Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-05-23
THE LARGEST DOUBLE
TRACK BRIDGE IN WORLD.
Northwestern Railroad structur,
Which Spans the Des
Moines River.
Be OPENED FOR TRAFFIC suxoA,
Cost Is About sl.eso.ooo-saves several
1Iiles Distance and Obviates Coal-
Consuming and Time Losing
Climb.

Boone, Ia, May 20.-The new North
western bridge west of Boone will be
opened next Sunday for regular traf-
f1c. This Is one OF the remarkable
pieces OF railroad work of the present
steel Jumps from bluff to bluM and
thus avoids the devious and costly
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 s65o,O0O and together with the
approaches and the other works neces-
sary, makes a total cost Of about ST.
100000 The Offset which the company
Will have for this expenditure Is the
straight line from Boone to Ogden. q
distance OF seven miles instead OF e!ev-
en- by the old route. Besides, the ne
cessity OF maintaining two and some
times more helper engines 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 de-
pot at Boone. the new track strikes the
bluffs along the Des Mo.nes river at a
point where the distance from summit
to summit is 2.S65 feet. That Is the
span which the new viaduct bridge
makes. Over the river proper is u
truss span, 300 feet long, which Is 1S5
feet above the water at Its usual
height
Pictures Fall Short.
Such figures give very little concep-
ton OF the magnitude OF the big struc-
ture Few of the pictures present to
the mind any adequate conception OF
the immensely of the structure. 1t 10
only as you stand under 1t and look up
and up. that you realize it's size. Then
when you go on top and look down a
shudder runs through your franc
when YOU think of what an awful ca
lamity 1t would be IL train should
jump over that railing. There is small
probability of such an accident, for
heavy guard rails flank the track on
either side and engineers say there Ia
no possible w;.y for a train to get off
the bridge as long as the structure IT
self remains. The officials have such
confidence in its strength that two
trains will be allowed to pass on the
bridge ut good speed and they say
there will be no danger.
The bridge is the largest double-
track bridge in the world. In the su-
perstructure were used $3.50 tons Of
metal and 400 tons OF metal were used
In the foundations, In addition to the
masonry. Two gorges had to be filled
In the construction of the track lead
Ing to the bridge, and these necessi-
tated the placing OF $4,000 cubic yards
Of earth. The ravines were each 400
feet long and eighty and eighty five
feet deep. About 1000 men have been
employed on the preparatory work.
While fully fifty men We're kept at work
last winter on the bridge.
hut Ono Life Lost.
But one life has been lost in the
work, and that man fell from the top
OF the center span a few weeks ago.
He struck on some of the false work in
his fall Of 1856 feet. His body was re-
covered few days later several hun
dred yards down the river. One other
man was seriously injured earlier in
the work.
The site Of the bridge will become a
summer resort Of no small proportions.
All through the time OF Its building
hundreds of people have gone there
Sundays to watch the work. The
grounds, since the opening of spring
have resembled a picnic ground, with
lemonade stands and faktrs of various
kinds doing a thriving business. The
Boone street cars already operate
within a mile Of the bridge. and it Is
planned to extend the line to the river
and build picnic grounds.
The official announcement has been
made that next Sunday the traffic will
be turned on the new line.