The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-30
BUILDING
 RIVER BRIDGE It Will Soon Span the
 Alabama. DESCRIPTION OF WORK MontgOmery's New Short
 Route to NeighbOrs. Construction Gang is steadily En- gagged on the Massive Steel struc- ture Which HeIds Mueh fer the Future.

ehC AAdDdhA ktAfGfs 0t0 A nv" 0'~A@~N
 of trade and commerce with Fillmore
 pna psnnsS Sy MsS4 sISnss sson Taf aa rss
 undertaken by the copverse Bridge Company of Chattanooga, is well un-
 costly structure is only a matter of
 The bridge is projected across the city on m the the Charles e Abercronbie place. It is only short distance west of the point where the Louisville and Nashville Raiiroad bridge crosses the \ the building of the bride for, from | the spot where 1t leaves Montgomery
 sS so Thsrs s re s 9Ssn c ss eet 1 Montgomery has all but overlooked this important feeder to its business now building only small portion of of work of the bridge Is SO we'll under slowly but much has already been ac- struction Is being steadily made.
 sI2,O00 Already ExPended.
 Probably $i2.eoo has already been ! bridge. The company which Is put I ting 1t across the river is perhaps the best known bridge building, corpora the big job has been under way. Du- ring the high water of last winter pier work and temporary work to the value
 
 A splendid approach has p.Al seuilt to the bridge from the tracks of the the Cordage Works to the river. It is nearly a mile long, this finely graded approach, from the railroad tracks to nsS She 'PGf' of tSe Tsfa Srdwe Mi cost no eie amount of money to get the right of way and build the fie road for the inPtoSSa iars Worth of steei 1 arc or the " rivsr gresses. one, of the piers is all but 0ss'sh o1e on Which the ha drawSridss % Riiirest Viii 5 is more than half finished. A mass of false work" or temporary scafrold-
 osSnsy Hs ssnR to ts0 the s ude of ts stream stream. Today two dredging parties are at work and . noisy little engine ls woEkSg g pile n;Sa ariysr carly s,dsy and sa not. perhaps for lack of labor. pro gressIng as rapidly as the engineers would ike to have it. it.
 gomery. this new bridge, It was years and years in the building. The style gomery has not been to the liking of bridge builders. In fact heretefcre the bridge builders have looked upon bridge at Montgomery as a job too big and too difficult to undertake. The l improvement was to come when Mont Eomsry was more than eighty years
 There was talk about it every now and then. And more than once before, have been made and plans have been | drawn, but that was all. The bridge never got beyond the blue print stage. of Major Belton Mickle to build a 1 bridge over the Alabama at Mont gomery. He has had iong.. useful d nA &afN aG q N RrFfRs tra Alabama. A couple of years ago he ished project The The .,,n charter details plans drawn and the company formed. The. company which undertook the project was the Montgemery Bridge means the first cOmpany ever organ ized to bridge the Alabama at Mont ] gomerv. but was the only one that
 The Converse Bridge Company. of k president likewise became inter business scheme, the buIlding Of a bridge competing. A city of 60,00O peo- pie to rich and prosperous agricul- 1t was to be toil bridge, if Mont gomery County dId not step in and buy it: So the Converse people undertook its
 foot ana ws-en TraHe.
 It is built primarily. for foot and wagon traffic. but 1t is being put up. in | such a way that an electric car line can be- run over 1t to Wetumpka. Prattville and otner Augtanga and El- more county towns when capitalists undertake the building or such a road | It is being built strong enough to hold any sort of electric car. 70 run over | ii. But the electric car line Is only a future possibility.
 lliminaries, MT. Mickie and the engi- neers interested with him made ready for an approach to the sise that had san oat SsleofeS of LousviSe iSnGS Snd NashVie % l train just before 1t crossed the river he might almost see the bridge site the bridge the company purchased the right of way from Mir. Abercrombie through his fertile river plantations. acres ere Of land. For this the company paid vJ00 and under the terms of its agreement Mr. Abercrombie fenced %iih Safs slae Sp Splendid fs sHs Stock proof proof
 linee rhe coRpany, 4piiH "i in Other words spent spent ably s-..JJ before ,..e first beam or piece of steel could be iaid down at the river side.
 the edge of the river was cIeared away and the constructive worK on the bridge began. D. H. Wood was made
  bridge by the Converse Company. The plans drawn up called for u span from 1 ground to ground of 1,4O0 feet The Stel structures was to be neld up by | five piers. Of course 1t had to be a draw bridge because 1t IS over nav 1 's'"'' Description of Fridge.
 The drew Is to rest upon huge
 central pier which will be twenty; twenty feet in diameter at its. top 1'he outer case of the pier will be of ] steel while the interior will be one iimmense pillar of concrete. This cen trai pier is now more than half fin
 From the middle of the pier to each end of inc draw will be 12T feet, which l viii make the draw 254 feet long from ond to end. Three of the five piers are partiaily completed. The piers, ex-
 cept the central one. consist of two two | of these two tubes placed side by side
 when it is completed the bridge will II ho six feet above the highest point the |I RIahama river ever reached The floor Ai AS .Sa bridRe will be sixty feet above
 th. io,v water mark of the river.
 The actual work of the bridge Is in cbarSe of L.. E. Barton. MT. Barton
 ts a inc head of the colony of men
 H,bo are established in the construe-
 tinn camp on the bank of the river. dre3ees' make the concrete. and bolt
 gnSsther the heavy pieces of the steel
 'uTT To the layman, bridge building is . sneas,natJon The way the big job Is