The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1905-05-26

there had been pending in congress a
Dill to authorize the. construction of a
railway bridge at Cape Girarseau III
the interest of the companies which
now compose the Saint Louis, Mem
| phis and Southeastern railroad. Those
interests opposed in every possible
way The bill for the bridge at Thebes,
! bur congress was not willing 10 ail-
| fhorizo q br dge at each location ana
the advantages of the Thcbes location
from an engineering standpoint were
| 50 apparent that they oyercame all
opposition, and the bill finally was
| passed by unanimous consent.
Three Years in Building.
Ground was broken for the bridge
On July 6, 1902, and the firpt train
| passed over 1t on April 18t1i, Of this
year. The cost of It's constructors
was, approximately. 100000
Thebes bridge is magnificent
structure Ct double track width, and,
owing 10 its prominent location, pre-
sents a most imposing appearance Its
location is q particularly fortunate
one, becaune Of the high bluffs on
each side Of the river VIII ch obyiated
| the necessity cf long approach trestles
The bridge proper consists of contin-
uous steel structure Of fIyc spanr
built on the cantilever system and
weighs about 2S,000,000 pounds. The
central or channel span Is GIT rec,
long each Of the other spans being
about 521 feet long. This apprc aches
to the br dye are of concre g, made o
Portland cement as are also the piers
lupon which the spans and arches rest
and this concrete. OF whicn nearly one
million cube feet were used consti
ltutes The chief pecuiarity OF tht
| bridge. Except the face stones of th,
piers, which are of buff Romona Oelit
| ic stone, and the bridge seats and nos,
stones for the upstream cut water
which are granite, there Is no sole
stone work in the. entire structure.
Over Four Miles Long.
4 The steel bridge is approached a
j both ends Ivy q series gf concrete arch
es The total length Of the bridge
! proper, including the concrete an
lproaches, Is 3,S17 feet, and the tota
length Of the entire double-track cor
struction. including grade approached
Is AZ miles. The total height Of thu
bridge f-Dm the bottom Of tac loves
foundation 10 the top vt the highes
. nont on the supcsstructure Is 20
feet.
Thebes bridge was designed by ant
built under the direction Of Messrs
Ralph Mpdjcski. of Chicago, who Ii
me son Of Nine. Modjesld, the actres
and who had charge Of the construc
tion cf the Merchants bridge at 81
Louis; and Alfred Noble. who now /
in personal charge of the construction
Of the Pennsylvania railroad tunno
under East river,
THE CAIRO PARTY.
. A large number of prominent cit
zens of Cairo went UP on specia
! train chartered by Mayor George Pal
, sgns. The party consisted Of count
and city offlc'a ais, members OF III
Cairo delegation to the Hunting1o
/ convention, rcprcs cnlatives Of tn
4 press. and the presidents and sccr'
/ iaries OF the Board OF Trade and Con
:. mercial club. The railroad compan
!. limited the MAYOR to 60 people, an
, there were 5f IL the party. Each an
i everyone Of them felt and expresse
s gratitude to the mayor for his gel
y crosity in giving them the trip and A
J, tentions during t. II Was the mayor
. regret that he could NOT have take
more, but the limit placed upon hi
hy the railroad prevented his doing A
/. 50 the party was made up as abov
y The expenses Of the special wei
ti 1 A,s NJ ,ik M "A A. ts M AK M q 6 M VA ~ 5. l