page_title: Monte Ne
section_title: The Pyramid
hierarchical_section_title: Monte Ne / The Pyramid
caption_attribution_description: Retaining Wall built for the never constructed Monte Ne Pyramid
context_page_description: Monte Ne is an area in the Ozark mountains of the White River valley east of Rogers, on the edge of Beaver Lake, in the US state of Arkansas. From 1901 until the mid-1930s the area was a health resort and ambitious planned community. It was owned and operated by William Hope Harvey, a financial theorist and one-time U.S. Presidential nominee. Two of its hotels, "Missouri Row" and "Oklahoma Row", were the largest log buildings in the world. Oklahoma Row's "tower section" is one of the earliest examples of a multi-story concrete structure. The tower is the only structure of Monte Ne still standing that can be seen at normal lake levels. Monte Ne introduced the first indoor swimming pool in Arkansas, and was also the site of the only presidential convention ever held in the state.
  The Monte Ne resort was not a financial success, due in part to Harvey's failure to adequately manage the resort's funds. All ventures associated with Harvey's original Monte Ne concept either were never completed or experienced bankruptcy, and shortly after his death in 1936, the property was sold off in lots.
context_section_description: By 1910, Harvey was facing serious setbacks. Harvey's son Hal had died in 1903 and was interred in a mausoleum in Monte Ne. His other son, Tom, had left in 1908 never to return. The next decade would not bring better news for Harvey either. Harvey and his wife, Anna, were now permanently estranged after 25 years of marriage. Harvey's close friend William Jennings Bryan failed to find a place for him in the new Woodrow Wilson administration. Harvey's 1913 bid for the Third Congressional District of Arkansas also failed. His Monte Ne was also failing. The railway had been sold and would be scrapped after World War I. The Bank of Monte Ne had also gone out of business. Faced with these severe dilemmas, Harvey had begun reasoning that the end of civilization was at hand. In February 1920, he published Common Sense, in which Harvey announced his intention to leave a message for the future in the form of a pyramid.
  Harvey did some deep research into the history of the Ozark Mountains. He claimed that they were some of the oldest mountains in the world and definitely the oldest in the United States. They had been untouched by volcanoes and earthquakes. He believed that the mountains around Monte Ne would eventually crumble and fill the valley with silt and sediment. Figuring that the mountains were approximately 240 ft (73 m) high, Harvey planned to construct a massive concrete obelisk, and its capstone would remain above the debris. Archaeologists in the distant future would be able to dig down and find the monument. He called the project "The Pyramid", and dedicated the rest of his life to its construction.
  The first part of the obelisk would be 40 ft² (12 m²) square and 10 feet (3 m) high. It then would reduce to 32 ft² (9 m²) square and rise 35 feet (11 m). The next segment would be 22 ft² (6 m²) and would rise 85 feet (26 m) to become 6 ft² (1.8 m²) at the top. The total height would be 130 feet (40 m). In the pedestal there would be 300 ft² (91 m²) of floor space. Harvey's books, explaining 20th-century civilization, as well as a world globe, a bible, encyclopedias, and newspapers, were to be placed inside two vaults and hermetically sealed in glass. Harvey also wanted to place in this large room: "numerous small items now used in domestic and industrial life, from the size of a needle and safety pin up to a Victrola." It was estimated that the construction would use 16,000 bags of cement, 30,000 ft³ (850 m³) of sand, 58,000 ft³ (1,642 m³) of gravel, and tons of corrugated steel reinforcement. The Portland Cement Association donated the service of one of its experts, who pronounced that the Pyramid would not deteriorate or suffer from erosion and would last for over a million years. To prevent water in the valley from interfering with the foundation and to shore up the low knoll to support the heavy Pyramid, Harvey constructed a 165 feet (50 m) long retaining wall of stone and concrete.
  He also built a roughly semi-circular, terraced amphitheater at the foundation of the Pyramid which he called the "foyer". He intended to rent this out and use the revenue for the pyramid project. The land for the amphitheater was first dug in late 1923, and construction continued off and on for the next five years whenever financing, building materials, and labor were available. Unlike other Monte Ne building projects designed by architect A. O. Clark, the amphitheater apparently had no architectural input and was not built according to blueprints or a single design. Those who worked with Harvey noted that he seemed to just "work it out in his mind from day to day". The result was a unique structure, irregular in formation, with seating capacity for anywhere from 500 to 1,000. The amphitheater averaged 20 feet (6 m) high and 140 feet (43 m) long. In the middle of the amphitheater was a small island with two concrete chairs and a concrete couch, intended for an orchestra to play or a speaker to make a presentation. Harvey dedicated the amphitheater before 500 people in 1928.
  Following the Egyptian mania that gripped the country after the d
caption: Retaining wall that was built for the Pyramid. It is normally submerged.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot SD110", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2005:11:13 00:46:00", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2548", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5580", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "71/10", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:11:13 00:46:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:11:13 00:46:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "133/16", "EXIF ApertureValue": "181/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "173/32", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2048", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1536", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "2048", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1536", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1860", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "128000/13", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "128000/13", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}