Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-05-26
tioated off with the rest of the stun us
fall was a grand sight.


".
There were about four hundred tons OF
metal upon the top of the false-work wheh
the wreck occurred. The floor system was
almost completed, there still remaining 10
he placed the top line of ~ bars IN the
bottom chord. and part OF the lower nhe'
About half the floor beams were placed,
and a good many others were on top OF tue
false-work. ready to be inserted, and one
half of the center pair OF uprights
for the arch was set up. All Ih!s
steel and iron went down, the fioor-systen,
being coupled together, falling in one mass
IN the bottom of the river What its con
dition is. is ONLY a matter of conjecture, put
IL is the presumption that good deal OF IL
is IN a more or less twisted and bent conoi-
ton and il will be pretty difficult 10 MOIST
II ont. at least until the river gets down 10
something like its normal stage. A great
deal of the superstructure, however, can
he used again. once il is rescued from It's
temnorarv grave. and as soon as possible,
large force of men will be set to work at
this lob. Meanwhile the Edgemoor Bridge
works will be communicated with, ana
probably in day or two the works Will oe
turning out Implications oil the MISSING
parts.
Last evening Mr.. William Baird and Su-
perintendent Daglah were seen by a kEG-
fsTER reporter In response to a question
Mr. Baird said:
ut is great misfortune to us. but we
will lose no more time than IS absolutely
necessary in getting TO work.
when will you Begin
Tomorrow We will 20 right along,
and YOU can say that we will have that
span up in sixty days from this date.
What will your loss be-" oo :.
Il should say about So, 900 or $4,000. III
is pretty hard to tell just now. All our
stuff is at the bottom of the river, and
what its condition is can't be told. We Will
communicate with the Edgemoor works at
once. and they will soon be turning out
Implications for us
''The driftwood was entirely responsible
for the accidenttn =
"Yes. sir. We kept the upper hand OF
ii until about eleven o'clock this morning,
but then the water got up to the cross.
pieces of the false work, and at the same
time there was a sudden and large increase
i'm the ambunt of drift, and we were unable
10 handle it. From that time on 1t kept IN
creasing and the false work would not
stand the pressure. | suppose II we hadn
uncoupled the ends of the span, we might
have kept it up longer, or perhaps saved
it. but il was too big risk TO run. for had
il broken down with either end attached
to the spans now up, it would have
dragged spans Nos | and with it, and
our loss would have been very much great
er. 1t was the best thing TO keep II clear
and not take chances"
These views were concurred in by Sup
erintendent Daglan and Chief Engineer
Brown. of the Wheeling Bridge and Termi-
nal Company. who added that the utmost
endeavors had been made to get towboats
here and at Pittsburg to aid in the work OF
getting the drift wood out of the way, but
the Horace was left alone to aid in the
task. as no boat could be got down from
Pittsburg in time, the boat Little Bill only
arriving in time to see the span 90 down.
Offers had been made, il is understood,
for a local boat but her owners would not
permit her to be used.