The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-04
BURMAH'S AMERICAN BRIDGE,
THIRTY-FIVE YANKEES WENT
HALF WAY AROUND THE
WORLD To BUILD 1T.

1t Crosses the Gokteix Gorge and Is
the Longest Railroad Bridge in
Existence ana One of the Highest.
VenOmOus Snakes, Poisonous Veg
citation, FeverOus Mists and
Rainy Season That Turned the
Solid Earth Into Liquid Mud, Were
Some of the Difficulties That Beset
the Builders, but They Completed
the Work in Eighth MOnths-An
the Material Sent PiecemeaI in
Three ships From This Country.
Biggest Traveller Ever Made Used
in the Construction.
New York, Aug. "A steamship re-
Gently arrived at New York with a lit
| tie group of men Drowned to a copper
| color by exposure to the tropical sun.
AS they reached the dock, number
of people waiting to meet them gave
each a hearty handshake and extended
congratulations. In the engineering
world, this group will be long remem-
| bered as the men who put up the great
est railroad bridge in the world in a
country none of them had ever seen,
amid trials and troubles which might
be expected to discourage any one but
a Yankee engineer.
Two or three years ago the survey
ors of a railroad line in Burmah came
| to a hole in the ground which was so
| deep that it seemed as If balloon
would be the only way to cross 1t. This
was the Gokteik Gorge. Two go around
| it would require twenty or thirty miles
more of track, and the question arose
whether it could be spanned by a
bridge. The general officials of the
company thought it could If the right
men could be found to undertake the
| work Several American firms were in
yited to put in bids, and one of them,
| teh Pennsylvania Steel Company, Sc
cured the job. 1t was case of hurry
| from start to finish, for the work must
| be done within a year from the time
| the contract was let. The steel Tor
| the towers, Orders ard other work had
! to be turned out at the works, shipped
| 10 New York, loaded on board vessels,
| carried to Rangoon, loaded on cars and
| then TRANSPORTED $50 miles to this hole
| in the ground. Special machinery had
| to be built to put the bridge together
| ard to raise the different pieces and
| hold them in position. In all ABOUT
5000 tons of meal alone were required
for the work, the bridge itself taking
4,S52 tons alone.
From one side of the valley to the
! other was nearly half mile For two
' thirds of this distance the railroad
| track had to be laid at nights ranging
from 100 to $50 feet above the ground.
| Then came a drop of 800 feet to the
top of a bridge nature had thrown
across one of the mountain rivers OF
| Southern Asia. Upon this natural
bride. just wide enough to form safe
| support. heavy steel towers were riv-
eted together to such hight that the
men working upon them at the top
looked like insects to the observer from
| below.
| AS soon as the cablegram came from
| the Burmah Railway Company &C
cepting the American bid special
force of workmen was selected to turn
out the material as rapidly as possible
and the bridge department worked day
and night AS fast as the columns and
girders came from the shops, they
were piled in the railroad yards and
painted to prevent rusting. Ordinarily
when a bridge is transported in sec
lions each part is lettered and num-