DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.33567#0088
32
pended the steamer was hauled ahead, and when she was out of the way, the arm of the derrick was
swung around, and the pedestal landed on the wharf, as near as possible to the shore. From this
point it was moved by sliding it on heavy timbers (skids) to a convenient place about five hundred
feet distant, there to await the partial rebuilding of a truck that was to carry it to the Central Park.
This truck was the only one in the city capable of sustaining a load of fifty tons that was suitable
for moving the pedestal. It belonged to the firm of W. B. Smith & Sons, who made a reasonable
offer to move the pedestal foundation and steps to their destination, and with whom I contracted
to do that work.
Plate xviii illustrates the method of suspending the pedestal on the truck. Difficulty was experi-
enced in several places in keeping the wheels from sinking into the pavements. They had only to
sink nine inches for the chain slings, by which the stone was suspended to the beams, to touch the
ground. Whenever this occurred the slings had to be slackened until the truck was released, and
the wheels placed on timber laid on the pavement, and the stone again suspended. Thirty-two
horses in sixteen pairs were attached to the truck for hauling it. The first forward movement was
invariably given by hydraulic pumps applied to the tire of the rear wheels. As soon as the truck
was in motion the horses were started and kept going on a slow trot until the wheels again sank
into the pavements. The route was through Fifty-first Street to Fifth Avenue, through Fifth Avenue
to the Eighty-second Street east entrance to the park, where the truck was dispensed with. Thence
to the site the pedestal was moved on greased skids. This stone is the largest and heaviest moved
on wheels of which there is any record, and excepting the obelisk it is the largest ever moved
through New York City.
THE FOUNDATION.
It was not until August 5th that any action was taken by the Department of Parks to prepare
the Graywacke Knoll for the foundation. On that day four laborers of the Department commenced
removing the young trees that stood on it and clearing away the surface. A few days later the
work was suspended without apparent reason. The invariable custom of the Department had been
to prepare foundations for the reception of monuments and statuary contributed by individuals to the
adornment of the city. In this case the custom was violated. Anxious that the foundation should be
prepared before winter set in, I sought almost daily at the Department for the requisite authority
to proceed with the work at my own expense. This was withheld until August 27th, and then granted
under onerous conditions that involved a large increase in the cost of the work of placing the obelisk
on the site assigned it.
The earth having been removed from the top of the knoll, the surface of the granite was levelled
and the cavities filled with cement. A thin layer of this was then laid over the granite, and the
foundation was replaced exactly as it had stood in Alexandria, each piece in the same relative position
to the others, and to the points of the compass. Instead of leaving the interstices vacant as the
Romans had done, they were filled with the best cement obtainable, thus making the structure as
solid a mass as the granite on which it stands and as the syenite that stands on it. Each piece was
bound to the other by iron and steel clamps similar to those that had been used by the Romans,
which we had necessarily removed when taking the foundation apart in Alexandria.
A number of lead boxes of different shapes and sizes had been prepared to fit into available
spaces enclosed by the steps, and into these were placed the various articles contributed by the
Departments in Washington and by individuals. The boxes were carefully soldered up and com-
pletely encased in cement, so as to exclude air from their contents. Applications for space in them
came from all over the country. Some were evidently prompted by vanity, others by a hope of
advertisement, but the majority were based on a common-sense desire to perpetuate some examples
pended the steamer was hauled ahead, and when she was out of the way, the arm of the derrick was
swung around, and the pedestal landed on the wharf, as near as possible to the shore. From this
point it was moved by sliding it on heavy timbers (skids) to a convenient place about five hundred
feet distant, there to await the partial rebuilding of a truck that was to carry it to the Central Park.
This truck was the only one in the city capable of sustaining a load of fifty tons that was suitable
for moving the pedestal. It belonged to the firm of W. B. Smith & Sons, who made a reasonable
offer to move the pedestal foundation and steps to their destination, and with whom I contracted
to do that work.
Plate xviii illustrates the method of suspending the pedestal on the truck. Difficulty was experi-
enced in several places in keeping the wheels from sinking into the pavements. They had only to
sink nine inches for the chain slings, by which the stone was suspended to the beams, to touch the
ground. Whenever this occurred the slings had to be slackened until the truck was released, and
the wheels placed on timber laid on the pavement, and the stone again suspended. Thirty-two
horses in sixteen pairs were attached to the truck for hauling it. The first forward movement was
invariably given by hydraulic pumps applied to the tire of the rear wheels. As soon as the truck
was in motion the horses were started and kept going on a slow trot until the wheels again sank
into the pavements. The route was through Fifty-first Street to Fifth Avenue, through Fifth Avenue
to the Eighty-second Street east entrance to the park, where the truck was dispensed with. Thence
to the site the pedestal was moved on greased skids. This stone is the largest and heaviest moved
on wheels of which there is any record, and excepting the obelisk it is the largest ever moved
through New York City.
THE FOUNDATION.
It was not until August 5th that any action was taken by the Department of Parks to prepare
the Graywacke Knoll for the foundation. On that day four laborers of the Department commenced
removing the young trees that stood on it and clearing away the surface. A few days later the
work was suspended without apparent reason. The invariable custom of the Department had been
to prepare foundations for the reception of monuments and statuary contributed by individuals to the
adornment of the city. In this case the custom was violated. Anxious that the foundation should be
prepared before winter set in, I sought almost daily at the Department for the requisite authority
to proceed with the work at my own expense. This was withheld until August 27th, and then granted
under onerous conditions that involved a large increase in the cost of the work of placing the obelisk
on the site assigned it.
The earth having been removed from the top of the knoll, the surface of the granite was levelled
and the cavities filled with cement. A thin layer of this was then laid over the granite, and the
foundation was replaced exactly as it had stood in Alexandria, each piece in the same relative position
to the others, and to the points of the compass. Instead of leaving the interstices vacant as the
Romans had done, they were filled with the best cement obtainable, thus making the structure as
solid a mass as the granite on which it stands and as the syenite that stands on it. Each piece was
bound to the other by iron and steel clamps similar to those that had been used by the Romans,
which we had necessarily removed when taking the foundation apart in Alexandria.
A number of lead boxes of different shapes and sizes had been prepared to fit into available
spaces enclosed by the steps, and into these were placed the various articles contributed by the
Departments in Washington and by individuals. The boxes were carefully soldered up and com-
pletely encased in cement, so as to exclude air from their contents. Applications for space in them
came from all over the country. Some were evidently prompted by vanity, others by a hope of
advertisement, but the majority were based on a common-sense desire to perpetuate some examples