The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-10-31
THE GREATEST BRIDGE
IN THE WORLD, THAT OYER THE
FORTH.
The Most Marvellous Of the Feats Of
Engineering Skill-TwO Spans
0f17IO Feet Each,

Gas a grensdier guardsman is to a
new born infant, so is the Forth
bridge to the largest railway bridge
yet built in this country" This is
the graphic comparison by which
BeDjsmin Baker, @ e, illustrated the
extraordinary character of the struc.
ture now in progress at Queeneferry,
OF which Sir John Fowler and he are
the engineers, says the Engineer. But
he did not confine the comparison to
bridges in this country only; for in
the paper read to the British ALSO.
ciation-from which the description ia
taken, Mr.. Baker added: "Bidges a
few feet larger in span than the Brit
tsnnia have been built else here,
but they are baby bridges, after all"
There is thus deliberate claim m ade
on behalf of the Forth bridge, by one
OF its designers, that it is the most
wonderful bridge in the world; that
the greatest of existing bridges is but
S %ith it. play What in i. comparison e iSst
gives the Forth bridge this
pre-eminence? IL is certainly not its
length. In that respect it is far ex-
ce!led by the Victoria bridge at Mon
treal, and also by the unfortunate
lay bridge at Dundee, which is now
being rebuilt. The Victoria bridge is
now 10,380 feet long, or within $50
feet of two miles. The Tay bridge is,
or will be, 1852 feet long, or fifty two
feet over two miles. The lebgth OF
the Forth bridge is only 1891 feet, or
228o feet less han the Victoria, and
1921 less than the Tay bridge. Neither
is the hight Of the roadway, its dis
tinguishing feature. In this respect,
though nearly twice the height of the
Newcastle high level bridge, it is ex-
celled by many others abroad. The
striking and unprecedented feature in
the Forth bridge is the length OF its
greatest spans. The two longest spans
Of the Britannia bridge Of Menai strait
measure 465 feet each. 1hs Forth
bridge has two spans of ITO feet each,
which is not far short of being four
times as great. This is fair compari-
son, because the Britannia and the
Forth bridge ara both fixed and stable
bridges. Other bridges exist which
have longer spans than the Britannia
can beast of, but they are suspension
bridges, and are therefore swinging
and unstabe. The Niagara suspen.
sion bridge has single span OF 800
feet. The central span of the Brook
lyn bridge, at New York, measures
1900 feet, which is the nearest ap-
proach TO the giant strides of the
Forth bridge. But these, 1 eaid, are
suspension bridges, which have GER
tain mobility and elasticity. The
Forth bridge will bs as solid and as
stable ss the Britannia bridge, or as
Waterloo bridge in London, or as the
North bridge in Edinburgh, and yet
it's great spans will be greater than
those OF any bridge in existence.
Well, therefore, may Mr.. Baker bosst
that the greatest OF existing bridges
will be but as bsby in comparison
with his giant. The building of such
bridge is daring exploit. What,
it may be asked, has led the
engineers to attempt it? Is it
the love OF adventure, the mere desire
to surpsss their predecessors and to
click creation" as the Americans say,
by the production of the biggest bridge
on record? Considering the enormous
capital involved in the venture, in the
cost of material and labor, and consid-
eriug still more the risk to human life
which it entails, the engineers would
not have been warranted in entering
any merely heroic or ambitious enter
prise. The simple answer to the
question of motive is, that the eDgi-
neers had really no choice in the mat
ter. They bad either to accept the
conditions imposed on them by nature
and circumstances or to decline the
task altoge her. They were required
to prepare plans for bridge on site
including two spans ITO feet cath,
over a depth of water 30 great as to
preclude the construction OF inter
mediate piers, and they were bound
either to face and grabble with
these difficulties or to declare them
to be insuperable. They preferred
the former alternative, and the Forth
bridge is the result. The contract
price of the bridge ia 9l,600,0O0, OF
which 100000 has been expended on
plant. The number of workmen en-
ployed intthe various departments is
2000 The work has now been going
on for three years, and another three
at least must elapse before it is com
pleted. 1t can scarcely be said, per-
haps, that the Forth bridge will be a
beautiful object. To those who look
for lines OF beauty in such structures
it will appear eccentric, extravagant,
odd-perhaps, outrageous. But to
those whose sense OF the beautiful
depends on the resliz ,tion of the use
full, the daring grandeur of the de-
sign, and its manifest adaptation OF
means to ends, will appear 10 be a
marvellous triumph Of engineering
skill, Of patient labor and of COM
meTcial enterprise.