Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1913-02-21
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work due to a long suspension Of activities owing
to lack OF funds. The whole project OF providing
what is accounted the nations monument to
Washington was a long-drawn-out undertaking,
but this seeming hardness Of action has been
atoned for bys the beauty Of the structure, which
has few rivals in height, save some Of the newer
skyscrapers in New York, and which is so jeal-
ously guarded by a proud people that congress
not so very long ago felt compelled to refuse
the request OF the navy department that permits
sion be granted to establish a wireless telegraph
station at the top of the monument, as has been
done on the Einel Tower in Paris.
The project to provide a tribute to George
Washington at the seat Of government dates from
the year 1888, when the Continental congress
voted to erect an equestrian statue and, oddly
enough, selected for its site the very location
that is now occupied by the national monument.
the project progressed no further and
there was no further action until Washington
died at the end of the century, when congress
passed another resolution for a monument-this
bill providing for a testimonial in marble or
granite beneath which should repose the remains
of the nations greatest hero. Here, however, the
widow of General Washington interposed with
her very natural preference that the body should
rest at mount Vernon, and accordingly the whole
project again lapsed until 1928, when a number
of patriotic citizens of Washington formed an or
ganization known az the Washington Monument
association and undertook to revive interest in
the undertaking.
The scheme was to provide funds by popular
subscription for erecting q monument and this
canvass was pursued more or less theoretically,
but it was not until 1s4s. when a total Of $4,000
had been collected. that the of1cials Of the or
ganization considered that the funds in hand
justified the commencement Of actual work. The
cornerstone was laid with due ceremony and the
work went forward for some years, but additional
subscriptions did not come in at a very lively
rate and finally work had to be suspended for
lack Of funds. Thus the partially completed
obelisk1 stump" Of a monument It was termed
stood during all t4e years intervening between
1853 and 1880 urel congress finally took up the
matter and appropriated funds to finish the
gigantic shat.
However, It was not merely 4 case of provid-
ing money to carry out the work already started.
The United States army engineers who were put
In charge when the national legislature took a
hand in the matter speedily discovered that the
original foundation provided for the monument
was hopelessly inadequate, considering the height
and weight of the mass which 1t was proposed
to place on 1t. Thereupon they set about a
mighty ticklish engineering understanding
less than the provision Of a new or rather an
enlarged foundation for the monument. OF
course. the perplexing part OF it was that the
new foundation had to be slipped under the
great mass of stone as 1t stood. for. naturally,
there were many objections to consuming time
and money in tearing down the monument and
re-erecting 1t.
The engineers dug out at the corners and
sides Of the monument as much as they dared
of the old foundation. meanwhile supporting the
partially undermined structure by means OF
beams and braces of various kinds. All the
stone thus removed was replaced with concrete
and the concrete foundation was also extended in
every direction beyond the base lines Of the