In the context of this artwork, discuss the Construction of the History.
On September 10, 1897, two days after he met with the association, Smith ran an ad in the local newspaper calling for contractors to bid on the construction of the monument. Ten bids were submitted by firms from Asheville, Atlanta, Georgia; Augusta, Georgia; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Pacolet, South Carolina; and Wilmington, North Carolina. The contract was awarded to James G. Colvin of Asheville, who bid $2,758. There was also a call for bids on granite from the Mount Airy and Salisbury quarries in North Carolina, and the quarry in Pacolet, South Carolina. Southern Railway Company offered to reduce the freight rate for shipping from the North Carolina quarries. However, J. C. Johnson of the Keystone Granite Quarry in Pacolet received the contract and had quarried the stone by mid-November 1897.The association decided the best place for the monument was on Court Square (now Pack Square) where there was an existing water fountain. This location was approved by Asheville's Board of Aldermen and Buncombe County's Commissioners, with the fountain being removed on September 27, 1897. Lines from the Asheville Telephone Exchange that crossed court square near the proposed location were relocated to a back street.R.M. Ramsay received the contract to dig the monument's foundation and began work on October 23, 1897. The first shovelful of dirt was thrown by John Y. Jordan, with the second by John O'Donnell. By October 28, the foundation was excavated and contractor Colvin was installing 18 inches (46 cm) of cement for the monument's foundation.The groundbreaking ceremony of December 22, 1897, laid the monument's cornerstone. By January 6, 1898, polished granite panels for the pedestal had arrived and were being installed. However, after two panels were installed, superintendent of construction and architect Smith rejected both because the stone had a naturally occurring white line running diagonally across it. This defect was not visible until the granite was polished. Replacement stones were ordered from the Keystone Granite Quarry. The next day, the first capstone was moved from the railroad station to the construction site; it weighed over six tons and took eight mules to move it. Each stone cost more than $100, delivered. On February 4, 1898, four railroad cars of granite arrived from South Carolina, including the replacement pedestal panels.Once the pedestal was completed, work began on placing the stone for the obelisk. Each stone block was raised by attaching it to a 100-foot-tall (30 m) derrick boom lift, using rope and chain. A team of men then used a windlass to raise the stone, one inch at a time. While using a boom to raise a capstone over the monument on February 27, 1898, one of the ropes on the block slipped and fell to the ground. Instead of having to lower the block to the ground, Will Ward, a climber with the Asheville Telephone Exchange, came to the rescue. To get a new rope lashed to the block, he climbed a distance of 100 feet (30 m) hand over hand to the peak on the monument. His climb took ten minutes and nearly ended in tragedy when he accidentally slid partway down the line provided for his descent. Ward got construction back on track, with plans to install the capstone the next day.By March 8, 1898, only 15 feet (4.6 m) of the monument remained to be constructed. The next day several hundred people and photographers gathered at Court Square, with others at the courthouse tower, to watch the placement of the final pyramidal top stone which weighed 1,900 pounds (860 kg). The plan was to move the stone block to the top of the obelisk, and then use the derrick to raise stonemason Hugh Crawford 75 feet (23 m) to the top of the monument via a rope tied around his waist. However, as the workers were using the windlass to raise the stone, the boom started to lean slightly to the south. Once the stone was raised several feet off of the ground, it started to hang to the north like a giant plum bob. The boom "groaned and strained" and there was the sound of timbers cracking. As the crowd panicked and rushed to safety, one man tripped over an apple vendor's baskets, causing apples to roll everywhere. However, the windlass men gave enough rope to relieve the strain on the boom and safely brought the stone to the ground. They determined that the problem was caused by the breaking of a 2-inch (5 cm) board that was part of the splicing of the boom; the boom had to be lowered and re-spliced and lashed before work could continue.As the crowd gathered the next day to watch the second attempt at placing the top stone, they stayed farther away for safety. However, the repaired boom worked and the stone was placed on the obelisk with "absolute smoothness". Throughout the entire construction process, there were no injuries.
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta windlass South obelisk Asheville Pacolet, South Carolina Augusta, Georgia Mount Airy Chattanooga, Tennessee Buncombe County Wilmington, North Carolina plum bob Salisbury Southern Railway Company