Identifier: storyofwashingto00todd (find matches)
Title: The story of Washington, the National Capital
Year: 1889 (1880s)
Authors: Todd, Charles Burr, 1849-
Subjects: White House (Washington, D.C.) United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.)
Publisher: New York London : G.P. Putnam's Sons : Knickerbocker Press
Contributing Library: Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection
Digitizing Sponsor: The Institute of Museum and Library Services through an Indiana State Library LSTA Grant

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a lobby, where one finds a circular ironstairway leading to the summit of the dome. Roundand round the great iron structure it winds, the peo-ple below growing smaller and smaller as one as-cends, and Brumidis divinities on the canopy draw-ing nearer, until at last one passes through the shellof the dome, and is on the exterior, with the greatspherical roof rising above. Creeping over this,one comes out at last upon the tholus or cupola,directly under the great statue of Freedom. Fromthis point the whole city is spread out before onelike a checkerboard, and the beauties and peculiari-ties of LEnfants plan may be studied at leisure. The avenues radiating from the Capitol, the pub-lic gardens, parks, and shades, the noble public edi-fices, the great Washington Monument dominatingall, the broad Potomac beyond, a ribbon of silver ina sea of green, and the eternal hills guarding thewhole,—one cannot fairly realize the natural beautyof the capital until it has been viewed from this eyrie.
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THE DOME OF THE CAPITOL. 205 206 THE STORY OF WASHINGTON. We have time to notice here some of the mechani-cal details of the great dome on which we stand. Itis formed, we find, of a series of ribs, to which sheetsof iron are securely bolted, the whole being paintedwliite every year to prevent rusting. Four thousandtons of iron, and eight years time were required toconstruct it. It was designed by Thomas U. Wal-ter, who in 1860-63 was architect of the Capitol, andwas built under the direction of Charles F. Thomas.Nice engineering skill was required to provide for theexpansion and contraction of the iron by heat andcold, and to withstand the tremendous force of thewind in gales. For the dome moves perceptibly infurious storms. In the great gale of December 10,1864, for instance, it was observed to sway severalinches. Mr. Walter, the designer, was also theauthor of a novel device for marking the expansionand contraction. From the tholus of the dome hesuspended a wire which reached to the

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