The George
Rogers Clark Memorial is slowly sinking into the soil along the Wabash River
because of inadequate drainage around the monument to one of Indiana's
Revolutionary War heroes.
Leaks in the
memorial's basement have weakened the 67-year-old structure's foundation and
caused it to shift slightly, said Dale Phillips, supervisor at the national park
in Vincennes.
"If you look at
the stone block on the corner you can see how it has moved and is settling," he
said. "Eventually, it will just sink into the ground."
Phillips said
fixing the drainage problem and repairing the monument's base will cost
millions. Just to lift the base and fix the leaks will cost about $4 million, he
said.
Ernie Quintana,
the new regional director of the National Park Service's Midwest region, visited Vincennes on Tuesday to meet with
Phillips.
He said
Congress appropriated more money for the park service this year, but it was not
enough. "At least 10 percent of the parks in this region began the fiscal year
at a deficit," he said.
The budget
shortfalls and the monument's foundation troubles mean Vincennes Mayor Terry
Mooney's dream to again see the memorial lighted up at night will not come true
anytime soon. The current wiring is unusable, officials said.
The memorial
was dedicated June 14, 1936, in a ceremony attended by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt. In 1966, it became part of the National Park Service.
The circular,
column-lined memorial includes a bronze statue of George Rogers Clark, who in
1779 led troops in seizing Vincennes' Fort Sackville from the British, ending
Britain's claim to the region.
Clark was the
older brother of William Clark, who with Meriwether Lewis led an expedition of
what was then the uncharted West from 1804-1806.
