Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-05-17
CovINGrON NEWS.

HIsToRY AND STATUS OF THE BRIDeE.-
The proposition 10 connect tho cities of Cow
ington, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, by a
bridge was first agitatod in ts46, and an act
Of the General Assembly of the Common-
wealth Of Kentucky was obtained incorpor-
asing atm company iST5sss AZ shas
In l949, however, application was made 10
the Legislature of-Ohio, to confirm the act of
Incorporation granted by Kentucky, which
was done with certain notifications, the
chief of which was a restriction of the Com
pany to the erection of bridge without
piers and fixing The span and elevation.
The latter provision made II necessary to
change the original purpose Of the Company
with regard to the plan of the bridge-mak-
ing II a suspension, instead of pier bridge.
The original capital stock was 100000
which was increased BY the amendatory acts
Of Kentucky, OF February 2b, 1856 and Feb
ruary g. 1853, and of Ohio, of March 20, 1856
and April 2, 1858, to $1,000, 900.
By the act of Kentucky of February 6, 1853
and OF Ohio Of April 2, 1858, the Company is
authorized to issue preferred stock, and to
borrow not exceeding 100000, and issue
bonds therefor secured by mortgage at such
rates of interest as the Company may deem
proper, and the bonds issued may be converti-
BILE into the stock of the Company, on such
conditions as the Company may prescribe.
The estimates of John A. Roebling, Esq,
engineer of the work, are that the bridge will
cost about $1,000, ,0O6.a II win be seen from
the report of the Company for the present
year, that there have been expended on the
work about 100000, and there is now due
and available, in cash and material subscrip-
tions, over $l00, ,000.i t.' .'a' 20 u'--1 'aia
The charter fixes the maximum dividend
at fifteen per cent, and the toll must be so
reduced that it must be within that sum.
This will, in q short time, without doubt, re-
duce it to one-half the present feIriage rates.
Any calculation upon this subject must be
based upon the prospective increase in the
population of the city, otherwise it will fall
far below the reality 10 H"',si '7i' :" "'' '1' ,
Let there be no estimate for an increased
business, and assuming that the bridge will
getbut one.halfthe business of the ferries, tits
| confidently believed The bridge will pay, from
the day 1t is opened, the maximum dividend
| allowed by the charter to-wit; fifteen per
| cent. per annum. ,l.-. 80
| All experience teaches that the increased
facility afforded by a bridge will give cor
responding increase of business. We need
but cite, as one of the very many cases known
| to us, the bridge connecting the cities of Gov
ington and Newport. Six years ago the
communication between these two cities was
by means of ferry across Licking River. The
| ferry was managed by one person, with an
| ordinary ferry-hat. The receipts from that
ferry furnished a bare subsistence to the ferry
man, and were altogether inadequate, con-
| sidered simply as II reward for the labor per-
formed by the terryman. The bridge was
erected at a cost of eighty Thousand dollars,
and now pays eigth per cent per annum divi-
dend on its cost, with gradual but con-
stantly increasing revenue No one at all
| conversant with the facts will hesitate to say
that the business of bridge connecting Gin
cinnati and Covington will pay more thar
twenty times, or even thirty times thC
amount received by the Covington and New
port bridge. -.
The liabilities of the Company are payable
during the years 1850, 1861, and 1862, and
amount to $4,000. The wharf property is
on a perpetual lease, at IS, 200 per annum
subject TO purchase, at the pleasure of the
| Company, at $4,000. BY making this a
freehold, the amount of Indebtedness would
be $4,000. The amount now due the Com
pany being Sl53000, it could pay all indebt-
edness, and have what would be considered q
collectable balance of at least, $4,000; SC
that, with the additional amount which /:
proposed by the Railroad ordinance, and
which can, without doubt be raised, the
bridge can be completed within three years
at farthest.
| BATHING IN THE RIVERA large number
of boys, from ten to eighteen years Of age
habitually resort to the flat-boats and RATS
at the foot of Vine-street, on the Cincinnati
side, and about fifty feet from the ferry land
ing every evening from three o'clock till
night, for the purpose of bathing in the river
Of course our police need onlyato have their
attention called to the matter, of which they
| have, no doubt, been ignorant heretofore