The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-03-15
WONDERFUL INGfN EERING.
Bridging the Knritau River In Less than One
Hundred Hours or Actual Work.

The completion yesterday Of the great
temporary trcstle bridge across the Raritan
river nj New Brunswick. marks the accomplish
mont Of the most remarkable feat in this branch
OF engineering ever performed in any country.
The rapid construction Of long and low trestle
structures has been frequent. and during the
war'we had somc surprisingly quick building
Of high bridges OF this character but greatly
lacking in the important element of soidity.
AT New Brunswick however. there is at once
long and high bridge, which seems to be as
stanch as any bridge could be. yet has sprung
into being with almost magical rapdity. At 7
O'Clock on last Saturday morning the old bridge
was in ashes. At ten minutes past 2 o'clock
Yesterday afternoon an enormous train
passed in safety over the now one. And this
Notwithstanding the fact that there was not
on tho ground at dusk on Saturday evening
enough timber to make n dog kennel. that un-
prccodcntcdly high tides ntcrfercd greatly with
the work. that during one day little could be
done by reason OF tho rain. and that furious
storm stopped everything one whole night.
Practically this immense structure. $50 feet in
length and from 3j Ia 80 feet in height was
completed in less than 100 hours Of actual work
ingtimc:,
orders were smmmoning ,cnrprniers from all
along the middle. Philadelphia. and New York
divisions OF the road Contractors In Newark
and Jersey City were drawn upon Tor a force of
lahorrrs When the men. and the lumber Tor
them to work upon. rcuch"d the ground ON
SATURDAY evening IL was arranged thni the men
from the PENNSYLVANIA divisions OF the road
should build out half Of the now bridge from
the southern end. and the New York division
the northern half. meeting in the river. In
point Of numbers the pcnnsylVnnians were at n
d disadvantage. but thoy had a wealth of cN-
periencc in Just this Kind of work that stood
them in good stead. and they were all skilled
carpenters. The JprSpymen. as those working
on the north end called themselves. numbered
from $50 to $50 against the others. 75 TO 100.
but many of them were simply laborers. fur
nshci 10y contractors and Of course neither
skilled nor particularly anxious to expedite
matters.
In some way however. n spirit Of keen emu
latiOn sprang up between the two parties. Il
did not seem To- the Jerseymen that the Penn
svlvanians were doing muck ON saturday night
and sunday morning. and they were looked
upon ns an easy lot 20 beat but the error of that
expectation was soon shown when the boys
from the Keystone State got to work They had
been making preparations for the employment
of mechanical forces instead of manual labor.
The result was that when they really COM
menred work. twelve men did all their framing,
six handled all the tmhers. ilttren-aidpd by
powerful crabs To do their hoisting-placod
the completed btnts IN position. and the re-
mainder of their force was employed in driving
bolts. spiking on braces. placing stringers and
bic advantage. The Jrrs,ymcn had no other
hosting apparatus than block and tackle; each
timber was handled by twenty or moro men,
and had To be carried long distances through
deep mud. from the framing ground down to
whore II was to b. employed.