Five-and-Half Ton Stone on Memorial Causes Difficulty
May 30, 1935
Columbia Missourian

The large stone which is being erected at the intersection of Ninth Street and Conley 
Avenue by the Daughters of the Confederacy as a memorial to Confederate soldiers has 
caused much speculation and toil.

The stone, sitting on a little concrete base, weights five and a half tons.  It is a granite 
boulder, coming from Graniteville, Mo.  The Orscheln Brothers Truck Lines was 
responsible for the task of moving it.

“It was a hard job to load and unload that rock,” said Ben Blaser, supervisor and the one 
to whom O. S. Sigler sublet the contract.  “It took us a whole day to lower it on its 
foundation.”

When taken off the truck it was facing the wrong direction.  The rock had to be turned 
through 180 degrees to face in the right direction.  The terrific task of revolving those 
five and a half tons of granite on that small base was accomplished by iron rollers and 
two giant jacks.  Should the rock fall, the danger of death was imminent, since human 
heads were under it to see that the rollers were placed correctly, and jackmen were raising 
one corner an inch at a time.

Nute Coates, the 74-year-old youngster, manipulated the point and mash hammer as 
accurately and nimbly as if he were a boy.  Nute has worked on most of the buildings on 
the campus.  His latest “big job” was on the Memorial Tower.  This was work on 
limestone, an easy rock to work with.  The big stone was red granite, however, and with 
such a brittle rock care must be taken always to judge properly the grain of the rock.

But Nute doesn’t miss.  He executed his work with precision and accuracy, and the rock 
was shaped to fit its foundation.