Ames Monument
Encyclopedia
The Ames Monument is a large pyramid in Albany County, Wyoming, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson
and dedicated to brothers Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames, Jr.
, Union Pacific Railroad
financiers. The brothers garnered credit for connecting the nation by rail upon completion of the United States' First Transcontinental Railroad
in 1869. Oakes, a U.S. representative to the United States Congress
from Massachusetts, asserted near total control of its construction, whereas Oliver became president of the Union Pacific Railroad (1866 - 1871). In 1873 investigators implicated Oakes in fraud associated with financing of the railroad. Congress subsequently censured Oakes, who resigned in 1873. He died soon thereafter.
The Ames Monument marked the highest point on the transcontinental railroad at 8247 feet (2,513.7 m) However, Union Pacific Railroad Company twice relocated the tracks further south, causing the town of Sherman that arose near the monument to become a ghost town.
on a wind-blown, treeless summit south of Interstate 80
at the Vedauwoo
exit. The monument is a four-sided, random ashlar pyramid, 60 feet (18.3 m) square at the base and 60 feet (18.3 m) high, constructed of light-colored native granite
. The pyramid features an interior passage, now sealed, alongside the perimeter of the structure's base.
Noted American architect H. H. Richardson
designed the pyramid, which includes two 9 feet (2.7 m) tall bas-relief portraits of the Ames brothers by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens
on the east and west sides of the pyramid's top. Saint-Gaudens chiseled the bas-reliefs from Quincy, Massachusetts, granite. The north side, which at one time faced the railroad tracks, displays one-foot-high letters grouted in the granite noting: "In Memory of Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames". The monument is one of a half-dozen or more projects that Richardson did for the Ames family.
However, the pyramid is one of only two examples of Richardson's work west of the Mississippi River
, the other being the Isaac H. Lionberger House
house in St. Louis (less than two miles from the Mississippi river). Richardson's monolithic structure employed rough-hewn granite boulders in its construction. The monument's stones at the base are five feet by eight feet and weigh thousands of pounds each. The pyramid narrows from the base to become progressively smaller towards the top at a ratio of four inches to the foot.
Public outcry towards Oakes and other "Kings of Frauds" associated with scandal threatened the Ames family reputation and the Ames Company that dated back to 1774 when the company started making steel-edged shovels. The Ames Company later sold axes and shovels to miners during the California gold rush. The company continued its heritage as earth movers by supplying the government shovels during the Civil War, for excavating the Panama Canal
, for mining Pennsylvania
coal fields, and for digging the New York
subway system.
Memory of the financial scandal that surfaced in 1873 had not been forgotten when the Union Pacific Railroad Company built the monument honoring the Ames brothers during 1881-1882. The Union Pacific Railroad Board of Directors voted in 1875 to erect the grand Ames Monument, in part to help reclaim some of the company's luster lost during implications of fraud leveled earlier at Oakes Ames. Union Pacific stockholders subsequently authorized the construction at a meeting held in Boston
on March 10, 1875.
The Norcross brothers of Worcester, Massachusetts
built the monument for $65,000, employing some 85 workers who lived on site, "where reportedly no liquor or gambling was allowed." Workers cut the stone for the pyramid from a granite outcropping common in the area. They then used oxen teams to skid the stone a half-mile to the work site. The rough-faced granite blocks used to construct the monument in many cases weigh several tons.
Workers constructed the pyramid about 300 yards south of the tracks on a small knoll. When completed in 1882, the Ames Monument stood 300 feet (91.4 m) south of, and 32 feet (9.8 m) above, the highest elevation of the original tracks of Union Pacific transcontinental railroad at 8247 feet (2,513.7 m). The U.S. president, Rutherford B. Hayes
, underscored the importance of the transcontinental railroad and thereby the Ames brothers by attending the monument's dedication ceremony.
Several hundred people lived in Sherman, hunkered down upon a rocky, barren landscape interrupted only by a general store, post office, schoolhouse, two hotels (Sherman House and Summit House), and two saloons.
In 1885 William Murphy purchased the land that contained the monument for $9.75. He intended to cover the pyramid with advertising. The Union Pacific Railroad Company had other plans. The company obtained a special deed to the property in 1889. The railroad company's decision to twice relocate the tracks farther south to take advantage of more gradual grades over the Laramie Mountains threatened Sherman's tenuous existence a few hundred yards west of the monument. The town's death knell came in 1918. The railroad company closed its station house and relocated the tracks about three miles (5 km) south. Residents soon abandoned Sherman, leaving behind a small cemetery that is still present today.
Union Pacific donated the railroad monument to the state of Wyoming in 1983. The structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
, and is maintained as a Wyoming state historic site. Time and/or vandalism have destroyed some of the features of the bas-relief portraits of the Ames brothers on the monument. The Ames Monument is open year round, weather permitting.
Work took place in 2010-2011 to restore the monument, and local officials are promoting the monument for National Historic Landmark
status.
Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson was a prominent American architect who designed buildings in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other cities. The style he popularized is named for him: Richardsonian Romanesque...
and dedicated to brothers Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames, Jr.
Oliver Ames, Jr.
Oliver Ames, Jr. was president of Union Pacific Railroad when the railroad met the Central Pacific Railroad in Utah for the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in North America.-Biography:...
, Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
financiers. The brothers garnered credit for connecting the nation by rail upon completion of the United States' First Transcontinental Railroad
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...
in 1869. Oakes, a U.S. representative to the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
from Massachusetts, asserted near total control of its construction, whereas Oliver became president of the Union Pacific Railroad (1866 - 1871). In 1873 investigators implicated Oakes in fraud associated with financing of the railroad. Congress subsequently censured Oakes, who resigned in 1873. He died soon thereafter.
The Ames Monument marked the highest point on the transcontinental railroad at 8247 feet (2,513.7 m) However, Union Pacific Railroad Company twice relocated the tracks further south, causing the town of Sherman that arose near the monument to become a ghost town.
Richardsonian design
The Ames Monument is located about 20 miles (32.2 km) east of Laramie, WyomingLaramie, Wyoming
Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....
on a wind-blown, treeless summit south of Interstate 80
Interstate 80
Interstate 80 is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, following Interstate 90. It is a transcontinental artery running from downtown San Francisco, California to Teaneck, New Jersey in the New York City Metropolitan Area...
at the Vedauwoo
Vedauwoo
Vedauwoo is an area of rocky outcrops located in south-eastern Wyoming, United States, north of Interstate 80, between Laramie and Cheyenne. Its name is an anglicized version of the Arapaho word "bito'o'wu" meaning "earth-born"...
exit. The monument is a four-sided, random ashlar pyramid, 60 feet (18.3 m) square at the base and 60 feet (18.3 m) high, constructed of light-colored native granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
. The pyramid features an interior passage, now sealed, alongside the perimeter of the structure's base.
Noted American architect H. H. Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson was a prominent American architect who designed buildings in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other cities. The style he popularized is named for him: Richardsonian Romanesque...
designed the pyramid, which includes two 9 feet (2.7 m) tall bas-relief portraits of the Ames brothers by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens was the Irish-born American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the "American Renaissance"...
on the east and west sides of the pyramid's top. Saint-Gaudens chiseled the bas-reliefs from Quincy, Massachusetts, granite. The north side, which at one time faced the railroad tracks, displays one-foot-high letters grouted in the granite noting: "In Memory of Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames". The monument is one of a half-dozen or more projects that Richardson did for the Ames family.
However, the pyramid is one of only two examples of Richardson's work west of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, the other being the Isaac H. Lionberger House
Isaac H. Lionberger House
The Isaac H. Lionberger House at 3630 Grandel Square in St. Louis, Missouri is the last private residence designed by noted American architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Designed in 1885-6, the building was built after Richardson's death. The Lionberger House became a St. Louis Landmark in 1975. ...
house in St. Louis (less than two miles from the Mississippi river). Richardson's monolithic structure employed rough-hewn granite boulders in its construction. The monument's stones at the base are five feet by eight feet and weigh thousands of pounds each. The pyramid narrows from the base to become progressively smaller towards the top at a ratio of four inches to the foot.
History
The audacity of building a transcontinental railroad in the 1840s was "today's equivalent of the mission to Mars: Big, expensive and impossible," according to University of Wyoming historian Phil Roberts. President Abraham Lincoln reportedly told Oakes Ames that if he could get the transcontinental railroad built then he would be "the most remembered man of the century." Lincoln personally recruited Oakes after progress by and financial support for Credit Mobilier of America, the construction company charged with building the railroad, ground to a halt. The Ames brothers succeeded where others failed and completed the transcontinental railway. However, in 1873 charges of financial fraud were leveled at Oakes, tarnishing his and the Union Pacific Railroad Company's reputation.Public outcry towards Oakes and other "Kings of Frauds" associated with scandal threatened the Ames family reputation and the Ames Company that dated back to 1774 when the company started making steel-edged shovels. The Ames Company later sold axes and shovels to miners during the California gold rush. The company continued its heritage as earth movers by supplying the government shovels during the Civil War, for excavating the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
, for mining Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
coal fields, and for digging the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
subway system.
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
on March 10, 1875.
The Norcross brothers of Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
built the monument for $65,000, employing some 85 workers who lived on site, "where reportedly no liquor or gambling was allowed." Workers cut the stone for the pyramid from a granite outcropping common in the area. They then used oxen teams to skid the stone a half-mile to the work site. The rough-faced granite blocks used to construct the monument in many cases weigh several tons.
Workers constructed the pyramid about 300 yards south of the tracks on a small knoll. When completed in 1882, the Ames Monument stood 300 feet (91.4 m) south of, and 32 feet (9.8 m) above, the highest elevation of the original tracks of Union Pacific transcontinental railroad at 8247 feet (2,513.7 m). The U.S. president, Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...
, underscored the importance of the transcontinental railroad and thereby the Ames brothers by attending the monument's dedication ceremony.
However, when completed in 1882, the Ames Monument was visited by many persons who were allowed to momentarily leave their trains in order to view the monolithic curiosity. It was said that when the construction of the monument was almost completed, some people had the opportunity of being lifted to the top of the monument by a special rig and from their breezy perch could view the surrounding area for a hundred miles in all directions.
Sherman
The small town of Sherman arose at the site north of the tracks where trains stopped to change engines on their transcontinental journey. The stop provided a roundhouse with five stalls and a turntable, two section houses, and a windmill with water tank. Trains were inspected at Sherman before beginning the long descent from the Sherman Pass summit, either east towards Cheyenne or west across the 130 feet (39.6 m) high Dale Creek Bridge to the Laramie Valley. The trusses for the original wooden trestle bridge located west of Sherman were prefabricated in Chicago and shipped to the site. The bridge was the highest railroad bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1868.Several hundred people lived in Sherman, hunkered down upon a rocky, barren landscape interrupted only by a general store, post office, schoolhouse, two hotels (Sherman House and Summit House), and two saloons.
In 1885 William Murphy purchased the land that contained the monument for $9.75. He intended to cover the pyramid with advertising. The Union Pacific Railroad Company had other plans. The company obtained a special deed to the property in 1889. The railroad company's decision to twice relocate the tracks farther south to take advantage of more gradual grades over the Laramie Mountains threatened Sherman's tenuous existence a few hundred yards west of the monument. The town's death knell came in 1918. The railroad company closed its station house and relocated the tracks about three miles (5 km) south. Residents soon abandoned Sherman, leaving behind a small cemetery that is still present today.
The monument today
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, and is maintained as a Wyoming state historic site. Time and/or vandalism have destroyed some of the features of the bas-relief portraits of the Ames brothers on the monument. The Ames Monument is open year round, weather permitting.
Work took place in 2010-2011 to restore the monument, and local officials are promoting the monument for National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
status.
External links
- Ames Monument, Wyoming Division of State Parks and Historic Sites
- Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office article
- Save Outdoor Sculpture Survey for the Ames Monument