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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 1911)
! I n i 1 i I New Union Pacific Office Building Ornament to Omaha J. -; V ' ? :-'-5l : - - V H'lfj r' r. K )( IsQ';.-!-;-"" 'fl- 7:.:; pi- ' n s&zk f" - "? - ' .... l 1 V - ' 3 i 1 -' I 8 ' Kt? - ' ' u I - '-i I I K t If 1 Hi , . JB '. , ; r; iy;J) j i J I T . - ' M L ...... : M - A : ,v- ; . ;! .-. L L.- r!SLar " tF . , -.i -sr."1 1, S., ' - Xv IS OMR yenrs aeo the great WestlnKhouso comi'any decided to put up a large power plant In Birmingham, Kngland. The general contract was let to an American firm, the Stewarts of St. Louts. One of the firm went to England to get things moving. When he asked for contractor to do the actual building work the B.tlshers figured a long time, then announced they could do the work In, six years. As time was the essence of the contract in this case, the American told the Englishmen bluntly they must do better. After more figuring, the most pro gressive of the native contractors said he co.'ld do the Job in five years. Then the Impatient St. Ixul3 man took the reins in his own hands, went ahead and made his own arrangements and finished the plant in a year. And he accomplished the work with out a strike or any other trouble, with union work men. He simply insisted the British bricklayers and other workmen proceed as their American brothers would. Instead of the briqk being laid in the leisurely English fashion, for Instance, Stewart let It be un derstood that they would have to be laid on the American plan, with the slow men hustling to keep up with the fast ones, instead of vice versa. English builders were astonished; more,-? Ihey were awakened from a long, long slumber. The ef fect was good, for the achievement of the American firm was heralded all over the world. This surprising man, Stewart, who thrilled Man chester by his methods, is a member of the firm of Stewart Bros. & Co., that is now erecting the Union Pacific office building in Omaha. The firm takes the largest contracts in several lines, and has work under way In many parts of this country, and some times abroad. It maintains nine separate offices and keeps gangs busy all the year round. Will be Ready On Time. "When Is the Union Pacific company to have pos session of this building?" was asked of Charles Mueller, who Is the superintendent for the Stewarts on the Omaha Job. "On the first of August," replied Mr. Mueller. "Will it be ready at that time?" And the ques tion was asked with Just a hint of a doubt behind It. "Yes, sir, the building will be ready for the com pany to take possession on that day." Superintendent Mueller U a quiet man, with the Teutonic characteristic of earn..t'.ne88. He is very much the matter or course workman, who knows his business and gies i bout It methodically. He does not spend much tlmi in the office rootus, but gets all over the Job many times a day. The equipment used on such a job as this is cal culated to nievt allv requirements for quick action under any sort of circumstance. Eight holating engines are used, five derricks and five material ele vators, besides concrete mixers and other parapher nalia In the line of machinery. Two of the derricks are about as large and powerful as are used any where in the world. "How do jou get these big derricks up from one floor to the next?" Mueller was asked. "They lift themselves." was the rather startling reply. But as Mueller explains the operation, it Is simple. He Indicates with a pencil on a piece of paper how the boom Is unshipped from the mast and hoisted to its place on the next floor by the mast. Then the mast In turn Is hoisted by the boom and In short order the great lifting structure is again swinging tre mendous loads to all parts of the building. One of the large derricks Is of steel, the other of squared timber of extraordinary length and perfect soundness. Lumber U8ed to Scrap Stage. At the start of such a building as the Union Pa cific Is putting up the contractors have a stock of lumber In view totaling 780.000 feet. This Is of all sorts of dimensions and Is used over and over again, for forms, scaffolding, staging snd other pur poses. K'hen the Job Is finished not much of this lumber will be left except some scraps, and Mr. Mueller will tell you these will be hardly worth con sideration. Structural steel is the bl Item, of course, aui of the Largest JDerrjokS in the WbrJd Qtx the Top Floor In this building 3,000 tons will be used. Besides this, S.100 tons of miscellaneous iron and steel are required. The total weight of the building will be 60,000,000 pounds. Forty iron workers handle and put all this steel and Iron in place and they have a record of 100 tons a day in good weather. Bolts have been handled and screwed Into joints to the number of 4 0,000. and 60,000 rivets will have been driven when the Iron work is all done. i These Iron workers are a class all to themselves In the buikling line. People watching from the Btreet sometimes express a conviction the man with the wrench must be crazy. He is not; far from It. He Is practical t3 a degree, trained to ignore danger, and walks the top of an Iron beam away above the street with the confidence In which a sailor climbs the rigging of o ship. In the picture llustratlng this article, some of these upper air artisans have beea caught in typical attitudes part of their daily Btunt. Fast Work is the Rule. Swiftness and accuracy are "the things"" in the makeup of a good iron worker. His thoughts must be centered on his work, not on the possible danger of his walk. He "rides the beams'' frequently; goea with them to the point where they are to rest, as part of the load, and when he has plied his wrtnch sticks a leg through a loop of rope or sets a foot in an Iron hook and is away on a high swing after another load. Sometimes he meets with an accident and death may result. It's all in the day's work; the risk is part of the game. Somo of the men have been with the Stewart company for years; others take their chances with all the big firms, from time to time, thus in a few years seeing the whole country, from a high view point. Of common and pressed brick, 3,500,000 will be ustd. The common brick is made here in Omaha, ' ' ! f A r 1 r 4 , CI 9 i lH.;r JLLJ ; IN - i ' r r ssi ") w m mm Tii i n "iJ'.tiiH'V-' Mtm -- fmmmi ' 7. " '"'UTafca : "2 . . 1 1 ' i r 1 triH m 'ssjsirv.C-jas J "- 5' - . A . .. the Omaha Brick company having received the con tract. The pressed brick comes from the east. Korty to fifty cars of granite and cut stone are required by the specifications. The granite comes from Maine and the cut stone from Indiana. From Colorado conies the marble, twenty-five cars or more, and floor tiling from Ohio. Oak for the interior finishing has been made up in Chicago, and the Mid land Glass & Paint company of Omaha will supply the vast quantity of glass of various kinds needed. Oceans of paint will be required, too. Like the iron, the granite, marble and finishing stuff arrivts in Omaha all ready to be put In place. The stuff is numbered where it is cut and dressed each piece separately, and by floors. A finishing gpng follows the setting gang, to see that everything Is made right. Some cement is required to stick things togetlu r In spots from cellar to attic; to be exact, 40,000 liar rels. Of sand there is beins us;d 17,000 yards, and 12.000 yards of gravel. The amount of interior nttinen, finishings and decorations, put into one aggregate, j8 something tre mendous. Hardware alone will cont to exceed $20,000. The iron work Is now up to the point where the roof trusHtB are being placid. Thse have a fifty three foot Fpan, are seven feet hlh and wcieh ap proximately 18,000 pounds. Seven Acres of Floor Space. When the building is uiilslied the Union Pacific will have Moor spuce little short of seven acres, on twelfth floors, inclusive, will have an area of 21.3CS the company who will not consider himself distinctly benefited by the change to tile iu w quaiter.s. for in the present building everybody and everything is crowded to a disagreeable degree. The basement will have an area of 35,282 square feet, the first floor 2 4 ,C 17 square feet. The becond to twelve floors, inclusive, will have an area of 21.3 6S square feet each. Two light courts are provided, the middle court being fc!).7x:.0.6 and the east tourt so.Tx 36.7 In size. Doors to the number of almost 4 00 will be pro vided on the twelve tloors, and the windows In the building will number dose to 1.000. Under the French system of taxation the company would bu lia ble for a tax on every outer door and every window, but the American people demand plenty of light and the best sort of ventilation. The blue print room of the company, In the sup plementary Ftcrv above the twelfth, will be lh." feet from the street level. From sidewalk We! to coping ill be 173 feet, and the top of the flagpole will be 210 teet above the street. The coping of the City National building is 202 feet above the sidewalk, but it has four more stories than the Union Pacific building. Many of the hustling cities of Nebraska that hold a more or less important place on the map and In business circles have not a population equal to that which will live in this building during the daytime. They will number well over 1,100 men and women. They will have at their service elevators, pneumatic tube systems, telephones and telegrapn offlccs, res taurant everything that modern business life de mands for its needs, that work may bo done quickly and effectively. The architect of the building Is .larvis Hunt of Chicago, and John A. Wight is the superintending architect, always on the work. An Ornament to Dodge Street. This new building, which will be the home of the Union Pacific in the west, is of a character that would reflect a high degree of credit on any city in the land. Its erection hud been decided on before the death of the iate E. H. Harriman, and when the decision to build was reached it carried with it the assurance that expense would not be spared to niako the structure typical of the railroad it represents. Under the de clared policy of this great railroad system everything In the building line, from roadbed to offices, must be done with an eye to solidity, sufety and the highest etlicicr.cy. At the very beginning of tho building the question arose as to the most desirable kind of foundation. While the caisson plan was at first considered seri ously, conditions on the site seemed to call for some thing else. So piling was decided on, and timbers of extra length and approved soundness were specially secured. The plies averaged forty-five or more feet In length, and l,f83 of them were driven In groups of (iylit to twelve. The completion of this magnificent otllce structure will mark a great change'in its Immediate neighbor hood, according to Judges of Omaha property. The ticket offices of the road will be on the ground floor, and so many peoole have buslnets iith the headquar ters of a rallroa ! like the Union Pacific that other owners of property la tho suine block and the sur rounding blocks are expected to Improve their prop erty In a way to revolutionize the present appearance of things about the corner of Fifteenth and Dodge. The first Indication of this spirit Is the remodeling of the old McCsgue Investment company building, which will shortly be occupied by Its new owner, the Ouiabfc Loan and Building association.