 The city was unable to raise money to build the museum , and the stones were damaged in five fires . The first came soon after the crates were set down in Golden Gate Park . Morgan said that " piles of burning boxes were pulled over and down by the Fire Department , many hurled over a hundred and fifty feet . " Hearst died in 1951 , and Morgan died in 1957 ; neither of them saw anything built with the stones . Two fires in 1959 appeared to be arson , and many of the fire @-@ heated stones were weakened or cracked from sudden cooling by water . In 1960 , Steilberg was hired to inspect the stones once again ; he used a ball @-@ peen hammer to lightly strike each stone and listen for a solid ringing tone or a dull thud which indicated cracking . He found that a little more than half the stones were sound . 
