OBELISE. 



595 



ment, by the promise of a railway from Mont- 

 real, in a straight line, through Quebec, Maine, 

 and New Brunswick, to Nova Scotia, or to 

 Cape Breton. This, they supposed, would 

 guarantee them a winter port in addition to 



Halifax, or would reinvigorate Halifax. The 

 road is under construction, but may not be 

 completed for several years. (For the latest 

 statistics regarding Nova Scotia, see the article 

 in the "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1883.) 



O 



OBELISK. Brugsch Bey tells us, in his 

 "History of Egypt," page 68, that obelisks 

 date from the fourth and fifth dynasties (3700- 

 3300 B. o.) to Domitian, A. D. 132. Pliny says : 

 "Monarchs entered into a kind of rivalry 

 in forming elongated blocks of this stone, 

 known as obelisks, and consecrated them to 

 the divinity of the Sun." How the American 

 metropolis acquired the venerable Egyptian 

 monument that graces Central Park, forms a 

 curious and interesting chapter. At the open- 

 ing of the Suez Canal in 18(59, Khedive Ismail 

 intimated to Mr. W. H. Hurlburt, editor of the 

 New York " World," that America might have 

 one of the Egyptian obelisks. Mr. Hurlburt 

 repeated it to Mr. Louis Sterne, who told him 

 that perhaps his friend John Dixon could ob- 

 tain for America the monolith standing at 

 Alexandria. Mr. Dixon said he would try, 

 and that he would transfer the obelisk to 

 America for 15,000. Mr. Hurlburt approached 

 Mr. W. H. Vanderbilt, who promised the sum 

 of 15,000 without hesitation. Mr. Hurlburt 

 telegraphed Mr. Vanderbilt's promise to Mr. 

 Dixon, who replied that he expected the United 

 States Government to obtain the grant from the 

 Khedive. On Oct. 19, 1877, Mr. Evarts, Sec- 

 retary of State, wrote to Consul-General Far- 

 man, to open negotiations with the Egyptian 

 Government, and Mr. Farman obtained the 

 obelisk for New York city, May 18, 1879. 

 This result was transmitted to Mr. Hurlburt, 

 who informed Mr. Dixon thereof, asking him 

 whether he was ready to transport the obe- 

 lisk to New York for 15,000, whereupon 

 Mr. Dixon raised his price to 20,000. Mr. 

 Hurlburt then advertised for bids. Among 

 those submitted appeared that of Commander 

 Henry H. Gorringe, United States Navy, which 

 was accepted Aug. 6, 1879, the agreement 

 being the removal, transfer, and erection of 

 the Alexandria obelisk in New York city for 

 the sum of $75,000, to be paid by Mr. Vander- 

 bilt. Commander Gorringe had to surpass the 

 contrivances used by Rome, France, and Eng- 

 land, whose obelisks only traversed inland seas 

 and coasts. 



After consulting the plans and methods 

 hitherto used for moving obelisks, Commander 

 Gorringe found them wanting for his purpose, 

 because" the vessel in which the New York 

 obelisk was to be transported must be large 

 enough to take care of herself under all con- 

 ditions of weather, and must have her own 

 motive power." Among ancient and modern 

 plans of moving obelisks, he found only the 

 French method of lowering them available. 



Count Carburi's manner of moving the pedes- 

 tal (600 tons) of the statue of Peter the Great 

 from Karelia to St. Petersburg is useful for 

 transporting heavy masses by land. It con- 

 sists of cannon-balls rolling in metal grooves. 

 Commander Gorringe engaged an iron-worker 

 and a carpenter, ordered some machinery to 

 be made here, and sailed for Europe Aug. 4, 

 1879, with Lieut. Schroeder and the car- 

 penter. As England had delayed seventy- 

 eight years to remove the obelisk that had 

 been granted her, it was expected that the 

 great American Republic would procrastinate 

 at least a century ; but the monolith given by 

 Khedive Ismail, May 18, 1879, was erected in 

 Central Park, Jan. 22, 1881. England only 

 . got her obelisk after its abandonment at sea 

 and the loss of six lives. 



Commander Gorringe reached Alexandria 

 Oct. 16, 1879, and at once began work with 

 one hundred Arabs, who completed the exca- 

 vation of the obelisk's pedestal, November 6, 

 by removing 1,730 cubic yards of earth. As 

 the native and foreign inhabitants of Alexan- 

 dria opposed the removal of the obelisk, and 

 threatened violence, the Americans pushed the 

 work night and day. The machinery for low- 

 ering and removing the obelisk, shipped from 

 New York, was landed at Alexandria, Novem- 

 ber 11. The monolith was turned and placed 

 in a horizontal position, amid a crowd of as- 

 tonished spectators, Dec. 6, 1879. 



The work was considerably delayed, because 

 in the foundation and steps to the pedestal were 

 found stones and implements showing Masonic 

 signs and emblems, and it was decided to take 

 them up carefully, carry them to New York, 

 and erect on them the syenite monolith and 

 pedestal exactly as they stood at Alexandria. 

 This plan has been faithfully carried out in 

 New York, every stone being in the same posi- 

 tion that it occupied at Alexandria. 



In a sort of quadrilateral chamber, within 

 and under the steps of the obelisk, Commander 

 Gorringe found six differently shaped stones 

 of syenite, of black marble, and of white lime- 

 stone. Some of these stones were rough, some 

 half worked, some partly finished and polished, 

 and some ornamented. On one of them was 

 imbedded a trowel. Commander Gorringe, 

 being a mason, showed them to 111. Bro. S. A. 

 Zola, 33, S. G. Cora., who, in a detailed report, 

 with diagrams and drawings, considered them 

 as indicating " the three symbolic degrees : the 

 apprentices being represented by the rough 

 parts, the fellow-crafts by the worked portions, 

 and the masters by the finished and ornamented 



