PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION.

Northern Advocate, 15 February 1912, Page 6

PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION.

MEMORIAL TOWER AT THE

GOLDEN GATES

A symbolic tower 850 ft high, is planned as one of the features of the

Panama-Pacific Exposition <in San Francisco. The plans call for a granite, anchored base, 220 ft square; a shaft 85ft square, with corners rounded, of steel construction, with marble of terra-cotta veneering, rising 625 ft above the base, and surmounted by a large glass and steel globe 85ft in diameter. At night the globe will be illuminated.

The approximate cost of the structure will be 1,000,000 dollars. The tower is designed to serve as an observation point during the exposition, and subsequently may be of advantage to the (Government as a lighthouse and signalling station, weather observatory, anc 1 wireless station. It will be located on the side of a knoll overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the ■Golden Gate, and the top will have an altitude of 1000 ft above sea level.

The undertaking is a private enterprise, and engineers have pronounced the plans to be entirely feasible to charge an admission fee until such time as the tower has paid its original cost and a fair return on the investment. Four passenger elevators will run from the base to the top *of the structure for the accommodation of visitors. The exterior of the base will be adorned by large memorial statues, and in the interior will be a memorial hall, 200 ft square and about 80ft high. The four main groups of statuary adorning the structure at the top of the base will represent St. Francis of Assisi, after whom San Francisco was named, over the entrance at the front; overlooking the ocean, a commanding figure of Balboa discovering the Pacific; fronting to-| ward the land side, a group of Father Junipero Serra landing at Monterey; and overlooking the Presidio, General John C. Fremont, the soldier and pathfinder. The statues will be 80ft high. A cafe as large as the memorial hall, and an art gallery will be features of tbe upper floor of the base. The tower ? to be known as the St. Francis Memorial Tower, will welcome ships to the Golden Gate. Its general import (says "Popular Mechanics") will be like that of the Statue of Liberty, in New York Harbor.