Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1899-11-24

The council met Tuesday evening
! in adjourned session. all present but
Aid. Hill
The corrected police resolution was
passed unanimously,
1t VAS moved, seconded and car
rlei tIlij he prupu>i'io, o. the Pine
Tree Lnmi'er Co 20 p;' the city 500
and that the compnn? BE- released
from all responsibility and the city
accept the north wagon bridge
A message from the mayor, on the
condition OF the Broadway wagon
h:id &c, was as follows:
TO THE Council. GENTLEMEN: desire
to call the attention OF the council to
the condition of the bridge across the
Mississippi III this city k't">" as Broad
way wagon bridge. According to the
testimony of G.. F. Loweth, the engineer
who testified for the city in the Electric
4 Water Co. suits, the bridge is unsafe
for unrestricted traffic. Mr.. Loweth' 8
language is as follows: THE bridge is in
my opinion, unsafe at the present time
for any unrestricted traffic, and it could
be- safely maintained for a veal, possib|y
if in the meantime the traffic over the
bridge is restr:cted, both as to speed
and as to weight Mr. Loweth further
testified that combination bridge like
the Broadway bridge should last, with
the traffic expected at the time OF it's
construction, sixteen. or eighteen years
The bridge was built about seventeen
years ago. With the growth of the
city and county traffic has greatly in
creased. and within short time. as
soon rs the new railroad yards on the
West side are occupied, will be more
than doubled. Mr.. Loweth says that
he found on examination OF the bridge
tn at the woodwork PORTION was very
much decayed, some parts SO that there
was less than so per cent OF sound ma
terial left, and on the whole sufficiently
decnyed to endangcr the safety OF the
structure
With this condition OF affairs, it ia
necessary for the council to consider the
question OF repairing the bridge or
building new one. While unquestion.
ably most citizens would be glad to see
i fine bridge, worthy OF the city, span
mug the Mississippi from broadway TIC
/ Broadway. the cost Of such q
structure wuud be too great
for the present financial resources Of
tie city. 1t is estimated that bridge
5: !iicient for the purpose would cost al
'rh~t $35 900, perhaps more. Even will
'or-4 aid from the county, and from
the railroad coHmpany, the cost remain
ing Tor the city to pay would oe so large
as 10 restrict and imp9il it's fnancla
ability ia other directions. A new bridge
which would SO increase the tota
Indebtedness OF the city as to make it i'm
possible for long time to realize mum
cipal ownership of public utilities woule
certainly be the costliest investment
ever made by the city. The build
ing of new bridge at this time coult
only be a reasonable proposition OF
proof that new structure is absolutel,
necessary, or that repair of the Of,
structure would be impracticable.
has been estimated that the bridge cal
be repaired for about $4,000. Unde
bids. by which the contract for tn
work would have to be let, the amour
would probably be reduced 1t is like
ly, also, that Morrison county woul
contribute towards cost. If, as it
claimed, such re- nbering would pract,
ally renew tb bridge for many years
and thus postp"' AZ building of ne
bridge until such time as the city woul
| he in s, better t;na ncial condition til