Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1906-10-02
WORK BEGUN ON
SAPELLO bridge
ONLY STRUCTURE oF KIND IN
COUNTY AND TsE sEsT 4.
TIE TERRITORY.
WILL endure Forever
Relnteresa cenerete Structure Ectn
Flood Proof and Crack Proof 6eina
Built en- the Mroa Road Twelve
Miles from this City.

The commissioners of San Migui
county aFe now erecting monument
which will keep their memory green
when all past deeds 0f commission
.rs. s,and aud bad. will be- tUTsnst, II.
This monument H. the cOncrtt"
bridge now betng built over the Sap
clio river.
4 representative of the Topeka
Bridge and Iron company has been In
the city for several days and work
was begun 0n the structure yester-
day. Between fifteen and twenty
men and five teams are employed on
the work and IL will be- six weeks
hefor" their lahnrs are completed.
The bridge Is being constructed
over the Sapeilo river on the Mora
road. twelve miles north Of this city
and FIVE hundred feet above the pres.
ent cruising. The material will be
reinforced concrete requiring thre"
carloads Of cement and twenty car.
loads of stone. The bridge will he
built In two great arches Of fifty feet
span each. with the roadhed fifteen
feet above the level of the water. and
with. a roadway twelve feet wide.
The riverbed underneath the bridge
will be paved with concrete with an
apron running far down In the bed nf
the river at each side. thus cffectu-
ally preventing III" river bed from
washing away and ever undermining
the foundations of the bridge. The
structure Is guaranteed TO be- food
proof and Is guaranteed against
cracks BY the company which has put
up bond equal To the full cost of
the bridge.
This will be the only hridrc of the
kind in the county and ther" are on
liz ono or two others that even a,-
proach 1t In the territory II will
ont-liyc any wooden. steel or iron
structure that could be erected.
The county commissioners agreed
to build the bridge at a cost of S3.""0
with the understanding that the Com
mercial club and the city and town
see that three or four bad places in
the road between Las Vegas and Sap,
clio are fixed and that the worst
grades are cut down. There are
ulaces in the road that are sadly in
need of attention and there are a
couple of grades that run as high as
II per cent.
4 A little work will make the Mora
road the best in the county with the
exception CT the Scenic highway, and
and IL is by far the most travelled.
In good weather hundreds of teams
mass over il, and when the bridge Is
=. built and the road put in shape. trav.
y el will double or triple, for many
= farmers and stockmen will come to
Las Vegas instead of going to small
er but closer towns as they do at
present The work of building the ap-
proaches to the bridge will be left 10
some local contractor
This bridge Is only starter in the
era of bridge building in San Miguel
county and the farmers as well as the
merchants of Las Vegas will reap the
benefits. Bridges are now badly
needed over the Pecos Arroyo just
east of town and also at Sanjuegnilla
. but the commissioners promise to
look after them in due time.
E.R. Holt as county engineer drew
up the plans for the Sapello bridge,
and has charge OF the work Of super
intending the construction for the
county.