THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT COMPLETED. 503 



The capstone was set by the following means : 



Beginning a few feet above the main shaft, on each of the four sides of the 

 pyramid, four heavy joists are placed, and on these, thirty-three feet above, is 

 built a platform extending around the cap. Extendmg up from this platform 

 are four joists, one at each corner of the structure, which meet forty feet above 

 and support a tackle with which the remaining stones are handled. To the point 

 where the platform is built all the stones of the pyramid were handled with the 

 mast and boom that extended from the interior framework, but as the cone nar- 

 rowed, the spar was removed and the outside frame built. Before this, however, 

 all the remaining stones were hoisted to. the platform and handled from there. 

 When the capstone is set this afternoon and the tip placed in position and fast- 

 ened to the copper rods below, the upper joists will be removed and lowered by 

 the men, and as the platform and its supporting-frame is taken away and low- 

 ered, the remaining men will work from a temporary platform hung from skids 

 or joists projecting from the window, which has been cut in the east face of the 

 last course below the cap. This window is three feet long and two feet wide, 

 and after the last timber has been lowered and the last man has entered the pyra- 

 mid the hole will be closed by a stone, which accurately fits, and cemented in 

 place. The lower platform and the guard-netting at the 500-foot level will be 

 removed through the hole at the base of the pyramid, which was left to pass the 

 upper stones outside from the elevator. When this is done the stones belonging 

 there will be set and the whole structure from foundation to the aluminum tip 

 will present an unbroken appearance. The narrow windows in each face of the 

 pyramid, which are four feet above the 500-foot landing, will be fitted with heavy 

 marble shutters, which are to be worked by ingenious machinery inside. These 

 windows, which seem like tiny streaks from the ground, are each three feet long 

 and eighteen inches high, and are eight in number, two on each face, giving a 

 perfect view of the surroundings. 



The corner-stone of the monument was laid with imposing ceremonies July 

 4, 1848, and the work for several years was paid for with money derived from 

 popular subscriptions. The source, however, soon failed, and after about $200,- 

 000 had been expended the work ceased, and during the years that elapsed from 

 1852 until 1859 the unfinished shaft (which resembled more the whitewashed 

 chimney of a huge factory) was this nation's disgrace. Finally, on Independence 

 day of the Centennial year. Senator Sherman presented a resolution declaring it 

 to be the sense of Congress that the monument should be completed. The 

 resolution and the necessary appropriation to begin the work anew was passed by 

 both houses unanimously, and since then the work has progressed steadily. 



In 1876 the monument had reached the height of 152 feet above the 

 foundation, and about $260,000 had been expended on its construction ; $900,000 

 has been expended under appropriations of Congress. The corner-stone, which 

 was cut from the same ledge of marble (near Cockeyeville, Md.), from which the 

 marble of the shaft has been taken, weighed a little more than twelve tons, and 

 was laid at the north-east corner of the foundation. 



