The Opelousas courier., 1890-07-05
LONDON BRIDGE.
INTERESTING HfsToRY or
rrTTs ANCIENT CAUsEWAY.

TfS AEChCS Livery OSy. |
M nv thinking, London Bridge, from
.,e,ock to 10 in the morning and from
S { Il the afternoon, is the most mar
..Ia,,s sight in this metropolis of won
writes a correspondent of the Boston
q $3.50. know not when the spectacle
~ more astonishing-in the morning,
4 III tide of life foods cityward, or
Is eyening, when it GIBBS to the south.
e.tI think the picturesque effect is
a.bfened in the winter dusks when the
s..p masses press swiftly into the gloom
southwark; and the black river
.l.sbes between the granite arches, and
- strange, bulky, undistinguishable
sr,as Oh its desperate current; when the
s. Golden glow slowly fades in the west,
.sa In domes and spires dissolve in the
.5vsncing night shades, and the lamps
- to fash along the shores and from
nasts of vessels in the "Pool," each
,sntern signaling, until the whole vista
.n.r5les with red and green and yellow
Eleanas.
ri the eighteen Thames bridges in
ordon this is the first in Importance,
"a The first from the rivers mouth.
M Thames runs on fifty or sixty miles
tafase Il reaches the sea, and all this
eonrge from the bridge to the More is
a,rared with vessels. London itself ex-
te,5s an both sides of the river, several
ajles t,beIow bridge" hence the nor
s,e,,e amount of traffic that passes over
shesa granite arches. Old London
pr;dge. which a favorite nursery rhyme
ronresented as forever ''falling down."
was proyerbially held together until the
md OF the first quarter of this century,
chen the present structure was built
sbo,,t 400 feet to the west. The old
ybyrue did not greatly exaggerate the
condition of the ancient bridge, which
had been tumbling to pieces for a hun
AIRED wears. Old London Bridge was a
perileus structure above and below. 1t
contracted the river bed so that the cur
reut was exceedingly fierce, and 'shoot-
Fng the arches was almost equivalent
to suicide. It had been burned and
bombarded, and otherwise SO badly
treated in the long course Of successive
centuries, that repairs were constant
and usually Ineffective. Early in the
eighteen hundreds the street on the
bridge was tsdark, narrow and danger
bus, the houses overhung the road in
such a terrific manner as almost to shut
oat the daylight, and arches of timber
crossed the street to keep the shaky old
senenents from falling on each other"
pennant tells US that ''nothing but use
could preserve the repose of the in
mates, who soon grew deaf to the noise
of the falling waters, the clamor of
boatmen, and the frequent shrieks of
drowning wretches." In 1868 some local
Hatistician computed that Fifty water,
men, bargemen or seamen, valued at
SOC, 800, were drowned annually In at
sempting to pass under the bridge"
During 1757-60 the last of the houses
we're removed from old London Bridge.
The most remarkable building that had
aver been erected there belonged to the
Elizabethan era and was called "Non,
such House." Esshad been made in Hol
land and sent over in parts. It extended
across the bridge and had an archway in
The centre. It was four stories high,
with eupolas and turrets at each corner.
and was put together with wooden peg
instead IF nails. The American manu-
iactureFs who turn out entire building'
by the gross, and ship them in parts, ma!
we'll repeat the old saying: There
nathing new under the SUM-"
Before the ghastly practice was trans.
ferred to Temple Bar London Bridge hat
the dubious honor of displaying the head
Of persons executed on the scaffold. Tn
heads of Sir VIM. Wallace, Bolingbroke
lack Cade, the Bishop of Rochester ant
Sir Thomas More were among the dread
tai collection. The present Londol
Bridge is the fifth of the anne The frs
was built Of wood in the year 994, in tn
reign of EtheIred II. It was destroye'
Ii 3 storm which, in 1890, "blew dow
600 houses and lifted the roof off Boz
Church" It successor, also a woode
aiair, was destroyed by fire in the secon'
yssr 81 stephen, 1885. A bridge Of elr
timber succeeded this, and in ll76 tn
FIRST stone bridge was built. Tlnbs ga.
that the bridge shops 'swere furnishe
with all manner of trades
The present bridge was completed
1881, after seven and one-hslf yea
aess seventeen days. of labor. That ST.
pendous structure, the Forth Bridg'
which was opened recently, was but sew
years ii building, and cost only half
much again as London Bridge, and eve
It's cost in human lives-one hundred
AGAINST forty-was not excessive, VIII
re consider the extraordinary nature
tie task.
The roadway of London Bridge a
eemmodates four lines of yehicles-tv
going in each direction, the heaviest an
lowest traffic on the outside lines. b
tween each Of the i've arches there is
hay, Of resting place, where you ms
pause for q view OF the river and OF Il
8de Of traffic that pours across the bird:
tself. But the best appreciation OF Il
g0lume and force of this traffic comes !
showing ones self into the curEen
Take Al outside seat on an omnibus
the Bank of England when the evenir
Oh of traffic Gibbs southwark. 70
auEse lies through King William stree
Hhieh empties its current into q vic
pace just above the bridge. Into Ia
paes three more great thoroughfar'
0nr their living tides-Gracechurt
street, Cannon street and Eastcheap a.
Ittle lower down two Lesser tributari
sd I'd the moving mass. From eve
sFsnf -. sereams IF hnruan heinos and