The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1882-09-14
A Great Bridge.

IueSUay laSC Aug. ~ 1907 was Sig
nalized by the practical completion of
one of the most stupendous engineer
ing feats ever attempted, the Erie
viaduct over Kinzua gorge, fifteen
miles south of Bradford, Pa. In some
respects the undertaking was unpre-
cedented, requiring for its successful
prosecution the bringing into reouisi-
ton of the highest skill of the first
engineers of the country and calcula-
tions that were never before required
of them. The Importance of this work
is widely appreciated by railroad men,
but it is hard for those unskilled in
railway science to grasp the difficulties
encountered at every step.
THE LAST sTRINGER LAID.
AT IL o'c' ok Tuesday morning,
says the Bradford Era, the stringer of
the colossal mass of iron was swung
into place, completely bridging the
great gap. Numbers of persons eager
for easily acquired fame walked from
end to end OF the & reat bridge, while
the cheers of those standing in the
valley rang family in their ears. The
"travelers," an ingenious movable
crane used for swinging the trusses
from tower to tower, was gaily trim
med with evergreens and bunting and
pushed across the gorge like a trium-
phal car, being the first vehicle that
ever traversed such lofty height. 1t
was an illustration that science had
conquered what in nature seemed
impossible. The workmen who had
been working at the dizzy attitudes
for months forgot that their labors
were soon to come to an end and had
stranger jollification,, sliding down
and climbing up the rods and upright
columns in reckless manner that
made the Observers blood run cold.
In order to prepair the bridge for
service it will be necessary for a
"straining gang" to go over it care
fully, tightening bolts and rivets and
making everything exactly plumb.
Those final touches will require but a
short time and in ten days trains will
be running over the greatest of all
viaducts. The job of painting the
bridge will be no slight one but it will
not interfere with the railroad service.
Mr.. Adams, of New York, who has
the great contract of painting the
Brooklyn bridge, will preform
service for the Kinzua viaduct.
He will set twenty painters to work
at once.
DESCRIPTION OF THE vIADUCT.
The Kinzua viaduct is on the line of
the New York, Lake Erie e. Western
railroad from Crawford's to Johnson
burg, on the Pittsburg extension. The
engineers finding no means to get
around the place save by circuitious
delour of ten miles, combined with
heavy grades, boldly determined to
span the chasm, an unheard of under
taking 1t was agreed that this should
be done, and on August l, 1881, work
was begun by cutting broad swath
across the valley through the heavy
timber. From $50 to 200 men worked
until the beginning of the present
summer eXcavating for the founda-
tions, which are froin twelve to fifteen
feet deep, and building the stone
work, for which plenty of rocks and
sand were found on the ground.
Twenty towers each 381 feet in width
support the superstructurc, which is q
latticed truss seven feet high, and tt
towers are separated by spans of
l6 feet. The central towers which
stand on either side of Kinzua creek
are 3Ol feet u inches high from sur
lace of stream to base of rail. The
banks are very precipitous the fall in
some places being twenty-five feet in
sixty. Between the stone abutments
the bridge is 2,050 feet long. The iron
work which weighs 4, 400, 100 pounds
was made by the Phoenix bridge
company, who also placed it in posi-
ton, the laboring requiring about
months. 1t was not expected that
the bridge would be finished before
September Is and the early compile
ton OF the iron work is almost a sur
prise to the builders. The cost of the
structure and Its immediate ap-
proaches is put at about 1000 In
order to get the road down to the
bridge level it was necessary to make
cuts from ninteen to twenty seven
feet deep for some distance OF either
side of the gorge, and at one place,
toward Johnsonburg, cut of over
eighty feet is necessary.
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