A TOWER 1000 FEET HIGH.

Waikato Times, Volume VI, Issue 329, 23 June 1874, Page 2

A TOWER 1000 FEET HIGH.

It is proposed to commemorate the hundredth anniyersnry of American Independence, in connection with the United States Great Exhibition of 1876, in Pennsylvania, by the eeection of a tower 1000 feet high. The following nre the heights of the most lofty buildings in the world :— (1) The spire of Cologne Cathedral, 501 feet above the pavement ; (2) The great Pyramid of Cheops, 'ISO feet high ; (3) Strasburg Minster, 468 feet ; (4) St Peter's of Eome, 457 feet ; (5) The Second Pyramid ; (6) St Paul's of London, 404 feet ; (7) The Capitol at Washington, 326 feet ; with the view of showing their relative heights. The Tower of Babel is not there, as we know nothing of its architectural construction ; but as its builders said, " Let us go and make us a name," the Americans seem to wish to mutate the example of the immediate descendants of Noah. What befell the tower of Babel when it reached theheight of 156 feet gives the projectors of the Pennsylvania Centennial T jwer no great concern. r Jhey iat her glory in the fact that they will be able to carry their structure 850 feet higher towards "heaven" than what we have been taught to regard as a stupendous j lecc of folly, and that they will be able to substitute iron for britis in its construction,, and bolts and screws and girder 9 f or mortar or lime. In deep they seem to make it their boast that their Centennial Tower, although small as compared with the mighty woils of nature — the vast peats of the Himnlnja c , lor nit-tarei — will a 9 far overtop the loftiest spues or domes on earth as the giant trees of California overtop the tallest ronples or elms; and that they will gain as much in tLeir structure over "all others in durability as in height, on account of the material employed. Its greater liability to be struck by lightning does not appear to hare occurred to them, or is not, at any rate, hinted at. Messrs Clarlta, Beeves, and Co, are the designers of the proposed Central Tower, and the work is to be executed at their Phconixville Bridge Works, Philadelphia, of American wrought iron throughout. It is to be 520 feet higher than the groat pyramid of Cheops ; 532 feet higher than Strasburg Minster ; 513 feet higher than the dome of St Peter's, Eomc, Michael Angelo'« greatest work ; 546 feet higher than St Paul's, London, Christopher Wren's masterpiece ; and 674 feet higher than the Capitol at Washington. It is to be circular in its form, with a base of 150 feet in diameter, diminishing to 30 feet at the top. Through its entire length, there is to be a central tube, with four elevators capable of carrying 530 persont up and down per hour at the rate of three minutes up, and five minutes down ; and around thecentral tube there is to be a spiral staircase for such aspiefer that mode of ascending and descending. The estimated cost of the fabric is 1,009,000 dollars, say £200,000 to £250,000 sterling, and the time to be occupied in its construction one year. Its location is to be Fairmount-park, in close proximity to the grounds on which the buildings for the Great Centennial Exhibition are being erected. : By calcium and electric lights from the tower, it is suggested that the latter, with their adjoining grounds, might i be brilliantly illuminated at night. The summit of the spi-e would also form a magnificent observatory while the \ierr of 1 the surrounding country would be unparalleled. Sections of the work, illustrarive of its mode of construe- * tion, are given in the Scientific American, but as they are o£ 1 little interest to the general reader we have not reproduced [ them. They tend to show, however, that proper care will * be bestowed on the bracing of the work, and that due attention has been paid to the probable force of the wind on- it. " If constructed, it will he as rigid as though built of stone,. ■ and will, from its circular shape, expose very little surftce- ; to the wind. It will be the loftiest structure ever built by 1 man I The Scienlifiz American and other New York papers ap1 pear to approve of the scheme for erecting this Central 3 Tower. The former journal says :—: — ' "It is hardly necessary for us to point out the very ap- " pvopriate character of the design in connection with the1 object of its erection. That the hundredth anniversary of 1 our national existence should not pass without some more- ' permanent memorial (jthan that of an exposition, which,. B within a few months of its close, will have disappeared,. ? seems to us eminently proper. It is clear that, within* ther coming two years, no monument of so imposing a nature, or3 of so unique and original conception, can be constructed of I any other material than iron, nor, indeed, can we hope teat erect a fabric more completely national in every feature. 6 Not only then shall we commemorate our birthday by the1 loftiest structnrc ever built by man, but by an edifice de0 signed by American engineers, reared by American mechaics,. c and constructed of material purely the produce of American f soil." — Totva and Country.