578 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



tula, but with St. Petersburg and Vienna by 

 rail. Population, 756,426. 



Washington, a city, and the capital of 

 the United States of America; in the District 

 of Columbia; at the confluence of the Potomac 

 and the Anacostia, or East Branch, rivers, and 

 on the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore & Ohio, 

 the Southern, the Chesapeake & Ohio, and 

 the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac 

 railroads; 136 miles southwest of Philadelphia; 

 226 miles southwest of New York; forty miles 

 southwest of Baltimore, and 185 miles west of the 

 Atlantic Ocean. The site of the city is an ad- 

 mirable one, surrounded by a circle of hills and 

 comprising a rolling plain, with here and there 

 irregular eminences which provide beautiful and 

 advantageous positions for the various public 

 buildings. The city was laid out expressly for 

 the National Capital and on a scale indicating 

 that it was expected to grow into a vast metropo- 

 lis. The United States and the District of Co- 

 lumbia own an extensive waterworks system, 

 costing $10,000,000. The reservoirs have a 

 storage capacity of 76,000,000 gallons, and the 

 water is distributed through 381 miles of mains. 

 The consumption averages 55,000,000 gallons a 

 day. There are in all 320 miles of streets, of 

 which 266 miles are payed. The streets of Wash- 

 ington are irregularly laid out, being from seventy 

 to 160 feet wide. Pennsylvania Avenue is the 

 principal street of the city, having on or near it 

 many of the leading hotels, theaters, stores, etc. 

 F street is the next business street in importance. 

 The sewer system covers 418 miles. The streets 

 are lighted by gas and electricity at an annual 

 cost of about $250,000. The average cost of the 

 police department exceeds $743,500 per annum, 

 and that of the fire department $185,000. The 

 annual cost for the maintenance of the city gov- 

 ernment is over $9,052,000. The annual death 

 rate averages 2 1.82 per 1,000. 



The city contains many magnificent structures. 

 The Capitol, crowning Capitol Hill, is one of the 

 most beautiful public edifices in the world. It 

 is built in pure classic style, with two immense 

 wings of white marble, extending from a central 

 structure constructed of light yellow freestone, 

 painted white. The main front facing east is 

 beautified, with three splendid porticoes adorned 

 by Corinthian pillars. The central portico con- 

 tains noted groups of statuary, and on the espla- 

 nade immediately in front stands Greenough's 

 famous colossal statue of Washington. The 

 entrance to the rotunda is by the celebrated 

 bronze door, designed by Randolph Rogers and 

 made by Von Muller in Munich. It is seventeen 

 feet high by nine feet wide, and cost $28,000. 

 The relief work on the door commemorates the 

 discovery of America by Columbus. The walls 

 of the interior of the rotunda, which is 180 feet 

 high and ninety-six feet in diameter, are orna- 

 mented with eight panels containing paintings 

 of scenes in American history. America is de- 

 picted with Indian and eagle, standing with 

 History, who records on her tablet the progress 

 of events. The canopy overhanging the eye of 

 the dome, at a height of 180 feet above the ro- 

 tunda floor, is 65 feet in diameter, and gives a 

 field of 4,640 square feet for Brumidi's allegori- 

 cal fresco. The lofty central dome of iron is 



surmounted by a statue of liberty, givine; a total 

 height to the capitol of 307* feet. The structure 

 covers three and one-half acres, and cost over 

 $13,000,000. It accommodates the two Houses 

 of Congress, United States Supreme Court, and 

 until recently also held the Library of Congress. 



The new Congressional Library is built just 

 east of the capitol, in a square comprising about 

 ten acres. It is three stories high, 470 feet long 

 by 340 wide, is constructed of white New Hamp- 

 shire granite in the Italian Renaissance style, 

 and cost $6,347,000. The building contains an 

 octagonal reading room, 100 feet in diameter. 

 There are many magnificently carved marble 

 arches. The library is constructed around four 

 spacious inner courts and in all has over 2,000 

 windows, which make it the best-lighted build- 

 ing of its kind in the world. Besides the reading 

 room, there are a lecture hall, copyright record 

 rooms, a large art gallery, a map room, etc. 

 The whole library could be made to accommo- 

 date 6,000,000 volumes. It is now the third 

 library in point of size in the world, and, in the 

 beginning of 1908, contained 1,434,000 books 

 and pamphlets, and some 900,000 other articles. 



The United States Treasury building is one 

 and one-fourth mile west of the capitol. It is 

 constructed of granite in the Ionic style, and 

 cost $6,000,000. It is three stories high and 468 

 feet long by 264 wide. An Ionic colonnade, 

 modeled after the Temple of Minerva in Athens, 

 is built on the east front. On the west front is 

 a magnificent central entrance with eight colossal 

 monolithic columns. There are in all about 200 

 rooms, including the cash room, which is finished 

 with rich marble and occupies two stories; the 

 gold room, containing millions of dollars in gold 

 coin; the Redemption Division; counterfeit 

 room, etc. All of the United States notes, bonds, 

 etc., are made here. 



The building of the State, War, and Navy 

 Departments is one of the largest public edifices 

 in Washington. It is built of granite in the 

 Roman Doric style, is four stories high, 567 feet 

 long by 342 feet wide, covers four and one-half 

 acres, and cost $-1 1,000,000. In the north and 

 east wings are the War and Navy Departments; 

 in the south portion is the State Department, 

 The building contains in all 566 rooms, including 

 the Hall of the Secretary of State, the Ambassa- 

 dor's Room, and the library with 00,000 volumes. 

 In the latter apartment the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence is preserved. 



The building of the Patent Office, also known 

 as the Department of the Interior, is located in 

 the central part of the city. It is 453 feet long 

 by 351 feet wide, and is constructed of granite, 

 marble, and freestone, in the Doric style. The 

 main entrance faces F Street, and is reached by 

 a broad stairway of granite steps. The portico 

 has sixteen enormous Doric columns supporting a 

 classic pediment. The building contains besides 

 offices and other rooms, the model room, in 

 which there are great numbers of models, repre- 

 senting every department of mechanical art. 

 The length of the floor in the latter room is 1,350 

 feet, or over one-fourth of a mile. The offices 

 of the Secretary of the Interior, of the Commis- 

 sioner of Patents, and of the Indian Bureau are 

 on the second floor. 



