Arizona republican., 1909-05-22
BRIDGE ARGUMENT
 CONTINUES AT LARGE
SOME MORE OBSERVATIONS BY
 JAS. GOODWIN
In Reply to Some Theories Propound-
 ed by the Center Street Committee

This mornings Republican and last nights Gazette contained an article by the Phoenix Center Street Bridge committee-the best that can be made out of it seemed to be an apology for not being able to get any practical and competent county civil engineers to advocate their type of concrete bridge so the best they could do was to quote from a letter from Mayberry X Parker that accomplished the plans and specifications of their proposed bridge. These gentlemen have bridges and they are made for the same pur- pose that Hodges razors were made for-to sell. l think that an express sion used by my friend Hawley in Mesa City today applies very aptly to these gentlemen. MT, Hawley was speaking of engineers and said, "I am a durn sight better engineer than a good engineer, who engineers without being paid for engineering" These gentlemen are engineering without be- ing paid for engineering and as one of these gentlemen said at Tempe that coarse gravel and large boulders was an excellent foundation to build bridges on, but he would not guaran- tee the bridge against high water, but would only guarantee the structural part of the bridge.
 Quoting from Mir Mayberry's let ter published by the Phoenix Bridge committee in referring to the high water of 1891 they say. By this rec ord you will see that the bottom of rhic hr~id0a Nx~nrt1l have nlnaTaH all high water levels for the past 20 years except that of 1891. Even in the instance of the high water of 1891, 14O0 feet of the bridge would have still been above water level. In an article published few days ago by the Center street bridge committee they stated that in the highest waters the girders of the bridge would still be six feet above the water I should think if the Center street bridge committee had used good judgment they would have suppressed this letter from which I am quoting. their bridge being 215O feet long the water would have been running against over 700 feet of this bridge. and the causeway which is three feet lbNti Aiiciil AiiiS NblAh nave bfNil feet under water. and that part of the bridge would have been only a few inches above high water. A bridge of this type might stand in such rivers that have no more fall than from eight to ten inches to the mile, but in river like Salt river that has a fall of from eight to ten feet there is a vast difference. and l cannot see for my part Out I must say that I am no en- gineer nor bridge builder) how the drift is going to get past the bridge. The fact is the distance between the piers is only 60 feet and these piers only go down F feet below the datum of the river and the causeway. or their to the bridge 1000 feet long and water running over that at a depth of three feet. something is going to be moving and that is what always has happened in this part of the country.
 Now these gentlemen that the bridge committee have quoted are engineers that have served their time in the east. This same class of engineers have ex- perimented with their theories to the cost of the people of Arizona and other states to the amount of quite a number of million dollars. Louis Wolfley de- signed and constructed a dam in the Gila river He calculated for stress and strain and resistance and every other factor known to the dam builder. but when the first raise came his dam flOated off down the river. EX-Gov- ernOr Brodie and other engineers built the Walnut Grove dam. They did the same as MT. Wolfley. They were ex- perienced. but the first high water their dam washed out and drowned quite a number of people. The Ari- zona dam was designed and built by eastern engineers-it finally floated off down the river. So I do not think it is a wise proposition for the taxpayers to experiment at the cost perhaps to the county of s10O,O0O | in the construction of a new kind of l bridge to be built upon no foundation, | but to remember the man who built | his house upon the sand and the other | fellow who built his house upon the | rock and which gentlemans proposi- | ion was the best
 JAMES c. GOODWIN.