The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-06-28
ARENA FOR FIGHT
NEARLY COMPLETED
Will Cost $4,000 and Will Seat $4,000
Persons, Who Will See the Willard
Dempsey Battle.


yellow skeleton skyward the huge bowl
shaped arena, costing $l50,000 and orgi'
nally planned to seat $4,000 persons, is
rapidly nearing completion for the
heavyweight championship contest be-
tween Jesse Willard and Jack Dempsey
here July 4.
The arena is located in Bay View park,
a municipality owned plot of ground go
acres in extent and directly north four
miles from the heart of the city. Be-
fore being turned over to Tex Rickard,
promoter of the championship contest,
the park had been used as recreation
center and the arena rests on the site
of two baseball diamonds. On the north
side of the park is Maumee bay and to
the east is Maumee river Encircling the
plot is a road of crushed stone. The park
is of artificial construction, most OF 1t
being filed in land, but it is ideally sit
uated in every respect. 1t is perfectly
fat and treeless, making the work of
the engineers constructing the arena
easier than it otherwise would have
been
Some idea of the immensity of the
arena may be obtained from the fact
that it is four times as large as the
arena in which Jack johnson battered
Jim Jeffries. approximately 100000
feet of lumber has been used in the
structure. Not a bolt has been used,
the entire building being held together
by nails, of which two carloads or 10000
pounds have been driven. All new hum
Der has entered into the construction and
this will be sold after the contest.
Precautions for safety have been tax.
en- in the construction Careful tests
were made of the ground to find out
whether il could carry the great human
weight which would rest upon it. The
CARRYING capacity of the lumber and the
tensile strength of the nails were deter.
mined and margin allowed for safety.
Although the structure was originally
planned for $4,000 persons, load Of So
900 persons was taken as the basis of
the estimate and, instead of allowing
l75 pounds per person, as is done in ordi-
nary construction for Give loads" an
average of 200 pounds was taken. This
gave total live load" Of 5000 tons, but
to allow even a further amount of safe
ty margin, construction was based upon
a load Of 10000 tons.
AS an insurance against any settling
should rainy weather on the day of the
match, or even few days before, cause
the structure to settle slightly, heavier
footings were used. This entaied an
additional expense of about $500, but
Promoter Richard decided it would be
cheap for the greater safety afforded.
No. ts Sat-, - r.
tators the only thing which has been
considered. Every effort has been made
to make it certain every ticket holder
will get the seat to which his ticket en-
titles him. To take care of the big
crowd, there will be four grand entrances,
one each at the north, south, east and
west side of the arena. At each of these
will be four runways, one each for the
$40, SIS and S25 seats, while the fourth
will take care of the $50, $40, $50 and
$50 ticket holders In order to obtain
entrance it will be necessary to pass
muster of three separate ticket takers
to guard against anyone not holding a
ticket slipping by.
Several hundred discharged soldiers,
all having seen service in France, will
act as ushers and guards at the arena
They will be armed Bank clerks have
been engaged by Promoter Richard in
handling the ticket sales at the arena
and at the downtown headquarters on
the day of the contest
Precautions against rushing" Of the
gates also have been taken. Outside the
arena 80 feet distant will be barbed
wire fence, or ENHANCEMENT, eight feet
high and a half mile long to keep the
crowd away from the entrances. Closer
TO the arena will be board fence II
feet high, surmounted by barbed wire,
while at the top of the arena itself will
be a five-foot fence of barbed wire with
armed guards stationed every % feet.
The $40, $50, $25 and $50 and $40 seats
also will be separated from each other
by barbed wire to prevent occupants of
one section moving into better seats.
There will not be a stairway in the
entire arena, which is 500 feet across.
Entrance to the various sections will be
along inclined runways, with grade of
one foot to every six feet, making the
climb scarcely noticeable. The runways
to the $40 seats, which win be "a feet
from ITO .--...' r.''' i9g feat I'm
i Vi 10 incnes seatway has
ale for each ticket holder The
ows will be two feet apart for all seats
cheaper than $50 and eight inches more