. Rand, McNally Washington guide to the city and environs. emorial is the reaHzationof a popular movement which began before Washingtons death,so that he was enabled to indicate his own preference for thissite, which was expressed in a congressional resolution in 1799,which contemplated an equestrian statue. The death ofWashington revived the matter,—a bill appropriating $150,000for a mausoleum passed both houses, but was mislaid and notsigned at the close of the session. The next Congress wasmade up of Washingtons political opponents, and his monu-ment was no more heard of until an associatio
. Rand, McNally Washington guide to the city and environs. emorial is the reaHzationof a popular movement which began before Washingtons death,so that he was enabled to indicate his own preference for thissite, which was expressed in a congressional resolution in 1799,which contemplated an equestrian statue. The death ofWashington revived the matter,—a bill appropriating $150,000for a mausoleum passed both houses, but was mislaid and notsigned at the close of the session. The next Congress wasmade up of Washingtons political opponents, and his monu-ment was no more heard of until an association, ex officio,headed by the President of the United States, was fonnedwhich undertook to retrieve what it considered a nationaldisgrace, and raised a large sum of money for the site was obtained, the corner-stone was laid with impressiveceremonies on the 4th of July, 1848, and the work progresseduntil the shaft had reached a height of 150 feet, when thefunds gave out. The coming of the Civil War turned mens 52 RAND McNALLY WASHINGTON GUIDE. A Modern Residence Massachusetts Ave. Page 36 attention elsewhere, but in-terest was revived by thewave of patriotism devel-oped by the Centennialyear, under the influence ofwhich Congress agreed tofinish the shaft. To L. Casey, Chief of Engi-neers, U. S. A., was intrustedthe task of enlarging andstrengthening the founda-tions—a most difficult pieceof engineering which heaccomplished with consum-mate skill. The foundations are described as constructed of a mass of solid, blue rock, 146 feet square. The base of shaft is 55 feet square, and the lower walls are 15 feetthick. At the 500-feet elevation, where the pyramid top begins, the wallsare only 18 inches thick and about 35 feet square. The inside of the walls,as far as they were constructed before the work was undertaken by thegovernment in 1878—150 feet from the base—is of blue granite, not laidin courses. From this point to within a short distance of the beginn
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