[Illustration: THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT UNDER CONSTRUCTION, 1872] On July 4, 1848, under a bright sky, in the presence of the President and Vice President of the United States, Senators and Representatives in Congress, heads of the executive departments and other officers of the Government, the judiciary, representatives of foreign governments, military organizations, associations of many descriptions, delegations from the States and Territories and from several Indian tribes, the corner stone was laid. Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Speaker of the House of Representatives, delivered the oration. Three distinguished persons of George Washington’s time were present on this notable occasion: Mrs. Dolly Madison; Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, widow of the first Secretary of the Treasury; and George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of George Washington. The corner stone laid, the society began operations to lay foundations and to raise the shaft. Every precaution was taken to test the understrata where the foundations were laid. At a depth of 20 feet a solid bed of gravel was reached; the strata were found to be very compact, requiring a pick to break them up. By January, 1853, the Monument was 126 feet high, and in about six years from the date of the laying of the corner stone it had reached the height of 152 feet. During this period the society continued most actively at work in the raising of funds to carry the Monument forward. In 1854, however, an act occurred at the Monument which created much indignation and public discussion through the country. A block of marble, which had originally stood in the Temple of Concord at Rome, and which had been sent by the Pope to be set in the wall of the Monument, was stolen, and no trace of it was ever found. At the time contributions of stones from societies, municipalities, and the several States were being encouraged, so the Pope’s stone was not an unusual gift. The disappearance of the stone angered and estranged a large body of citizens and discouraged the collection of public contributions, so that all construction work ceased. By 1854, $230,000 had been spent on the structure, and funds for it were now exhausted. In 1859 Congress passed an act incorporating the Washington National Monument Society for the purpose of completing the Monument. In 1869 Senator Nye introduced a bill to insure completion of the Monument, and several like bills were introduced during the next few years. On February 22, 1873, a committee of the House of Representatives recommended an appropriation of $200,000. It was estimated that $700,000 would be required to finish the shaft, constructing also a suitable base, and that the work would be completed by July 4, 1876, the one hundredth anniversary of American independence. This gave the needed impetus to the completion of the project.