The Russellville Democrat., 1880-02-05
Engineering Triumphs.
St. Louis Republican


 The ill-faten Fay bridge, before it met with the late terrible misfortune, was supposed by many persons to be one of the greatest triumphs of engineering the world had ever witnessed. We are un- able to discover upon what this belief rested, unless it be assumed that the longer the bridge is the greater must be the engineering skill displayed in it's con- struciion. Judged, however, by this ab- surd standard alone, the Fay bridge has many rivals. Even the old wooden bridge over the Potomac might challenge a comparison with it on such grounds.
 The difficulties which an engineer has to surmount in building bridge relate chiefly to the depth of the foundations and the length of spans. It is generally agreed by them that, all other things being equal, these difficulties will in crease with the square of the depth of the foundations and the length of the spans. That is to say, if the depth ot foundations be 100 feet the piers will be one hundred times more difficult and costly to construct than if but ten feet deep; and spans 800 feet long will be twenty-five times as difficult anl costly as spans only one-fifth of that length.
 The law of increase will, of course, be modified by the different conditions wich characterize different localities At one of two similar localities the engineer may have to encounter great floods, with vast areas of drift wood, or heavy fields of hoatingice, while at the other locality these difficulties may never be present. Great tidal fluctuations. violent winds, unstable sands, or ailuvial deposits, may have to be contended with at one place, while at another, where similar bridge may be needed, these additional difficult ties are unknown.
 It must follow, therefore, that bridge with but one single span may in its con- struction require much greater ability in the engineer than another one with twenty spans of the same length, just as a mile or two of railway through preciptious mountain gorges must con stitute a greater triumph of engineering than 800 miles of railway built on the level plain. Suspension bridges for similar reasons cannot require so great a degree of engineering tai ent, as bridges with fixed spans of great length and foundations | The piers sustaining such bridges are usually placed under the margins of the stream. where the depth is least, and  where the works of construction are oui of danger from passing vessels, drift ice and the like. Their spans involve much less difficulty, skill and caution Tn cree ton. They are not considered as safe and stable for railway traffic as fixed spans, and are consequently rarely used for such purposes.
 Of the Tay bridge the New Castle ! Chronicle declared in 1874: Even after our American cousens have got all due credit for the big thing they have done in this direction, the fact still remains that the Fay bridge is in its way, DOT haps, the most remarkable structure ir the world"
 If we compare the Fay bridge with the one over the Mississippi at St. Louis its claims as "a masterpiece of engineer ing" fade away into utter insignifcancc
 According to the published accounts l the Tay bridge consists of S5 spans. The thirteen spans which were blown away were each 245 feet long. As these ar, the longest spans and were located ovcl l the deepest watlr r, they must have taxed in the highest degree the abilities of thS engineer in their construction.