The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1884-03-22
The Marseilles Bridge.

The Marseilles Bridge.
EDITOR OF THE FREE TRADER: The dan
gerous condition of the Illinois river bridge
az Marseilles certainly deserves more seri-
Gus attention than is being given to it. | be
lieve but few know the full extent of the
risk they run when they cross it. The
bottom chords, especially over the piers,
are 80 rotten that pieces can be pulled off
by the handful, and there are places in the
top chords that are but little better, Many
| of the braces are decayed half off, and
others have become so corroded and eaten
away at the ends where they come into
contact with their cast iron bearing blocks,
that they do not take Il hearing. The top
! lateral bracing no longer acts, as may be
seen from the lurch to the east that has
taken place, amounting in one span to full
twenty inches. A strong west wind sweep
ing up the valley has caused this, and an
o.her may, at any time, twist the span far
Their or blow it over into the river. The
wooden pins and ahutments are barely held
in place and are liable TO cave away and
fall at any time. The upstream point of
one of the wooden piers has been under
mined not less than six feet, and, We're it
not for the old, unused railroad piers abut-
ting against it, would undoubtedly, have
been taken out before now.
Yet, with all this, our townspeople, as
well as myself, have been hauling grain
across this bridge all the fall, and many are
still doing So 1t is an actual fact that,
when we leave our homes in the morning to
cross that bridge it is serious question
whether we will ever return alive. Once
the bridge, overstrained by heavy load
just preceding did give way under a
comparatively light load, and several men
with their teams were precipitated to the
rivers bottom How fortunate that no one
lost his life at that time | ask my fellow
townsmen if they wish greater warning
than that. Which of us for the sake of
saving "A few dollars of taxation, will part
forever with one, or perhaps more, OF his
family. rs we run the risk of doing every
time we cross that bridge? These are
plain, simple truths and urge my fellow
townsmen to heed them, for there is not
life in Fall River that is not worth far more
than the cost of hundred bridges.
| have heard the foolish argument used
,,,,l D,,+1nnJ will ln nlli gaI m
build the bridge between them in order TO
hold the trade of the south side Let us
look at a few figures and see what the loss
would be to the south side, were there no
bridge at Marseiles BY inquiry from the
Grain dealers at Marseill 5, have ascer
tanned that the following is close estimate
Of the amounts of grain that are annually
sold there from the towns mentioned:
Fall River. 10000 bush.
BrOOkfield .......... ooUoo
Grand Rapids. 800. lOOWW
Now we south side farmers would, II
there were no bridge at Marseilles, have TO
stand a shrinkage on the above 2oo,ooo
bushels of grain of not less than &c. per
bushel, due to the expense OF the extra
baulinr necessitated to deliver it at Ottawa,
and even then, at the latter place especially
the market is often from 1c. TO ! &c. less
nar bushel than it is at Marseilies. To
this many of our people living in the west
end can testify, for during last fall ana
winter a number have been hauling TO
Marseilles, notwithstanding Ottawa was by
far the nearer market to their places
Resides this shrinkage in the value oil
our crops. our land will shrink in value
from 7c5. to $500 per acre, due 10 It's III
creased removal from transportation facill
ties Let us average this shrinkage at the
low figure of $3.50 per acre. There are
no, less than 10000 acres of land that lie
nearer to Marseilles than to any other mar
ket Add to this, also, the Inconvenience
and DELAY in getting all our mails from
Seneca or Ottawa, which, at low ngure,
would he damage of not less than *l'Voo
p.r wear, and we have the following loss 10
] the south side: