Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-10-16
SMELLING BRIDGE.
Contractor Horton Explains the Cause O
the Delay.

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Contractor Horton Explains the Cause OF
the Delay.
An adjourned meeting of the bridge com.
mission was held in the mayors Office yes
terday forenoon, Mr.. Dawson in the chair.
Present, Messrs. Knaphide, Lindeke and
Cochran.
Mr.. Horton, one of the contractors, being
present, the chair called upon that gentle
man for an explanation concerning the rea-
sons for the delay in the completion of the
work and the prospects for it's immediate
prosecution. In reply to the request, Mr..
Horton made quite an extended explanation,
commencing with the statement that owing
to the delay of the train on which he arrived
yesterday morning, he had not been able to
see his foreman, and was unable to give an
exact statement of the progress of the work
since his absence.
He continued, with the remark that all of
the iron for the 18l feet span had been
shipped, and that the long span was about
one quarter completed. Forty cars of iron
work were to arrive in all, thirty-one cars of
which had been shipped, or we're now on the
way, leaving nine cars to arrive, with every
assurance that all the iron would be landed
at the bridge within the next ten days. In
reply to a query it was stated that by push
ing the work the bridge would be fully COM
pleted in about six weeks. The bridge
would be ready for the plank road bed by
the 1st of December, which could be laid at
the rate of 200 feet per day, or finished in
work.
The difficulty in getting the iron through
was spoken of, in the course of which Mr..
Horton stated that some of the cars lad
been delayed seven days between st. Paul
and Fort Smelling. The difficulty in having
the plans approved was ass igned as princl-
pal cause of the delay, and Mr.. Horton call
ed attention to the condition of the iron
mills, which were described as wholly e.
moralized owing to the scarcity of raw ma
terial and the advance in prices, which bad
gone up 100 per cent. from May let to the
LIST of September. 70 substantiate the as
sertion, the speaker referred the COM
mission to certain contracts between the
Keystone works and the Cincinnati Southern
railroad, by which the company had agreed
to construct number of trusses, but for
the reasons above given the completion of
their contract had been delayed several
months.
Up to the present time forty men had
been employed on the bridge, and the sole
reason for the delay rested in their inability
to get the iron.
The Keystone company had agreed to fer-
nish the iron already in position by the 18th
of May, instead OF which it had not been re-
ceived until the 23d day of August.
The chair stated that the public had man
ifested great deal of dissatisfaction at the
delay in the completion of the work, and
that no inconsiderable share of the odium is
attached to the commission, on the suppo-
sitron that the members were responsible
for the delay.
In response, Mr.. Horton replied that the
contractors would loose over 81, 900 cash by
the delay, and that they were naturally in.
terested to a greater extent in the speedy
completion of the work than any one else.
The question of responsibility was briefly
adverted to, and reference was made to the
unquestionably sound character of the
sureties.
The chair enquired as to the probability of
getting an early answer from Gen. Terry
concerning the right of way for the road
through the military reservation, to which
Mr.. Cochran replied that the plans had been
submitted to Gen. Terry, who promised an
answer at the earliest moment possible. Ad-
journed.