In a specially construct
ed bOmbDrOof, burglar proof and fire.
proof vault built under the structure
has been stored upward of $2OO,OOO.-
O00 worth of securities, the personal
property of Mr.. Rockefeller.
OF course John d. does not put all
his eggs in one basket His mort
cages are reported to be lodged in the
vaults under the Rockefeller building
in Cleveland, o.. and there are a score
of banks and trust companies through
out the country which carry large bal
ances in his name. Besides, John d.
has other hiding places in the down.
town section of Manhattan for United
States bonds and various securities
put up with him for short term loans.
But his principal eggs are in the
iron nest under the New York Prod
uce Exchange, where scissors clip
merrily for him on the big coupon
days.
Ten Locks Secure Treasure.
Between the street outside and the
repositories of the Rockefeller securi-
ties are ten locks varied in character.
The first is the bolt in the outside
door ut the sidewalk level. The sec
ond is the bolt in the door opening
from the foot of the stairs into the
public entrance of the safe deposit
company.
Once in front of the iron vault,
which is the largest of its kind in the
world devoted to containing the prop
critics of a single person, there is pre-
scented to view a cage not at all I'M
like the one in which the famous Cap
tain Dreyfus was confined at Devils
island.
Eight locks still confront you. The
first of these is turned in the door
opening through the grilled cage sur
rounding the door of the vault proper.
There now remain seven locks in the
John D. series. Two of these are pad
locks. one upon each of the two COM
bination locks visible from the eX-
terror of the closed door of the vault.
Each has a different combination to
unlock. There are six tumblers on
each lock. The numbers run from
to 100 which makes each lock sus-
centible to 100000 changes. 1t is
impossible for anybody to pick these
combination locks.
The door of the vault is moved by
hand. and it opens easily owing to its
swinging upon a compound double
goose crane hinge. which is carefully
balanced on ball and roller bearings
made of the finest hardened tool steel.
This permits the door to swing lightly.
although it has the weight of nine
tons.
The interior of the vault is nine feet |
wide. nine feet high and fifteen feet
deep. The wall of the vault has a |
thickness of forty inches. In the CEN
ter of thirty-six inches of concrete are |
ninety pound steel rails set six inches ]
apart in double rows. interlocked so as
to he practically three inches apart. !
The remaining four inches of the wall .
are four One-inch thicknesSeS of solid /
steel.
Twenty Safes Inside.
Looking toward the open door to-
ward the interior. of the vault there
are arranged upon either side numer-
Gus compartments or small safes.
There are from fifteen to twenty Of
these, varying in size. These chests
have sides two inches thick, with doors
from two and half to three inches
thick. all of the best steel, and each of
these doors is locked by heavy bolt
work similar to that of the big door
of the vault The average height of
the chests are four feet each. with a
width of four feet and a depth of two
feet
In one of these inner inside COM
partments is a card index, which one
even Solomon in all his wisdom could
not guess. The index registers the
bonds. with their dates of maturity
and the months when the coupons
come Off.
Mr. Rockefeller planned his vault at
a time when President Mckinley was
an occupant of the White House. The
oil king had ordered many smaller
vaults from the Canton concem-locat-
ed in the home of McEinley-for his
various refineries through western
and northeastern Ohio
The vault is said to have cost between
s75. 600 and 100000
New York's Real Estate Values. +,
New York citys real estate values ,
,ra crpttiDu almost hpyOud ordinary