Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1907-04-26
HIGHEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD.
One of the Greatest Achievements of Rail-
road Engineering.

One OF the OreateSt Achievements OF KALI
road Engineering.
The Royal Gorge of the Arkansas
River in Colorado, one of the scenic
wonders of the world. is to have q
new feature to add to the amazement
of the traveller.
Nature began the woodworking
by using the river to cut a gorge
seven miles long through the solid
rock, which rises in continuous, semi
perpendicular walls for hundreds and
thousands of feet above the roaring
stream.
Then man resolved to force way
through this gorge for a railroad and
in so doing worked another wonder
Where the gorge was too narrow to
give room for the track beside the
river the engineers devised the ia
nous hanging bridge, which has long
been regarded as one of the triumphs
of railroad building. 1t parallels the
river for seventy feet and hangs in
the air from steel rods supported
from trusses anchored in the rock
walls.
Soon the traveller, gazing upward
from the hanging bridge, will see the
towering walls of the gorge spanned
by what will seem to him a cobweb
bridge. 1t will be bridge, a bridge
of steel, and the traveller may see a
trolley car gliding across his vision
half mile up in the air.
At the spot where this bridge will
be suspended across the chasm the
walls are 2,627 feet high, and the
gorge is so feet across at the bottom
and 23O feet across at the top. Apart
from the scenic considerations the
bridge will be noteworthy as the
highest in the world. Indeed, it is
in a class by itself, it's nearest COM
petitor being the Zambesi bridge, 45O
feet in the air.
The bridge will be built of steel
cables and of fiat steel, and the curved
girders that support the structure
will be anchored in the granite walls
so that nothing short of q violent
earthquake can loosen them. A fea-
ture of the bridge will be plate
glass floor, which will enable visitors
to gaze down into the gorge without
danger, and steel ratings will make
it impossible for any one to fall off.
The work is being done by the
Canon City, Florence & Royal Gorge
Interurban Electric Railway COM
pany, which is extending a line from
Canon City and Florence eleven miles
to the top of the Royal gorge. The
ascent is $500 feet, and the summit
is 1900 feet above sea level. From
the summit the cars will return to
Canon City by another route, rum
ming fifteen miles by the force of
gravity alone. The bridge will cost
a million andS track extension an
other million.
The american Mrentor for October
states that the spanning of this fear
full chasm is one of the most diff
cult and dangerous projects yet at
tempted by engineers, and says that
the bridging of the Royal Gorge
hitherto has been deemed preposter-
Gus from an engineering viewpoint;
indeed, the possibilities of overcom-
ing the engineering difficulties in
building a road on either side of this
gorge have been gravely questioned
until lately.
The building of this new bridge
therefore shows several interesting
things: That the American people
will 60 in crowds to see wonderful
natural view; that the science OF
railroad engineering is making prog
ress, and that there is no limit to the
enterprise of the American in filling
what he conceives to be a real want.