The New York Times says they’re going to use a different boat to bring Cleopatra’s Needle twelve miles up the Hudson River from Staten Island to 96th Street. It’s called a pontoon boat. That’s a boat with a flat bottom and big floats on each side. It doesn’t have a motor. They’re going to tow it behind a steamboat.
I don’t quite understand why they have to switch boats, but there must be a reason. Maybe the water is too shallow at 96th Street for The Dessoug to dock there.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1880
Dear Diary,
We are so lucky! Today is the day Cleopatra’s Needle came to Manhattan, and it’s Saturday so Annie and I were allowed to go to the Hudson River at 96th Street today to see it come ashore. We waited for hours with a bunch of other people. And then finally somebody shouted and we all looked to see the steamboat towing the pontoon boat up the river. Everybody was cheering and the other boats blasted their steam whistles as it approached 96th Street. Mr. Gorringe and his workmen had built a landing stage at the edge of the water.
While we waited, I told Annie that I’m going to become an inventor when I grow up. And do you know what she told me? She said that she’s going to grow up and marry Mr. Gorringe! Isn’t that the silliest thing you’ve ever heard?
It’s true that Mr. Gorringe is handsome and has nice blue eyes. But he’s at least twenty years older than we are! Annie said she calculated that when she’s 35, Mr. Gorringe will be 55. And when she’s 55, he’ll be 75, and that’s not so big a difference. Annie really likes Mr. Gorringe—and arithmetic.
The route across Manhattan.
After they positioned the pontoon boat at the edge of the water, the workmen attached the iron tracks with the cannonballs in them. This time they used a big engine with a winch and thick chains around a giant drum to drag Cleopatra’s Needle off the boat. At last, it was on the island of Manhattan, on dry land! We were beside ourselves with joy.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1880
Dear Diary,
After church, Annie and I went to see how far Cleopatra’s Needle had been moved since yesterday. Hardly at all! It was still sitting at 96th Street near the river. If you ask me, they should stand it up right there. That would be so simple. But they’ve decided to move it across Manhattan to Central Park. That’s not going to be easy. But I believe that if anybody can do it, it will be Mr. Gorringe.
He has two teams of men working for him. We watched as one team put track on the ground in front of Cleopatra’s Needle, and the other team picked up the track from behind it as it inched forward. It’s very slow, but at least Cleopatra’s Needle is moving now.
It takes so much time because 96th Street slopes up from the Hudson river so they have to drag Cleopatra’s Needle uphill. They put big iron wedges behind it so it won’t roll backward into the river. Can you imagine what a disaster that would be?
I feel sorry for the men who are doing the work. I hope they are getting paid fairly. Somebody said the work pays nine dollars a week, which is not so bad. It’s more than most grownups earn, anyway.
Then I thought of another problem. A train line goes up and down Manhattan very close to the Hudson River! It runs every hour or so, even on Sundays. I was wondering what would happen if the train arrived while Cleopatra’s Needle was crossing the little bridge they put over the tracks. That would be a disaster if a train collided with Cleopatra’s Needle.
Annie told me she heard that Mr. William Vanderbilt, the millionaire who’s paying Mr. Gorringe to bring Cleopatra’s Needle here, owns the railroad. So he can stop a train whenever he wants to. One freight train did come along while they were pulling the obelisk over the tracks, but it was only delayed a half an hour or so.
The train stopping for Cleopatra’s Needle at 96th Street.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1880
Dear Diary,
Annie and I could have gone back to 96th Street today. But we decided to go see the parade on Fifth Avenue instead. The newspaper said nine thousand Freemasons were marching, and thirty thousand people lined the street to welcome Cleopatra’s Needle to New York. There were bands playing, flags waving, and lots of horses and carriages.
The parade ended at Greywacke Knoll, where there was a big ceremony. There were men in top hats and white gloves standing on a platform built just for them.
The funny thing is, Cleopatra’s Needle isn’t even at Central Park yet. Mr. Gorringe and his men are still dragging it across 96th Street. The parade was just to celebrate the cornerstone being put in the foundation that will go under the obelisk.
This is the interesting part, Diary. Along with the cornerstone, the workmen buried a time capsule in the steps of the foundation. It’s inside a lead box that was sealed with concrete to keep air out. I guess the time capsule will show people hundreds of years from now what life was like in 1880. Do you want to know what they put inside the time capsule? I made a list....
—Some 1880 coins
—Webster’s dictionary
—The complete works of William Shakespeare
—The Bible, in various languages
—A copy of the Declaration of Independence
—A New York City directory and map
—The 1870 census
—Some presidential medals
And probably some other stuff too. I heard they wanted to put Mr. Bell’s marvelous new telephone inside the time capsule, but they couldn’t get one. Too bad. Annie said that maybe they could put a telephone in later, but I don’t know how they’ll be able to open up the time capsule after Cleopatra’s Needle is standing on top of it! The time capsule and all the things inside it may be under there forever.
Oh, I almost forgot, Diary. Do you want to know a secret? Before they sealed up the foundation, Mr. William Hurlbert, the editor of The World, walked over and put one more thing inside. It was a small box. A secret box. Nobody knows what’s inside it. Well, Mr. Hurlbert knows, I suppose. But he’s not saying what it is.
I love a mystery! Everybody is trying to guess what’s in the box.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1880
Dear Diary,
Believe it or not, they’re still dragging Cleopatra’s Needle across 96th Street. It takes so long! So Annie and I went to Greywacke Knoll to see what was happening. We got there just in time to see the men using a big crane to lift up the fifty-ton pedestal, swing it over the foundation, and lower it in place.
