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Wonder of Two World’s Fairs is Destroyed by Dynamite.Blown to pieces by a monster charge of dynamite, the Ferris wheel came to an ignominious end recently, after a varied career of 13 years. At its ending it was unwept and unsung.Constructed as one of the engineering feats of a century, it first was a feature of the Chicago world’s fair in 1893.Then for a long period of monumental and unprofitable inactivity it towered in an amusement park at North Clark street and Wrightwood avenue, it finally was removed to St. Louis to form for the second time the huge mechanical marvel of a great exposition.For more than a month heavy wagons laden with 4600 tons of steel of its construction lumbered through Chicago streets. The old wheel, which had become St. Louis’ white elephant, dies hard. It required 200 pounds of dynamite to put it out of business.The first charge was explode under the supports of the north side of the structure, wrecking its foundation and permitting the wheel to drop to the ground, a matter of but a few feet.As the wheel settled It slowly turned with its bottom as a support, and then after tottering a moment like a hugh giant in distress, It collapsed slowly and within a few minutes it was a tangled mass of steel and iron 30 or 40 feet high. The huge axle, weighing 74 tons, dropped slowly wit* the remnants of the wheel, crushing the smaller braces and steel frame work. When the mass stopped settling it bore no resemblance to the wheel which was so familiar to Chicago and St. Louis and the 500,000 amusements seekers from all over the world in the days when it was in operation, who made the trip to the top of its height of 264 feet and then slowly around and down to the starting placeFollowing the blast that wrecked the wheel, but which failed to shatter its foundatiions came an explosion of another charge of 100 pounds of dynamite. The stocks were sunk in holes drilled in the concrete foundations that supported the pillars on the north side of the wheel.The wheel was the wonder of two continents by reason of its cost of $360,000, its dimensions and its utter uselessness. It was the rival of the Eifel tower of Paris. Chicago was glad to get rid of it and St. Louis is said to have witnessed its destruction with satisfaction.George Washington Gale Ferris, president of a Pittsburg engineering firm, originated the idea of the wheel that bore his name, and adapting the constructive principals of steel bridges in its erection.
Newspaper Details
Kennewick Courier
Kennewick, Washington, US
Fri, May 18, 1906
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Alec C.
USA 04 Nov 2024
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