Evening star., 1940-12-08
Fifty Years Ago
In the Star

The preliminary work for completing
the cable system of the Washington and
Georgetown Railroad
Loyna Coble has begun" SAYS The
System Star OF December /,
1890. Engineers are en-
gagged in making the surveys of the road
IN order to ascertain the levels and
secure the data necessary for making the
plans. Mr.. Daniel Bontecon. the engi-
neer who had charge of putting down
the cable on Seventh street. has been
engaged as the consulting engineer. The
road will be built in sections, as was
done on Seventh street. and as soon as
one section is finished the street will be
cleared OF debris so that it can be
available for public use
The new cable will be laid on the
entire line from Georgetown to the Navy
Yard and up Fourteenth street to Mount
Pleasant. This distance is about 6l2
miles, which is more than twice the
length Of the Seventh street road 1t
is expected that the work Will be begun
in April or May next and that the
entire road will be completed in a little
over year. Just at present MI Hurt.
the president of the company, is bring
ing to this city the enormous mass of
material that will be used in the con-
Struction of the road. He intends to
have everything in readiness before
heOlnnITo tho hot
will be no delay on account of lack of
material.
1T will be necessary to have 5000 tons
Of track rail, weighing 80 pounds to the
yard, and in addition the slot rails,
which protect the opening of the slot
and weigh 63 pounds. Then there will
be $500 tons of castings. which include
the iron yokes, the manhole frames,
covers. etc. In addition to the iron used
there will be 5000 barrels of Portland
cement, 10000 cubic yards of broken
stone, $4,000 cubic yards of concrete
sand and $4,000 yards of excavation
needed"
Transient public attention" says The
Star of December 8, 1890. rs being di-
rected very gen.
Lafayette Monument erally just now
Work to the southeast
corner of Lafay-
cite Square, where a gang of Workmen
is now engaged in filling a large hole
icl, 20
stand the monument erected to the
memory of the man whose name is borne
by the park When it became known
that the monument commission had
finally selected this Site there was a
little surprise on the part of the people
who remembered that Senator Bate had
been instrumental in spelling the first
plan of putting the monument between
Jackson and the White House, but now
that the hole has been dug, the great
elms razed and the Senator has said that
he has really no objections, there is
feeling that the site is very good one.
There is going on, in connection with
the preparation of the new site, a very
interesting and delicate piece of work
that has attracted an unusual amount of
notice. This is the demolition of the
old pedestal that was erected in the
south side of the square and the transfer
of the stones composing it, intact, to the
new site. The work has been done with
extreme care and, so far, with perfect
success. A series of holes were drilled
into the center bed of cement, and a
derrick was erected by the side of the
pedestal, by means of which the stones
are now being cautiously pried out of
their beds and laid on the sidewalks,
numbered, so that they can be replaced
with accuracy.
"The new site is to be diagonal
one, the monument facing southeast.
This will throw it into a strong relief
when viewed from almost any point on
the three streets that corner north of
the Treasury. The walk that extends
diagonally through the park is to divide
at the southeast corner and go on both
sides of the Monument. The new ped
estal will be square, like the old one, and
the walks will therefore be rectangular"