Every four courses of the wall stones (about 11 feet) the derrick was raised, perhaps by unshipping the boom and using it as a lesser mast to raise the mast proper. Square timber sticks were then beginning to be used for staging, instead of the round trunks of small trees and saplings previously used. A sketch of the monument shows a squared timber stage for pointing the joints. Such a stage could be much more easily erected, and was more reliable than the round sticks, tied at the joints by cords. On paper, Willard had performed the painstaking task of dimensioning every stone, each with its top (the build) a little narrower than its bottom (the bed), so that the true taper of the obelisk would be maintained. To set the stone to line was the chore of the erecting force. On the top of the stone already in place lime mortar was spread, enriched with hydraulic cement, and with a sprinkling of iron filings. (A popular, modern, commercial waterproofing compound utilizes the fact that, upon oxidizing, iron particles mixed with the cement mortar expand, thus reducing the voids and producing a denser mass when the mortar sets.) Temporary wooden wedges would be placed at the corners of the stone already in place, to support the heavy new stone until the mortar had hardened. When the ponderous stone had been speedily raised from the ground to a level a few inches above the mortar, the engine would be stopped; the derrick adjusted to right or left, and in or out, until the stone was very closely in line. Next, riggers would push on the bridle chain which attached to the two lewises in the stone’s top surface, guiding it to its true position in its gentle descent as the engine lowered it the few inches needed to bed it. A tiny fraction of an inch “out-of-line” would be serious, for such errors if repeated, or if not compensating, would visibly throw the monument out of line. On a light stage high above the ground, bracing themselves against gusts of wind, the riggers would be intent on the necessity for such accuracy, but not forgetting their own safety, for no careless workman could work for Savage. They would remember that, while laying the last stone of the 12th course, at the southwest corner, one man had been pushed off (the only death on the project). _Profitable Project_ Happily, the good riggers raised their monument, course by course, to the top. They were under a boss who knew his trade, and he was making money--the sign of content on any construction project. (Savage made some more money after the monument was finished, when he retained the steam engine that had been used for hoisting stone, for the purpose of raising a passenger car to the top. For the car ride he collected $0.20, as against the $0.125 for visitors who climbed the stairs.)