The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1911-01-13
COMPLETION
OF EXTENSION
Trains Will Run Into Key West
This Time Next Year
BIG ENGINEERING TASK
All But One Of The Big Waterways Have
Been Spawned and Track Laid on all
Islands to Key West

By this time next year it is confident
ly expected that there will be some
trains running through to Key West.
The extension work has progressed as
tonishingly well, but it will be eighteen
or twenty months before It will be COM
pleted as far as permanent line is con-
cerned. An inspection of the work
shows, however, that sufficient progress
has bee made to warrant the assurance
given by the engineers that trains will
be running to Key West next year this
time. This statement is based upon the
fact that all of the permanent work
over the numerous waterways will have
been completed and considerable of the
permanent fill and grade work on the
Keys. If this is done, there seems no
reason why the prediction should not
he verified.
The great waterways, MOser channel,
Pigeon Key channel, Bahia Honda chan
mel and Pacit channel, are rapidly being
spanned. At midnight, December 81.
the last pier in the great Moser chan
mel work was completed and this event
was signalled by shrieking of whistles
and steamers that lasted five minutes,
and here were general congratulations
handed out upon the successful termin-
alton of the construction of viaduct
that cores of railroad men deemed i'm
possible.
C0nsidera BILE work has been done on
the Pigeon Key channel which separates
Knights key dock from Pigeon key and
with the completion of the Moser chan
mel piers on the other side of Pigeon
key all of the water plant was trans
ferred to Pigeon key channel and atten-
ton centered upon the completion of
that work.
1t is figured that the pier work on this
will be done very early this spring. As
soon as this is done the Orders and
tracks, which are now ready, will be
laid and work trains will cross to the
other end where span of 225 arches
will be constructed. This arch work
will take nearly ten months, that is, to
finish them entirely and as they will re-
main. The concrete work will not take
all of that time but when the concret.
ing is done and the forces move on, the
Bahia Honda channel crews on the work
trains can complete the work of filling
and laying rails. In this way this crew
will be close behind the concrete forces
and Just in advance of the steel crew
which will add the finishing touches.
Once across Pacit channel the con-
crete forces will have left behind them
the longest viaduct in the world-seven
miles and the only oversee viaduct in
existence.
When the train crews and the forces
that follow the concrete forces finish
their work they will find that the land
forces on the Duck keys and Bahia
Honda have already finished their work
and the tracks will be laid on the Bahia
Honda bridge.
The work on the substructure and
superstructure of the Bahia Honda
bridge has already commenced and
when completed will have thirteen
steel spans l25 feet, l3 spans 1872 feet.
span 240 feet and ten Orders so feet
long. This steel, with the exception of
the long span is already on hand and
the big span will be the last to be put
The Moser channel bridge has 800
spans of steel SO feet long, 10 spans so
feet long and the arches. -Four miles
of this steel work has already been done.
When the forces cross Bahia Honda
to West Summerland they will meet the
forces coming north and find the grade
work completed, in the bulk permanent
all across the key. Then there will he
a bridge over to Long Pine key, This
has not been started as yet but it is
not over mile in length and temper
airy one will be erected in order to get
the forces over to Boca Chica.
Near Key West at Boca Chica con-
crete arch viaduct has already been
This consists of about
mile of arches and forces are now fin.
ishing up similar viaduct at Big Pine
channel.
Long Pine key and West Summer
land at Spanish harbor are already con-
nected with a trestle that has stood
two hurricanes and unless one comes
this year and destroys it it is very like
ly that permanent work on this will be
deferred until the last. Then with all
the plant assembled it will take very
little time.
In Key West the terminal construc-
ton work will begin in few weeks
and there seems nothing now to pre-
vent connection with Key West next
January unless hurricane much strong
er than that of last year occurs. In
that case some of the temporary work
may be affected.
As soon as the load il through ~
extension forces will begin It the key
West end and work hack, Npjucil1t
temporary land work with peFSna1oot
work all the way u Tie mainlnnd