WASHINGTON MONUMENT, a mag nificent monument erected by the Amer ican people in honor of George Wash ington. It stands in the Mall, a public park on the banks of the Potomac and Tiber creek, Washington, D. C. The corner stone was laid by President Polk, July 4, 1848, and Dec. 6, 1884, the cap stone was set in position. The founda tions are 126% feet square and 36 feet 8 inches deep. The base of the monu ment is 55 feet 1% inches square, and the walls 15 feet inch thick. At the 500 foot mark, where the pyramidal top begins, the shaft is 34 feet 5% inches square and the walls are 18 inches thick. The monument is made of blocks of marble two feet thick, and it is said there are over 18,000 of them. The height above the ground is 555 feet. The pyramidal top terminates in an alumi num tip, which is 9 inches high and weighs 100 ounces. The mean pressure of the monument is 5 tons per square foot, and the total weight, foundation and all, is nearly 81,000 tons. The door
at the base, facing the capitol, is 8 feet wide and 16 feet high, and enters a room 25 feet square. An immense iron frame work supports the machinery of the ele vator, which is hoisted with steel wire ropes two inches thick. At one side be gin the stairs, of which there are 50 flights, containing 18 steps each. Five hundred and twenty feet from the base there are eight windows, 18x24 inches, two on each face. The area at the base of the pyramidal top is feet, space enough for a six-room house, each room to be 12x16 feet. The Cologne Cathedral is 525 feet high; the pyramid of Cheops, 486; Strassburg Cathedral, 474; St. Peter's at Rome, 448; the capi tol at Washington, 306, and Bunker Hill monument, 221 feet. The Washington monument is the highest monument in the world; total cost, $1,187,710.31.