The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-03-26

y err, who may be past master IN
the srt OF II and In the marshaling
M OF the pygnny forces which are called upon
IN to build according to Titan plans. !" How
|IIn do you operate on patient r. would be about
IlIl as ntelligible to d great surgeon, whose
NV range OF work might bo from an ingrowing
llll nail to the closing of an incision IN q heart
~ ntricle 545fa
Today tho bridge builder is at once the
Liputian and the sBrobdingnagian of the
II # workers. Nothing In all the scheme OF things
Is loo small for his consideration as nothing
4 s. In the necessity of accomplishment is too
s. great. In the technicality OF his language.
S anything in bridge construction longer than
e twenty feet properly Is a brid &c; yet the.
skeleton track OF great railway forty
three miles across Great Salt Lake is only
q bridge. s5p a5s
VI bridge may be built for 1000 and be
VIZ worth moro than an amateurs snap shot
WI from.a pocket camera. Bridge after bridge,
as they are manifest TO the traveller over the
MI . United States railroads In all directions,
\lN might be punched as to cost and not average
VA St as much as $40 600 each. And yet the great
N East river bridge in ew York cost 80 DOC. 900
W. for It's approaches and supcrstructure and
RH $40. COO 600 for the necessary land.
h I 49, + @5s AZ Il IS &4atf * All
Ny One b ridge for Every Railroad Mile,
lAn considering the twenty foot span as the
VI n technical {. bridge" In the bridge builders
VI understanding. there Is one bridg sc to every
IA mile OF railroad iii the United Stat es.5 More
lhI}l than this, as the business OF the railroads
and tho incrtas eyt the weight OF locomotives
WI and trains have evolved, the life of a rail-
YAk road bridge averages only twelve and one,i
lk\ half years-not because the ridges wear out
H1fi orrust out, but for The reason that the loads
|YH put upon them today are twice as heavy as
VIZ they were twelve years ago and four times
|/NI heavier than they were taenty-fiv years
WI ago Virtually the bridge bull err Today Is
MA ,fa8mcre rebuilder OF bridges. in many cases
f/ using tho old abutlnents-posstblyt the piers
|Y/J and yet at the same time finding his diff
NH cultiesi and perplexties and risks the great
kD est OF which may be In, the bids for the work
tYl that Is Eundertak en- sgss
ISS8What& will 1t cost 4 o build a bridge? Is a
Yl que lion the builder must wer. but there
YIN Is a great element Of risk. 1t5may, cost only
WE So q: ton 10 build q BRIDGE eckoning upon
the weigh OF the steei. or It may easily cost
VIII $50 "a ton for the placing OF It. IN preparing
WI for the substructure, for instance; group
WI OF men lay work In I he bed OF a river for SO
y TO $3.50 a day for the nine or ten hours OF
vi the working day: or they may work only
WI threesquarters 3of an hour In the whole
M twenty hours for ten times as much
klS&moncy8 an hour. and In the OF her twenty
yEA three and one-quarte hours OF the day be
(/IH underline care and treatment and supervision
yJ/ of med lea and training star thai shall keep
WI themft. $s5 81 MSS
x48 And aat TO brdges-the bridges as the world
sees them here and there and necessarily
VI everywh ere-there are more kinds of them
than the bridge builder can call ofthand,
VI every one OF them presenting an environment
and conditions unlike that OF any other In
n dividual structure Of Its kind
IN Bridge to Moon with Abutnents.H
hA Practically the bridge builder of the pres
WI ent time is demonstrating a revised and
WI paraphra sed challenge OF the tabled man
~ who would move the world II given a resting
"a place for his lever. The bridge builder prac-t
3SNatically is saying. {" Give me the two abut-t
Esment s In place and will bridge to the moon"
$SNAt Quebec. for instance the st. La wrence
M Is to be spanned where the water Is 200 feet
INN deep ana where the span must be 1000 feet
y(N\kin the clear. With the two abutments in
i'm place this greatest Scantilever bridge In the
Ina world ha gone forward. one sec ton OF steel
INV Istructure showing out beyond the rest and
III hanging from At, Just as another section fol-
IAN Ilows hanging from the last and made fast.
BtII And; as the spider haps was the great
JVD first bridge builder In the world, so tho
kVV &human spiders in bridge construction walk,
|Hx and hang and cling, and dangle from the
\Ny webs OF steel. BILE from below to.
(fAl those who would watch themspin.
kMv The bridge contractor and builder today