Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1873-09-04
How the Soldiers Build Bridges.
An Interesting Incident OF the Yellow
stone Expedition.

An Interesting Incident OF the yellow.
stone Expedition.
The Northwestern Expedition under
Gen. Stanley has met with no little
trouble. A correspondent tells how
they crossed a swollen stream with no
bridge and no pontoon. How to cross
it, was the question. There were two
One was to construct
rope-line elevated railway, with an
aerial car to be pulled back and forth
by hand. Another proposition made by
Lieut.. P. 81: Ray, of the 9Th U. 8. in.
fantry, was to extemporize boat. All
that he asked was wagon bed, some
rope, and tarpaulin. The railroad
finally gave way to the boat line. There
was danger in hauling q Cal back and
forth, that its center of gravity might
not receive due respect, in which case
we should rob our horses to feed the
stream. On the other hand there was
much distrust in the boat. Prophetic
ally it sprung o leak several times be-
fore it was launched. alphabetically,
it was 80 laden with contingencies that
there was no need of launching 1t at all.
But Lieut.. Ray said, I shall show my
faith by my works. Gen. Stanley an
swered Yea. A wagon body was dis
mounted. 1t was wrapped on its bottom
and sides in a heavy "paulin which
was firmly secured by ropes. 1t was
the work of few minutes to make it
and launch it. The heavy canvas effec-
tually kept out water. 1t was safely
navigated to the other side. General
Stanley and Lieutenant Ray were
among the first to cross the rapid
stream. A number of men, stationed
on each side, easily pulled the boat
across, receiving no little aid from the
current. On this little craft we could
safely put 1000 pounds of forage. 1t
solved one element in the problem. In
five or six hours we had ferried enough
stores and forageto supply the company
of cavalry and two companies of infan-
try that formed the surveyors escort.
The next question was, how should
we get over our heavy train and teams? !?
On Sunday afternoon, while we were
crossing our forage, the stream showed
decided tendency to fall. Its level
was quoted at various stages during the
day, but toward night our stake showed
q decrease of three or four inches. 1t
is characteristic of these streams that
they rise and fall very rapidly. If the
rise is rapid, the fall that succeeds is
most likely to be so too. AS the stream
was decreasing, it was hoped that by
morning it would be sufficiently low
and narrow to permit building with the
short timber that grew along its banks.
The hope was delusive, the expectation
vain. Instead of going down, the
stream, refreshed by some remote trib-
utary, went up to its original height.
When Monday morning came, we were
just as far from the other side as the
day before.
Gen. Stanley was determined to wait
no longer. Lieut. Ray once more. solved
the problem. He offered to built a
bridge and cross the command. But
how could he build bridge without
timber, pontoons, or lumber? We have
in this expedition over 100 water kegs.
Nearly all of them are reformed whisky
kegs.
Ninety six empty kegs were accord
ingly ordered to report at the stream.
Four wagon beds were dismembered of
their covers and wheels. Twenty-Five or
thirty men were then set to work to bung
plug and thekegs. Only those thorough
ly coopered were accepted the dry and
unserviceable ones were rejected and
their places supplied by others. Each
of the wagon-beds just held twenty-four
kegs placed on their ends side by side
in three rows. Some timber was, mean
while, cut into poles, and one pole
placed lengthwise over each row of kegs
to keep them in place. Ropes and
chains were passed over the poles and
completely around the wagon-beds, so
that the booms and kegs were firmly
secured. The wagon-bodies were then
dragged down the bank and launched
in the water bottom side up-that is,
with the kegs down. Each wagon bed
was then floating upside down, upheld
by twenty-four air tight kegs. These
extemporized floats were then moored
lengthwise in the stream. The next
trouble was to lash them securely side
by side. This was no easy matter; but
Mr.. Ray met it as he did every other
difficulty in the construction with a
ready brain and a ready hand. He had
one man on the first float with him, with
his coat off and sleeves rolled up, lashed
them together with his own hands. The
shores were lined with officers and men
watching the experiment. Very little
confidence was expressed in the struc-
ture by the wagon master and teamsters.
"I tell yer," said one, "this here thing
amt goin' to work no how. Jest as
soon as one of them big wagins gifts on
that bridge the old thing II sink an
wagins and mules will go down." Some
of the less experienced officers consider
ed the whole thing as foregone failure.
The bridge, like the boat, was born un-
der cloud of doubt.
BY means of some wagon reaches and
a plenty of picket rope, the floats were
finally fastened together. If we had had
some plank now to place across the in
verted wagon beds, one bridge would
have been completed. Il we had only
brought one plank to each wagon in our
train we should have had ten times as
much as we could use. But we had not
single available plank on board. We
were compelled to fall back on our extra
wagon tongues and reaches. These
were placed side by side across the
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