Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 12, Number 33, 29 September 1880 — MARK HOPKINS' TOMB. The Magnificent Mausoleum Completed— A Detailed Description. [ARTICLE]

MARK HOPKINS' TOMB.

The Magnificent Mausoleum Completed— A Detailed Description. The monument erected in the City Cemetery, Sacramento, to the memory of the late Mark Hopkins is now completed. All that remains to be done is to clear up the grounds and grade and ornament them. This monument is the largest and costliest on the Pacific slope, and in its construction the best work known to the stonemason's art has been applied. It is the judgment of experts that for solidity and massiveness it is surpassed by no work in the United States, and has few if any equals. From beginning to end there has been spared neither money nor time to make the work complete, and to bring it as nearly to perfection as is possible to the skill of man. The work began on the cemetery grounds April 8, 1879, and has been diligently prosecuted ever since, with as full a force of skilled workmen as could conveniently be employed. To look upon the monument in its simplicity very few will realize its cost, or form any adequate conception of the labor employed upon it, or the skill applied to its construction. The very things calling for the exercise of THE HIGHEST SKILL In the constructor's art and for the most careful execution, and the nicest calculation, are those things which do not appear by a mere view of the monument. So nicely is the work finished, that very few will, by looking upon it, understand the great difficulty experienced in matching and fitting in such a structure polished stones one to another, and where there is not a single broken joint. Nor does the exterior view of the tomb give any intimation of the fact that all the stones, without exception, are doweled and jugaled together, as was done in building the Eddystone light-house, which means that these massive blocks are held to place, one to the other, by a kind of gigantic dovetailing, by which they lock into each other in a clasp so firm that nothing short of a fearful earthquake can break them apart, or cause the slightest variation in the lines of the joints. Some of the stones in the tomb, are of immense size. For instance, some of the rough blocks weighed no less than thirtysix tons, or 72,000 pounds each. The north and south sides of the tomb proper are composed of single blocks which, estimated by the weight per cubic foot, weigh something like eighteen tons each. Either one of the base courses will weigh about twenty tons, and the fine roof blocks weigh about seventeen tons each.

THE DESCRIPTION

Of the tomb involves a careful measurement of all the pieces in the structure. It is located upon a gentle inclination, near the summit of the highest knoll in the cemetery, and stands in the center of a plat 44 by 49 feet on the extreme boundaries. This plat is entirely inclosed by granite walls, and the concrete foundation beneath the walls is 7 feet deep. On this concrete rests the boundary wall, which is of granite, and is crowned by a coping in fifteen-foot pieces 2 feet 6 inches in depth and 2 feet wide, and the whole is finished in ten cut, patenthammer work. The style of the coping is Egyptian. The granite is from the Crystal Lake quarries, in the Sierra Nevada mountains, not far from Emigrant Gap. At the corners of this inclosure rise square granite posts, changing into octagon form, and finishing with round tops. Each post is 2 feet 6 inches square by 3 feet 1¾ inches high. On the west is one of the entrances to the plat, with a 9-foot opening, and approached by two granite steps rising to a granite platform 5 feet 8 inches by 10 feet area, with buttresses inclosing the same 5 feet 2 inches long by a width of 1 foot 6 inches. At each side of this entrance is a post similar in style and size to the posts at the corners of the plat, but the round tops are polished, and the top plane is somewhat larger in area. On these planes or beds rest two vases, each of highly polished ROCKY MOUNTAIN RED GRANITE, And each vase is three feet in hight, by two feet six inches at greatest diameter. Each vase is hollowed out to a depth of over two feet, and fitted with a pipe in a hole drilled through the post and vase, by which moisture from the earth may be drawn up by the plants to be placed in the mouth of the vases. These vases, are very handsome, and are superior specimens of art. From the entrance platform the visitor by one step rises to a parapet walk, which extends entirely around the tomb, and rests upon a concrete and masonry foundation nine feet deep. This parapet walk is four feet in width, and is composed of the red granite, white Crystal Lake granite, and black granite in alternate courses, or bands, each polished, and the whole presenting an agreeable combination to the eye. This parapet walk drops away in the four feet one inch, to form a shed for water. Passing around this walk, to the eastern entrance, which is upon the slope of the hill, it is found to be of like width with that on the west, but the approach is by eight granite steps rising 6 and 1-16 inches each, or about 4½ feet in all. The finish is the same as at the western entrance, but the posts on this side and the wall, are, of course, deeper by 1 foot 8 inches, and there is no platform or landing at the top of the steps. The railing and posts are jugaled together, raised and sunk, and by this doweling are held firmly in position. All the stone work in this wall, the steps, platform and posts is laid in Portland cement, and pointed with a composition made of white lead and putty, the joints being made to match the color of the stone. It is probable that no better laid wall than this is to be found in any monumental work on the continent. The visitor turns west, in his examination, to THE TOMB Itself. In size it is 20 feet 9½ inches by 10 feat 10½ inches, and 12 feet 6½ inches in hight to the ridge, or extreme upper point of the pediment—which is the triangular facing of the fronts, and is common to finished porticos. From the base of the lower step to the top the monument is 18 feet in hight. Themonument or tomb is a vault or sarcophagus; its style of architecture, Egyptian. The entire exterior of the tomb is built of Rocky Mountain red granite, brought from a point about 15 miles from Fort Laramie, Wy. T. The surface of the entire tomb is highly polished. Beginning a review of the structure at the west portal, which is the front proper, the lower base course is found to rest on a 7-foot foundation of concrete and 2½ feet of masonry, and in the latter the stones are doweled and clamped together. This makes the foundation depth 9½ feet. The base course on the fronts of the tomb is composed of one complete stone, and each is 16 feet 10½ inches long, by 4 feet 7¾ inches thick, by 3 feet 1¾ inches rise. Each of these stones has on the fronts a single polished raised panel, 1 foot 8 inches wide with a margin line of 4½ inches. The quoins are of like finished stone, 4 feet 7¾ inches each, with panels forming with those of the three intermediate blocks of each side when jointed together, plumb 4 inch margins. Thus eight stones form the entire base course of the structure. This base course washes back 1 foot 2½ inches, rising 4 inches from the panel, and then rises with a 4-inch plinth to the hight of its bed, and then runs back with an inch chamfer to the base line of the die part. The attention of the visitor now rises TO THE DIE, By which is meant the main body of the sarcophagus, or tomb. On each of the fronts are two buttresses. Each at the base is 2 feet 1½ inches, and at the top 1 foot 7½ inches, and thus each batters on the outer side and front 6 inches in its full height of 5 feet 6 inches. The inner face is perpendicular, showing a recess of 1 foot 1 inch at the base, and, of course, dropping back at the top as described. In each of these frontal recesses are three granite doors forming the front of the die part of the tomb. Each central door is 4 feet 7 inches in width, 5 feet 6 inches in hight, and each of the side or flanking doors, are 2 feet 9 inches by 5 feet 6. Each door has a raised panel, forming a 4 inch margin, and washing back 1¼ inches. The panels are raised ¾ of an inch and drop back so that when the doors are set together the margins form a chamber of a shape like the letter V. The central stone is inscribed: MARK HOPKINS, DIED MARCH 29, 1878, Aged 64 Years. These letters are chiseled in four sunken panes, and are raised, with polished faces, upon a ground of sparrow-pick work. Each door rest upon its lower base in a scotia or cove. The bottom edge of each door is made round, that it may oscillate freely in the cove as the doors are dropped from the top outward. The doors shut back against the roofstone, and lock into it. The lock is au ingenious device. which it is not necessary now to describe. The sides of the die part consist each of a single stone, 18 feet 3 inches at the base, by 17 feet 3 inches at the top, and 5 feet 6 inches high. The end of each stone shows the pilasters at the ends, described in the sketch of the fronts of the tomb, and between which pilasters are the two frontal recesses. Each of these IMMENSE SIDE BLOCKS Has a single raised panel 2½ inches from the face, and each is 4 feet 1 inch by 16 feet 1 inch. The panels rise from the face threequarters of an inch and then drop back 4 inches, forming the full hight of 2½ inches. The top or roof of the tomb is composed of five stones, each 15 feet 2 inches long, and covering the entire width of 13 feet 4 inches and the 17 feet 3 inches of length, thus giving a projection all around of 10½ inches. The two stones which form the front are of pediment form. Start-

ing at the top of the die, and following entirely around it, is a half-round bead 4½ inches thick, which projects about 3 inches. The cove above this is of a 10½ inch radius. This brings the eye to the base line of the pediment, which has a 3-inch chamfer with a half inch raised panel. On this panel is a sunken panel with a ground of sparrow-pick work on which is chiseled, in a raised 8 inch letters of polished face, the name MARK HOPKINS. This pediment rises from its bed line to its pediment line 2 feet 10½ inches, and the rise the pediment has is 12 inches, rising to the center of the stone, which is 7 feet 7 inches from the corners, thus making an apex of 1 foot. The cornice, running from one pediment to the other, embraces five panels worked on the ends of each of the roof stones, and they are in keeping with the other finish of the structure. The entire surface of the roof is highly polished. On opening the doors at either end; or frent, one comes upon six inner marble doors, three above and three below a shelf which divides the interior midway throughout horizontally. These doors are put together with screws and are moveable bodily. The interior, or catacomb, is found to be divided off into six compartments at either end by slabs of white granite, forming grottos for the deposit of sixteen bodies, as four of these receptacles are double. The entire interior work is finely dressed, and there is a total absence of ornamentation. All the inside work is doweled and jugaled together, as is indeed all the work of the tomb, as has been stated. The ventilation of the sarcophagus is secured by an aperture three inches in diameter opening to outer air on the sides of the parapet, or walk-way, into a channel which passes under the lower base course, and comes up through each of the divisions of the receptacles or grottos. Above are apertures, three inches by one-quarter of an inch, cut out under the head of the roof stone — two on each side — and finished so as to be pleasing to the eye without disguising their purpose. Each of the roof stones is doweled at the joints to its neighbor, and grouted full of cement, so that no water can possibly work its way in. COST. The entire structure was contracted to be erected for $50,000. Added to this was the cost of the immense stones, furnishing the same, and their transportation. The contractor paid only for quarrying and for moving the stones from the Sacramento depot to the cemetery, and the expense of this latter job was no less than $100 per stone. From this the actual cost of the structure may be conjectured, as the real figure is not now known. It is estimated by some that, with two or three exceptions, beside the Capitol, this tomb must have cost more than any dwelling or public building in this city. The curious may desire to know how the great stones forming the doors are opened, and for such it is to be stated that the process is to unscrew a brass nut, which conceals and protects the keyhole in each door, and which is located at the upper edge of each. This keyhole is set in the face of a tube which runs back to the lock, and by the key mechanism is operated, which unbolts the door from the roof-stone. It then stands at a perfect perpendicular, and a slight pull will tilt it outward, when it must be received by a derrick rigged to support it, as it oscillates in the scotia or cove at its foot. The general idea of the construction of the tomb originated with Arthur Brown, of San Francisco; the plans were drawn by Wright & Sanders, of San Francisco. Mr. Brown had general supervision of the work; John Lee, of San Francisco, was the contractor for the erection of the tomb, and was in personal charge of the work, and George Green, of Oakland, was the foreman in charge from the beginning to the day of its completion. OLD-TIME FACES.— Yesterday while some stowaway photograph materials, left from the old Dickman gallery, now occupied by Leftwich, on J street, were being overhauled, a large group photograph was found of the Confidence Engine No. 1 Fire Company of Sacramento, taken in 1859 by Dickman. There were fourteen members composing the company, whose name, so far as known, are as follows: A. T. Rhoads, Foreman, still in Sacramento; George W. Langville, Assistant Foreman, died in San Francisco on his way to the States in about 1864; James Lansing and Leonard Harris, still Sacramentans; James H. Moore, afterwards Deputy Sheriff, died on the steamer while en route East, about four years ago; William Bruen, afterwards Chief Engineer of the Fire Department at Portland, Oregon, died last year at that place; Curtis Clark, Watson Nichols and Charles P. O'Neill, now residing in San Francisco; Thomas Rooney, killed in the “Bank” at the corner of Second and K streets in 1862 or 1863; Fred D. Tyrell, died in this city about nine years since. The names of the remaining three members could not be ascertained. The picture was evidently well taken, for its date, and is in a good state of preservation. The members are formed in two rows in a semi-circle, those in front sitting, and two large dogs, which, it is said, always ran to fires with the company, lie upon the floor in the foreground. The picture is now in the show-window of the I X L Store, on J street, between Fifth and Sixth, and is to be presented to the Exempt Fireman's Association. METROPOLITAN THEATE.—This evening, at the Metropolitan Theater, the Widow Bedott combination opens for a season of four nights. The leading comedian is Neil Burgess, in his original creation of “Widow Bedott,” the play of that name being from his pen also. Many years ago a series of papers appeared in an Eastern magazine entitled “The Bedott Papers.” They were broad caricatures of follies, customs and manners, presented under the guise of the remarks, conversation and soliloquies by an old-fashioned Yankee widow named Bedott. The papers became very popular, and, in book form, had an immense sale. Some of them have been dramatized; that is, the text has been thrown into dramatic form, and this is the play that is to be presented to-night. It has had a decided success in San Francisco, and has there enjoyed a long run. It is full of humor and sparkles with quaint wit, say the critics, and gives two hours of chaste entertainment with hearty merriment, that meets the popular desire for the mirthful at exactly the right point. Seats can be reserved at Weidemann & Hromada's without extra charge. REMAINS OF WM. C. BROWN.—The remains of Wm. C. Brown, the engineer who was killed at Oakland wharf by the accident on Sunday night, were brought to this city last evening, and taken to the residence of his father, J. M. Brown, on Eighth street, between E and F. The funeral will take place this afternoon, and be attended by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, of which organization the deceased was a member. When the locomotive upon which he lost his life was raised out of the water, yesterday, he was still remaining in the cab, and his position indicated that he went down at his post and still holding to the levers. His conduct in this was most heroic, and by it probably very many lives were saved. SERIOUS RUNAWAY.— Between 2 and 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, as Robert Meyers was driving with an open buggy along K street, accompanied by Mrs. Shuler and child, attending a funeral, the horse when at Third street stumbled, and was hit with the whip, which caused it to jump and take one of the lines out of the driver's hands. Before he could regain it the horse started into a brisk run and struck the buggy against an awning post in front of the City Hotel, smashing the vehicle into numberless pieces and throwing the occupants out upon the walk. Mrs. Shuler received serious internal injuries, but the others escaped with slight bruises. The horse was stopped at the corner of Fourth and K streets. SICKNESS.—Diphtheria, influenza, throat and lung complaints and severe colds rule in the city now. The contraction of these is attributed in seven cases out of ten to the art gallery at the Pavilion. Coming out of the heated Pavilion at night last week, into the art gallery people were met by a cold draught of air sweeping through the open end, and hence the colds. Another time better hermetrically seal the ends than take such risks. In several sections of the city diphtheria has appeared, but in most cases in a mild form. REMEMBER, we will commence closing out several important lines of corsets, at the most remarkably low prices, to-day noon. Ladies, make sure and be present. Mechanics' Store. * LADIES who were so delighted with the work done on the Davis Sewing Machine at the State Fair will be pleased to learn that a general agency has been opened at 714 J street, Jacob Lang manager. * LADIES who are interested in that allimportant article of dress, “The Corset,” should not fail to read our new advertisement in to-day's issue. Mechanics' Store. * WHO originated the one price system and broke down the enormous profits on dry goods? The Red House. * DON'T MISS our corset sale, to commence to-day noon. Great bargains in store for those who will call early. Mechanics' Store. * OUR ASSORTMENT is the largest exhibited in Sacramento. Hat Department, Mechanics' Store. *