Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1874-07-09

From the st. Louis Democrat We
clip the following portion Of tse de-
scription given by that paper Of the
great bridge 1t st. Louis:
"Tho bridge has three spans, form
ed with ribbed arches made of chrome
steel. The center span is $40 feet, and
the other two 500 feet each. The four
arches forming each of the spans CON.
sists Of an upper and lower curved rib
extending from pier to pier, and .
horizontal system of bracing extends
between these ribs for the purpose Of
securing the arches in their relative
distances from each other. The two
center arches of each span are Is feet
81 inches apart from center to center,
and the upper member Of one arch 10
secured to the lower one of the other
by 9 system Of diagonal bracing. The
roadways are formed by transverse
iron beams II Inches in depth. From
the opposite ends OF the iroa beams
forming the roadways q double sys-
TEN OF diagonal horizontal bracing
binds the whole together. The ex-
trcme width Il 81 feet 2 inches. The
upper roadway IL "a feet wide between
the two footwalks. The latter are
eight feet In width. The railway pas
sages between the carriage ways ere
each "a feet six inches in the clear and
eighteen feet high. The railways are
carried over the wharf on i've stone
arches, each twenty-six feet wide, and
enclosed BY . cut stone archade Of
twenty arches supporting the upper
roadway. They are their carried on
brick arches into the tunnel ON Third
street. On the Illinois shore tho rail.
way reaches the level Of the East ST.
Louis railways by . descending grade
of one foot and half in every 100 for
. distance Of 5000 feet. The carriage
road o. the eastern end descends with
. grade Of four feet in every loo, and
on the Missouri side the grade 10 near.
ly level. The footwalks are separated
from tho roadway by iron railing
about three feet high, and the iron
railing on the outside Of tho upper
floor Of tho bridge 10 about four and :
half feat high. Gas lamps have been
erected on either side Of the upper
floor, and the bridge 10 always illum.
mated.
THE euPERsTRUCTURE
10 the work of the Keystone Bridge
Company, Of Pittsburg. The contract
was made ON the 26th Of February,
1870, and the chrome steel was manu-:
featured BY the VIM. Butcher Com.
pany, Of Philadelphia. A great deal
of dif6culty was encountered in pro.
curing steel Of the right quality. The
slaves composing the tubes were 70.
quired to stand compressive strain
Of 10000 pounds, and . tensile strain
Of 10000 To tho square inch dissection,
without permanent Get. They with.
stood tensile strain Of loo 600 ponnds
without fracture.
THE WEST ABUTNENr
10 1l5 feet high above the bed rock Of
tho river, and contains 1880 cubic
yards Of masonry. This was the most
difacult part Of the work, and seemed
for . long time to banjo the ingenuity
Of the professor. In his report upon
this portion Of the work the chief en-
gineer says: Its site had been for
over sixty years part Of the steam.
boat wharf Of the city, and ~ such had
received every kind Of useless mater
ial thrown overheard from the vari.
ous steamers lying over Il during that
time. The old sheet IRON snvelopinG
their furnaces, worn ont CRATE bars,
old iirs bricks, parts Of smoke stacks,
stone coal cinders and clinkers, and
every manner Of things entering into
the construction Of Q Mississippi
steamer, seemed 10 have found rest
ing place en- this spot and constituted
. deposit averaging twelve feet in
depth over the rock. During the mem.
orAble lire Of 18l9, when twenty.niue
akAAa~n~. 1900 AA~A~A-~S - Al. $780,