YANKEE BUILDING YARNS

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 5349, 20 November 1885, Page 4

YANKEE BUILDING YARNS

[to the editor.]

Sir, — It would never do for you, as an editor, to be held responsible for the accuracy of the numerous American stories that come under your notice from time tc time ; but the New Zealand public must not be supposed to swallow '"'-all they read. «This last story, in Wednesday's paper about "a brick factory chimney, 90 feet high, 130 tons in weight, 6 feet in diameter, moved 100 feet to another position," is indeed, to say the least, astonishing, if only true, and far more so to those who know anything about brick and stone building than to your colonial born readers, whose knowledge is limited to light timber constructions, of one or two storeys ; which, being bolted and strapped together, can be moved without much damage if proper precautions are taken. But it is quite another thing, where heavy brick or stone buildings are several storeys in height, fHlfhose resistance to disintegration, consists %in the adhesion of the motar, or cement ■, v to the bricks or stones ; and when the tremor of an earthcause brick or stone IPmiildings to crumble to pieces, wherpas a constructed framework of timber is slightly strained ; the difference in dealing with the two kinds of buildings, as regards removals, will be readily understood, to say nothing of first raising the total weights evenly, and then moving it along horizontally, and smoothly. -Eleven years ago an English friend, Eswho bad resided some years in America, 'told me that large marble built hotels were sometimes raised to a higher level of roadway, and sometimes moved to a fresh position ; but on pressing him closely with technical qustions, it turned out that these so-called marble built hotels, in Chicago were only timber framings, covered on the outside with thin plates, or veneers of marble sawn to about |th of an inch in thickness, and screwed on to the timber framings, which of course would make hundreds of tons of weight difference in a large building. Coming home to Greymouth and com-mon-sense, look at our substantial new Harbor Board offices, in solid brick walling—Would any sane man propose to lift this building and place it in the police grounds, without every yard of brickwork being damaged, to say nothing of lifting and moving such a weight? and yet we are often told American tales of " greater works than these, that we may marvel." A brick chimney stack five or six times the height of these walls would be an utterly useless thing after removal, " be it accomplished never bo wisely." By-the-bye, the height and diameter of the chimney-stack being given, and allowing for a proper thickness of brickwork, I find the weight given as 130 tons about correct, which is all that can be proved by figures at this distance from the reported transactions. — 1 am, &c, W. H. EsPEN-ir. [It is common enough in Canada and the United Sta+es to see stone-buildings raised and another story added to them ; and not many years ago an account went the rounds of the Press of how a large hotel in Boston was moved a considerable distance, the ordinary busiress of the hotel being carried on in the meantime.]