The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-12-15
COMMERCIAL CLUB
WOULD BUILD BRIDGES
From Tuesdays Daily.
BRIDGES in all their

IOWH anu upper JOWU, were ulSCuSS-
ed and aired at the meeting of the
Commercial club in the council
chamber of the city hall last night.
The discussion, which was taken up
by number of interested residents
of both Mankato and North Man.
kato, was one of the livelieSt ever
entered into by the Commercial
club.
The meeting began by the an.
nouncement of the resignation of
Secretary r. F. Hunt and the ap-
pointment by the advisory board of
E. F. Soaring to fill the vacancy.
Mr.. Soaring was also elected treas
urer of the club. Until the arrival
Of Mr.. Soaring, Charles E. Phillips
was acting secretary.
Reports of Committees.
The committee on booklets re-
ported what had been done. Very
little lis left to be done as every
thing is now ready for publication
with the exception of a few minor
items which must be looked after.
The delay was made in securing the
photographs and pictures. Mr.. Snow,
the photographer, has assigned the
different places of the various pic
lures in the booklet, with the ex,
ception of few more groups.
The committee on armOry was to
have reported, but H. l.. Schmitt tele-
phoned to the chairman that it was
impossible for him to attend, but
authorized President Crandall to
state that the committee had a
meeting that afternoon. He had
nothing definite to report as yet.
C. E. Wise, of the committee on
raising money for good roads, then
said that John H. Hohmann, who
was chairman, had not acted yet,
and that the committee had not met
but would do so in the near future.
George Atchison then reported
that the small booklets which the
booklet committee had issued to be
sent in the letters through the mails
had not received the boost that they
should have, for the reason that
most business men did not under
stand their purpose and usefulness.
Bridge Question Considered.
Judge Lorin Cray then made the
initial report on the bridge question,
which stirred up such a talk. He
the committees on both sides Of the
river they met todiscuss the FEAST
bility of building bridge on Main
street or it's immediate vicinity. He
said that an expert engineer from
the Omaha Railway company at St
Paul had been sent here to investi.
gate, and that his reports were
rather discouraging.
In the first place, if a bridge was
to be built overhead, it would have
to begin back on Second street and
all who used it would have to go
back to this street in order to reach
the bridge. Besides this. it would
be detrimental to the value Of the
property along Main street and seri-
Gus objections would probably be
raised by these property owners.
Relative to Grades.
The matter of the grade percent
age would also be a serious one, as
it would necessitate a five and one
half per cent grade, which would be
too steep.
Building a bridge on Exchange
street near the Cargill elevator
which would pass along the North
western railway tracks down the
river about 200 or 800 feet from the
present bridge also proved imprac-
tical. This would run from Main
and Front streets north along the
westerly side of Front street and
then across the river.
He said that the committee In
North Mankato had a lengthy dis
cussion of the matter some time
ago, when he and Senator s. ID.
Works gave two addresses, lew
weeks ago. The Free Press con-
tanned the information Of these
plans as outlined then, and the re-
port of Judge Cray last night was
very much the same as given in
The Free Press after the meeting in
North Mankato.
Underground Bridge.
1t was finally suggested by an
other engineer that by going under
the railroad tracks twelve or four
teen feet at the most, subway
could be constructed for less than
what a bridge would cost. This SUBJ
way would be protected from the
water with concrete lining and
would run directly under the rail-
road tracks. However, this would
also necessitate too steep grade,
and if one went twelve feet as one
must, it would probably make an
eight per cent grade, which is ex-
cessive. Such a bridge, it is thought,
would not cost more than s5O,OO0
at the most.
But the plan of former City Engi-
neer Wilson for an overhead struc-
ture, which was to turn at Front
and Main streets on the north side
of Main and run to the Cargill ele-
yator and then on north and from
there run west and cross some 800
or 400 feet below the present bridge.
This would make the bridge turn at
such a sharp angle that it would be
impossible for street cars to cross,
and hence was not suited for the
purposes.
Another Plan Considered.
Another plan had also been con-
sidered. This was to turn at the
same place and run along the north
side of Main street until one almost
reached the Cargill elevator and
then run diagonally across to the
north side and instead of going
over the tracks, go under the tracks.
This MAN was in the EMBRYO how