The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1902-03-08
BRIDGE BUILDERS.
hiAGIC IN AMERICAN ENTERPRISE
IN THIS LINE.
he shan State of Thfbaw Opened Up
20 Sthe World by Railroad Over
5Hn1s, Through American Skill and
4 Engineering.

IN uSAc SeemS 10 De no spot IN the
world into which American enterprise
lsI5nots penetrating. The way in which
the SUnited States is building great
steel. bridges in far off lands is some
thing which will bring a wall of woe
fromSthe bridge builders of England,
Whoshave until recently had monop-
oily OF this sort of thing. How many
people ever heard of the Shan State
of $Thibaw? 1t is region lying be-
tween upper Burmah and southern
China. and through it runs the old
caraYan route from China to Manda-
lay Long before the British took Bur-
NAH. the trade of the Far East filtered
through Mandalay by slow stages, up
and down the rugged hills and val
leys,Iz through the thick jungles and
oyer the mountains, finally descending
the 5SGhaut mountains and emerging
onls an open plain. Now this is all
changed, and railroad winds up>the
hills and over the plateau between
Mandalay and Thibaw. American
skill, American ingenuity and Ameri-
can enterprise made this possible, for
bysmeans of great steel bridge and
yladuct the obstacle of the great
mountain gorge Of the Gokteik VAL
ley an obstacle which seemed at first
insurmountable- been successful
" overcome. This Gokteik Valley
slopes from the mountains on one side
toia canyon 500 feet Deep at the bot
tom@of which rushes turbulent river
Across the river precipitous cliffs tow
er5 high up forming the further wall
ofsthe valley. Across this canyon the
caravans r used to cross by a natural
bridge, causeway under which the
river had tunnelled. Now over the
valley and canyon stretches spider
Il lke8 structure Of steel, crossing the
river $50 feet above it's surface and
striking series of tunnels and arti-
f1ciaIledges in the face of the oppos-
ing cliffs, by which the railway makes
lts5sWay to the slopes of the next val
ley. az 81 building this bridge use was
naleG .of the old natural zcauseWay for
aF foundation Tor some of the bridge
piers, SO that the deepest pier of the
bridge is only 1926 feet high high
enough, but not so high as it would
have had to be had not the old cause
way been there. This Yankee bridge
is 1000 feet long and 1000 tons of
steel enter into it's construction. It
was built in sections in the United
States, carried with infinite care and
difficulty to this far off region and
there set up, every bolt, bar, rivet and
truss finding it's place and fitting into
each other with the utmost nicety.
Such things are the very magic of me-
chanics. and more wonderful they
seem than any of the stale old exploits
Of King Solomon's Djins. A man in
Pennsylvania takes a piece of paper
and makes lot of figures on it. He
then takes another piece of paper and
draws lot of lines on it&his calcu-
lations and his plans-tne weaving of
the magic spell. Then half-naked fig
ures in the lights of flaming fires in
husky, cavernous buildings make
pieces of steel as this master magi-
| working out the spell. These pieces
Of steel are packed into boxes and
shipped to the far off mountainous
land, where dusty caravans wind
through the hills laden with the prod
ucts Of Cathay, and the grave, white
turbaned merchants tell each other
tales of the wonders of Oriental sor-
Gerry as they journey. The master ma
sician from Pennsylvania waves his
magic wand, his subordinate magi-
clans spring to their work, and 10! be-
| lore the astonished eyes of the people
of the caravans appears light and
airy way Of steel springing across the
valley; and over it rush the iron dev-
Is, spouting smoke and fire-which
means that the $3.50 train on the road
% Mandalay is passing.-New York
Press.