Wilmington journal., 1867-04-05


TIE New IRon RAILWAY BRnaEs.-We aysilod
oursoH Thursday Of little leisure to visit Hilton
for tho purpose of noting and chronicling a few,
items of interest relative to tue new Iron Railvy,
Bridges, nov in process of construction Mt tb;s
point. Through the Kindness Of the spneripte,
dent aud the Contractors our visit was node an
exceedingly pleasant and interesting one an5
much Information was cleaned in regard to tbo
progress of the great work II is. In our humble
opinion, one of the most important steps vbicb
has been undertaken here for number of vesrs
and, when finished will add most materially to ,b
wealth and prosperity of our city, in that both
trade and travel will be greatly facilitated therein,
By this means the three roads leading from ~;
city, the Wilmington and Weldon, the Wijmin,,,o,,
and Manchester. and the Wilmington. CharInt.a
and Rutherford, will be connected With iron b,rds
and general frc ;ht and passenger depot will adj
greatly to the comfort and facilities of trave,,r1
freight.
The route to be pursued in the junction of tbooo
roads is as follows On this side of the river .
track from the Wilmington and Wddon Rai,rosd
from point about halfway between tho citr .nI
Smiths creek bridge will connect viii the briaoc
al Hilton from thence, after leaving the bridoo
upon the western side Of the North last river. u
distance through the swamp Of tw and one
eighth miles, will bring it to the brige at the
North West Cape Fear, which bridge is to cross
that river at or Meares' Bluff. from that
river the road is 20 diycrge-Ono track f it pass
ing nearly duo south will strike the Wilmington
and Manchester Railroad near Brunswick turn-out
about two and half miles from here, VILE %hc
otl4cr, running in north-westerly directon. Will
conioin with The Wilmington, Charlott anG
Rutherford Railroad near the present empo-
rary shops, aul about three and Il balfmilcs
from the city. 1t is also Intended that q rack
shall connect the present depot of the latteroad
with tho Hilton e.:d OF the bridge. The suer-
struction OF thess bridges will consist of tEec
spans Of an average Of $50 feet, and draw scr
the North East, and one span Of 2l7 feet an Il
draw over the North West brancl of the river
This Buperstruction will rest upon cast iron pnC-
matte cylinders filed with concrete and of abl-
monts at either shore Of both rivers of sold m.
sonry. The whole is constructed upon The pla
known rs Bollman's Patent Trust Susponsio
Bridge and is made under tho immediate persons
superintcndancG OF Mr.. Bollman himself who is all
the contractor, and who has had an experience
over thirty years in Railroad bridge building
including some Of the heaviest works i'll this cou,
try in Cuba and in South America. This ia,
should De IN lCseH 1ull Oh lne
and durability of these stupendous works.
! This Company is known as the Wilmington Rail
way Bridge Company. 1t was organized under
charter granted by the Convention of North Car
olina, dated June 23d, 1885, and the stock 10 held
exclusively by the three Railroads, and in the fol-
lowing proportions by the ". W. Rail oad Com
pany, 100000 ; by tie ". & NJ. Railroad Com
/ pany, 100000, and by the W., c. & 4. Railroad
dcretand has been already raised and that $3.50 OOO
is deposit in Baltimore, subject to the drafts
| Of the contractor. The officers are r. y. Brdg-
ers, President : ". Fl. Mcdowell, Engineer and
Sup't: S. D. Wallace Secretary and Treasurer,
! and j. It. Bridgers, Rob't H Cowan, Fl. NJ. Dranc,
! S. !. Person and Henry Mutt, Directors.
Dir. II. Boliman. who, ss We have previously
mentioned here. is The contractor for tho whole
! work. is ably assisted in lis plans by Mesers. ".
T. Bartlett and T. H. Erown, both gentlemen Of
erninence AMI ability in their profession.
The progress now being made in the work il E
rapid or. The intervening piece Of swamp lan1
! between the Two rivers has been cleared, and on
Monday Mr.. BolIman viii commence the trestl,
woll. on it. and by December it is hoped that thC
entire work will be completed.
This is. as we have said, great undertaking
and one the difficulties of which but few unprofcs
sionals can even conjecture. Somc idea, though
may be formed of the mag gnitudc of the task whe-
it is stated that at the point OF crossing on the
North East, the river has at one place depth
thirty four feet, and in tho North West the great
est depth is as much as iifty-three feet.
The massive iron castings for tho superstruc
turc Of these bridges is nearly all complete in Bal
/ timore, and is now awaiting the call of the con
tractor here.