EXCEEDINGLY RARE NIKOLA TESLA ARCHIVE INCLUDING A LETTER OF INTRODUCTION OF THE FORMAN AT TESLA’S DOOMED WARDENCLYFFE TOWER PROJECT
Nikola Tesla Typed Letter Signed. One page, 8″ x 10.5″; New York; January 21, 1902.
Tesla writes a letter of introduction to William D. H. Washington for Ruloff Houck, a foreman overseeing construction of Wardenclyffe Tower. He writes: “This will introduce Mr. Phillips to my builders, George Mertz’s Sons, or their representative, Mr. Houck, who directs the work at Wardenclyffe, Long Island. Mr. Houck will, upon presentation of this, render Mr. Phillips every possible assistance in examining the hole and give him any other information he may desire to obtain. The train for Wardenclyffe leaves every morning at 8.55 A.M. foot of East 34 Street ferry, arriving there at about 11.30 A.M. The return train leaves for New York at 3.04 P.M. This will give Mr. Phillips just time enough to thoroughly examine the ground.” Signed, “N. Tesla.”
Construction of Wardenclyffe Tower (also known as the Tesla Tower) began in 1901. Tesla’s ambitious designs for the Tower began in the 1890s, and his goal was to create a worldwide wireless system. The Tower was intended to be used to transmit messages, telephony, and images across the Ocean to England and to ships at sea. With limited backing from financier J. P. Morgan, Tesla’s ambitious goals were riddled with challenges from the beginning. In July of 1902, reports of a construction accident at the Tower were published in The Port Jefferson Echo, a Long Island newspaper. The report noted that Mr. Houck pulled his carpenters off the job because a piece of timber came crashing down on his men who were installing tiles on the outside of a tall tower.
The Tower was reported to be 186 feet tall, and there was a ten by twelve foot wood and steel lined shank sunk 120 feet into the ground. Likely, the large excavation is the “hole” Tesla was referring to in his letter.
Unable to secure additional funding, work on Wardenclyffe stopped some time in 1903. The press began turning on Tesla, calling his project a hoax. Tesla took out a mortgage on the property in 1904 to cover his living expenses. By May 1905, Tesla’s patents on alternating current motors expired, halting royalty payments and further restricting funding for the Tower. The property was eventually abandoned, and the buildings fell into disrepair. An article in Export American Industries in 1916 about the Wardenclyffe Tower project was titled, “Tesla’s Million Dollar Folly.”
The letter is accompanied by a letter of introduction addressed to Ruloff Houck by W. D. Crow on behalf of McKim, Mead & White, the architects of Wardenclyffe Tower. The letter states that A. W. Moore will be representing the firm during construction of the Tower. Although Stanford White designed the main building, it was Crow who designed the Tower.
Also included is a 5.5″ x 4″ photograph of Ruloff Houck and his son, noted World War II aviator Kenneth Houck, and a clipped news photo of the Tower. It is accompanied by a letter of authenticity issued by PSA.
This letter was obtained from the estate of Kenneth W. Houck.
