Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1907-12-20
SINISTER RIVER
MOCKS RAILROAD
AT CHAMBERLAIN
old Muddy" and E~ngIneers
Struggle for Supremacy
New SI,OOo,O 600 Bridge.

Chamberlain, S. D.. Dec. I'm pie
and pontoon bridge of the
Railroad across n missouri
river at this place Is just now d ooi.
of contention between the MISSOURI
river on the one hand and some Oh me
finest engineers In the country on the
other. The company constructed the
bridge as a temporary means or Tor
warding cars loaded with material 10
the track builders on the west side or
the river, and mas since been using IL
for passenger and freight t~ransporta-
ton. The bridge is the only one OF its
kind on the Missouri.
When it was constructed, the OLD
timers made the prediction that IT
would not last long when the BIG
Muddy" got or one Of its annual ram
pages. But the railroad engineers were
not discouraged and used all their In
genuity to construct a bridge Whlch
would not, at least. be carried away
in times OF high water.
In a measure the engineers have thus
far been successful, for the bridge has
not yet been totally destroyed by the
river, although sections OF IT more than
once have been carried away. Except
for a space of about $50 feet, the bridge
is formed Of piles driven into the bot
tom of the river. The a OF $50 teet
is filled with a huge pontoon boat,
Which is said to be the longest OF It's
kind in use on inland water or the
United States. The pontoon boat Is at
tached to the bridge at one end or the
space occupied by it, while the other
end can be released and dropped down.,
thus forming a draw which Enables
boats TO pass through the bridge. In
times Of drifting ice the draw is OPP
ened to permit the Ice to float through
instead OF lodging against the bridge,
and thus endangering it.
Protective Piers.
For the protection of the bridge,
what are termed bulldog" piers were
constructed on each side of the river
from 4 point some distance above the
bridge and running ~diagonally toward
It, in the form of a huge funnel, with
the draw in the bridge forming the
small part Of the funnel. These piers
consist Of very heavy piling, driven as
far into the bottom of the river as a
huge piledriver can force them. The
piles are chained together with extra
heavy chains. The piling has then been
inclosed with heavy "a planking,
which, on the upper side of the piers,
slopes outwardly toward the north, the
direction from which the river flows.
The %planking is bolted together and to
the piling with heavy iron and steel
bolts. The Interior of the piers are
neaNlly Dr3CeQ anu 1t WOIlu De llilpOS-
sible to make them any stronger tina
they are.
The piers on the opposite side of the
river were designed, when the ice
breaks up in the spring, so to defect
the floating masses that they will shoot
d~iagonally across the river and strike
the giant pier neal the east end Of the
draw, which, in it's turn, Is intended to
withstand the great pressure Of the ice
and cause it to swerye n pass
through the draw.
TIC strengthen further the smaller
piers they are connected with huge oak
timbers, which lie in the water and eX-
tend from one to another along the
entire face of the line of piers. I'M
mediately outside the line OF oak tim
bers is a boom, formed Of several logs
tightly chained together, and which,
like the oak timbers, extend along the
entire line Of smaller piers. 10 which
the protecting timbers and boom OF
logs are tightly and securely fastened
with heavy chains.
During the high water this year sec
tons Of the piling forming the bridge
were carried out three or -four times in
a few weeks, greatly interfering with
traffic.
The expense of maintaining the
bridge under these conditions has
lieved the railroad company Will soon
the construction of 4 new
overhead $1,000, 600 steel bridge.