United States subscription, 4,000,000 dollars; foreign
subscriptions, 1,446,675 dollars; total, 5,446,675
dollars.
This was the large sum poured by the public into the
coffers of the Gun Club.
No one need be surprised at its importance. The
work of casting, boring, masonry, transport of workmen,
and their installation in an almost uninhabited country,
the construction of furnaces and workshops, the manufacturing
tools, powder, projectile and incidental expenses would,
according to the estimates, absorb nearly the whole.
Some of the cannon-shots fired during the war cost
1,000 dollars each; that of President Barbicane, unique
in the annals of artillery, might well cost 5,000
times more.
On the 20th of October a contract was made with the
Goldspring Manufactory, New York, which during the
war had furnished Parrott with his best cast-iron
guns.
It was stipulated between the contracting parties
that the Goldspring Manufactory should pledge itself
to send to Tampa Town, in South Florida, the necessary
materials for the casting of the Columbiad.
This operation was to be terminated, at the latest,
on the 15th of the next October, and the cannon delivered
in good condition, under penalty of 100 dollars a
day forfeit until the moon should again present herself
under the same conditions—that is to say,
during eighteen years and eleven days.
The engagement of the workmen, their pay, and the
necessary transports all to be made by the Goldspring
Company.
This contract, made in duplicate, was signed by I.
Barbicane, president of the Gun Club, and J. Murphison,
Manager of the Goldspring Manufactory, who thus signed
on the part of the contracting parties.
STONY HILL.
Since the choice made by the members of the Gun Club
to the detriment of Texas, every one in America—where
every one knows how to read—made it his
business to study the geography of Florida. Never
before had the booksellers sold so many Bertram’s
Travels in Florida, Roman’s Natural History
of East and West Florida, Williams’ Territory
of Florida, and Cleland on the Culture of the
Sugar Cane in East Florida. New editions
of these works were required. There was quite
a rage for them.
Barbicane had something better to do than to read;
he wished to see with his own eyes and choose the
site of the Columbiad. Therefore, without losing
a moment, he put the funds necessary for the construction
of a telescope at the disposition of the Cambridge
Observatory, and made a contract with the firm of
Breadwill and Co., of Albany, for the making of the
aluminium projectile; then he left Baltimore accompanied
by J.T. Maston, Major Elphinstone, and the manager
of the Goldspring Manufactory.
The next day the four travelling companions reached
New Orleans. There they embarked on board the
Tampico, a despatch-boat belonging to the Federal
Navy, which the Government had placed at their disposal,
and, with all steam on, they quickly lost sight of
the shores of Louisiana.
