Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-01-27

Oliver j. Jordan Of this city, IN an
interview with d Journal representa-
| tive today, said:
| "Thc destruction OF the Maine Cen
tral r. r. bridge at SkoWhegan by
| the rushing waters of Che kcnnebcc
brings to my mind very wildly q
"reminiscences Of 80 years ago when the
same old river got on q rampage and
carried away for the second time q
bridge at the same spot. The then
Somerset and Kcnnebec r. r. had
! been running to Skowhegan a year or
| two when in the spring of % the
| bridge at that point a wooden struc-
| turo, went out and when the waters
subsidized SO that the middle pier could
| be repaired, Il crew of about twenty
| o; rs were sent there under the di-
rection of that famous old bridge
| builder Henry r. White, capt. White
as he was called, of Augusta. After
MANY weeks of untiring labor and skill
we had the superstructure ready 10
span the, at times, turbulent river.
| By using large trees we made wooden
horses to reach from the rocky bottom
uD to receive the bridge, out to the
| middle nier in the center OF the stream.
Then with plank to walk on forty 1eet
| over the water and lodges we put the
| first span in its place and prepared to
| take out our horses and put them IN
place ready for the other span by Fri
| day night.
Saturday morning dawned with q
dirty, misty lock in the southwest.
cant. White objected to putting on
the lower chords till we could see bet
ter weather, the wind being already
| in the southeast Mr. Robinson, one
| of the directors of the Railroad, argued
with Cant White as to how long it
would take to secure it 50 that we could
drop the horses in case OF storm.
CAPT. White said in fair weather three
days would do itsbut 1t might take lour
and oerhans five days if it rained and
svelled the icints. He very persist
emily urged that it should not be I'M
dertaken till Monda.' as it would be
far better to lose the horses than TO
endancer the bridge and that Ii we
did begin it Saturday we would have
tc work on Sunday and all of the men
were very much against working on
sunday. wishing a day of rest.
But Mr.. Robinson was very persist
emit. The road had been Without
bridge a long while and it must be
finished as soon as possible, so we
Went to work With heavy hearts Tor we
felt il would be & failure but still de-
tcri1,innl lhat We would 90 our duty.
That day we got the lower chords IN
their place and i;olted together ready
for the braces hut not till very late al
night alter working with lanterns ana
boniireS on the shore.
Sunday morning we were at our TASK
early and in putting IN the braces
cit beir@ bridge of wooden braces
and IRON rods for posts, | think 1t was
called the Frat planD which we mad
about half up on each side an incident
happened that | will never forget.
was boiling the braces together up
about nine fcet above the chord when
saw that what ] was standing on
was going out over the water. l leap
ed TO the bridge chord, two feet VIDE
and nine feet below me and landed
just right. If | had not | Should not
have been able to tell you this story
for the water and Lodges We're forty
feet beneath me. AS we watched those
three braces, 10 feet long Sx4, go down
and become seven pieces l for one Won
dercd what hand held me from that
dreadful fall. But we had no time to
speculate. Time was money and three
more braces must be made ana the
bridge must be finished II possible
and we each continued at our usual
task. That night. by WORKING late IN
a drenching rain by lantern liSht ana
burning tar barrels, we hao maze
ready for the top chords ana eleven
clock found us twenty tired men IN
our beds.
Monday morning we went to work
in q wild northeast gale and during
the storm top chords and large IRON
rods Is feet long and IL in diameter
had to be raised and dropped down and
men underneath would put the nuts
on and turn them UP while the river
was rising. The logs would SWING
across the horses and grind over each
other but we kept on with hardly time
for our meals till the men underneath
refused to stay on the bridge any
longer But four others volunteered to
try and with will we pushed along
till we had the rods in and the bridge
complete so it would hold itself to
within about 80 feet of the abutment
on the Bloomfield side. Then Capt.
White, good kind, old soul, said, NO,
boys. we must leave it, and with tools
and lanterns at eleven o'cock we went
ashore in as wild storm as is seldom
seen inland. At three O'Clock in the
morning that span went down and was
worthless mass in the great eddy a
little distance down the river and thus
was He avenged who said, Six days
shalt thou labor and on the seventh
thou shalt rest But the bridge was
soon rebuilt by a man from Portland
and the writer was one of the crew but
Capt. White would not go back with