The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1869-07-01
The Keokuk Bridge.
From the keokuk Gate CITY

rum tIi' INtoauh 'dl' Wy
The combination of a railroad bridge
with "A wagon bridge is Il new feature, III
the manner of spanning the Mississippi
river. keokuk has taken the lead OF all
other cities of the river, in the introduce
ton of this feature. Or course keokuk
expects to reap the benefit of this par
ticular instance. The work of coIIslruc-
ting this bridge is fairly under Roadway
and will be prosecuted vigorously. The
contract for building it was awarded
some time since, notice Of which appear
ed in the Gate city, by the keokuk aud
Hamilton Mississippi Bridge Company
to the Keystone Bridge Company OF
Pittsburg, the price having been fixed at
eight hundred and fifty thousand dol
lars. The work thus far has been con-
fined principally to the quarrying and
dressing of stone for theplers and abut-
men:s. 1t is expected that the levee
abutment OH this side, the foundation of
which has been commenced, will be
completed some time during the present
month. On the Iowa side of the river
there vii! be All approach to the bridge
about two hundred feet in length. This
will he OF solid masonry, twenty feet
wide in the clear and " i'll be <urmounted
on either side with a substantial iron
ment which lead, to this approach of
solid masonry and the approach itself
there will be All opening OF about TWEEN
ty feet to admit of the passage of teams
along the levee. There will be eleven
piers III all, including the pivot pier,
the average height OF which will he thir-
ty two feet They will reach ten feet
above the high water mark of lSol. The
superstructure will be :, 1870 feet in length
and in width will be twenty feet in the
clear. There will be Il wagon track on
either side of the railroad track. Out
side of the superstruc'ure, and OH either
side. will be a passaSeWay for tootmcn
along the entire length OF the bridge
This will be five feet i'll width. The
piers will he built solid and laid in lime
stone cement. The draw will be three
hundred and seventy eight feet long,
leaving IL passage Oh either side of the
pivot pier OF of one hundred and sixty
feet on the square. On the opposite
side there will be an approach to the
bridge Of earth embankment seven hum
dred and twenty feet in length. This
will he projected by dry slope wall
The Linyile pipe truss will be used in
the construction Of the bridge. Eight
thousand cubit yards OF stone will be re-
CURED i'm the construction of the piers
and abutments, and about 5000 900 lbs.
of iron in the superstructure, only about
one fifth of which will be cast IRON
The remainder will be wrought.
1t Is expected that the bridge will be
completed by the first ofnext January.
Preparations are being made for opera
ton on the piers aS soon rs the water
shall have subsidized little more. Mr..
Smith il chief engineer in charge Of the
work. Mr.. Murphy and Mr.. Ward are
assistants, and Mr.. Wiley the
draughlsman. Our association with
these gentlemen. limited though it be,
has been Of the most pleasing and agree
able kind We shall have more to say
concerning the bridge 1t some future
Tina ~ atet as aa It,,