Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-05-16
New Bridge is Completed.

New Bridge is Completed.
The new North-Western bridge
west of Boone will he opened next
Sunday for regular traffic. This
is one of the remarkable pieces Of
railroad work Of the present pro-
gressive age. A great bridge of
steel jumps from bluff to bluff ant.
thus avoids the devious and cost
ly descent into the valley of the
Des Moines river which has been
one of the hardest bits of work on
the Iowa lines.
The bridge involved an outlay
of about $G5O,OOO and together
with the approaches and the other
works necessary, makes a total
cost of about sl,25O,OOO. The Off
set which the company will have
for this expenditure is the straight
line from Boone to Ogden, dis.
lance of seven miles instead OF
eleven by the old route. Besides,
1.-THE necessity Of maintaining two
and some times more helper en-
, gines with their crews and the
burning Of many tons of coal will
be done away with, as the old
, Moingona hill is to be cut out of
the line.
| Running straight west from the
depot at Boone, the new track
strikes the bluffs along the Des
. Moines river at point where the
distance from summit to summit
is 1855 feet. That is the span
\ which the new viaduct bridge
! makes. Over the river proper is
q q truss span, 300 feet long, which
. is 1855 feet above the water at it's
usual height.
It PICTURES FALL SHORT.
q Such figures give very little
! - conception of the magnitude of
"a the big structure. Few of the
is pictures present ia the mind any
d adequate conception of the im-
!. mensity of the structure. 1t is
= only as you stand under it and
look up and up, that you realize
it's size. Then when you go on
Is top and look down shudder runs
through your frame when you
y think what an awful calamity il
~ would be if a train should jump
m over that railing. There is small
ne probability of such an accident
for heavy guard rails flank the
e track on either side and engineer
~ say there is no possible way for ,
train to get off the bridge as long
as the structure itself remains
las The officials have such conidenc,
lat in its strength that two train
DO will be allowed to pass on til,
ch bridge at good speed and they ga,
of there will be no danger.
mt The bridge is the largest doubl,
", ~, track bridge in the world. In tn
superstructure were used 5,GS'
tons of metal and 400 tons o
ow metal were used in the founda
lld tions, in addition to the masonry
f 90 Two gorges had to be filled in tn
mo- construction of the track leadin
or to the bridge, and these necessi
or tated the placing of $4,000 cubi
as yards of earth. The ravines wer
~, ~ each 400 feet long and eighty
,ou eighty-fve feet deep. Abou
49, 1000 men have been employed o
the preparatory work, while full
use fifty men we're kept at work las
a a.s winter on the bridge.
/ q, The site of the bridge will be
come summer resort of no sma
proportions. All through til
;o ok, time Of its building hundreds G
re- people have gone there Sunday
!, seq to watch the work. The grouad
ar since the opening of spring hay
resembled q picnic ground, wit
ON lemonade stands and fakirs {
md various kinds doing thrivin
sklyy business. The Boone street cal
rhe already operate within mile {
tie the bridge, and it is planned
ott extend the line to the river an
build picnic grounds.
The official announcement hs
20, been made that next Sunday In