The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-06-29
MEN WHO SMILE AT DANGER
BRIDGE BUILDER MUST BE A COMBINATION OF DARING.
SKILL AND COURAGE.

bridge the workmen had to be slung
out on derricks. A snapped rope or
a missed footing meant certain death.
There are some interesting. even
sensational. examples of viaduct and
bridge building on the recently con-
Structed oregon Trunk railroad of the
HIM system, which opens up to trans
portation the valley Of the Des Chutes
river of central Oregon.
One of the tributaries of the Des
Chntes river is called Crooked river.
over which a steel arch bridge has
been built that rises $50 feet above
through which Crooked river flows
are usually PERCEPTIONS.
n usual cantilever methods were
used in the construction. and the a
nnr in which the building materials
We're carried across the canyon was
decidedly II OF the ordinary.
h work of erection began at the
northern side of the chasm, and when
the span projected somewhat beyond
the cliff material was lowered from
this projection to the bottom Of the
cliff. There it was fastened to ropes
sent down from the south cliff and
hauled up to the workmen at the top.
The completed bridge furnishes q
good illustration Of the resourceful-
1900 Df NV q CiSIIICC1.
h line completes with the Des
Chutes railroad, which runs along the
cast bank of the river, and is a part
of the Hartman system. At Saddle
Point the rival lines enter twin tun-
nels. the approach to which is over
a single Viaduct.
The greatest bridge, from a struc-
tural point of view. crosses the Fam
hesi river Just below the Victoria fall.
South Africa, on the Cape to Cairo
railroad. 1t is of steel. and springs
in a single span of 500 feet from one
cliff TO the other. At ow water the
center of the span is 42O feet above
the river.
Another remarkable bridge on the
nne of the same road crosses the Ka-
fue river which is the most important
tributary of the Zambesi. 1t is of
lght steel. divided into thirteen spans,
each of 100 feet. and supported by
masonry piers eighteen feet wide and
eight feet thick. Light as it is, 1t is
exceedingly strong. for. while in the
dry season the river averages about
nlne rect in depth and has q sluggish
current in the wet months. it rises to
over sixteen feet and rushes along
in a roaring torrent.
l'urlne the construction OF the
bridge the workmen were oc~casionally
bothered by hippopotami and alliga-
tors. Seven hundred and twenty-eight
tons of steel were used in the com
which was $3.50, 600.
The eighth wonde Of the world"
rs ii used to he called. is the bridge
-~6.592 feet in l~ength-that stretches
across the st. Lawrence river in ord err
to bring the Grand Trunk railroad
into Montreal. Alexander NJ. Ross
vas the engineer who appears to have
4 f2fharcd tho N~@{~
Stephenson acted as consulting en-
sineer. VI
Inc plans as originally framed were
vigorously attacked by experts on both
sides of the Atlantic. the chief obiec-
ton being that no human construc-
ton could stand the packing and
breaking of the ice of the st. Law
renee; Hut the w engineers went
ahead With the enterprise.
h working season is very short.
averaging % weeks a year. Nearly
5000 men were employed during this
period. The bridge. consisted of a
huge rectangular tube carrying a sim
gle track. 1t was 16 feet wide, Is feet
high and weighs 9,o44 tons. 1t was
divided into % spans and the piers
We're built of massive masonry. In ad-
dition to the bridge proper some $500
feet of approaches had to be fashion
ed. so that the total length of the
work was 9,144 feet. The cost was
S. 500, 900.
As the passenger and freight traffic
increased. however. the demands on
the single line of the bridge were so
great that a change In its construction
was imperative. After much consid-
Grafton on the part Of the officials. It
was decided that the tubular bridge
should be replaced by one Of different
type and larger dimensions.
The new bridge is of the open truss
order. 66 feet s inches in width. car
rNing A double track, a trolley line,
space for vehioular travel and a pave
ment for pedestrians. 1t was com
pleted during the Jubilee of h late
Queen Victoria. and was named for
that celebration.
When the engineers examined the
old bridge in connection with the in
stallation of the new. the piers had
been built so solidly that they did not
show the slightest trace of the terrible
huffeting and pressure to which thew
had been subjected by the ice for so
winters.
The suspension bridge across the
Niagara Falls, just below the falls, is
not only spectacularly placed. but is
an admirable construction from an
engineering point of view. It leaps
across h gorge in a single spar the
seething. boiling waters being 226 feet
below. The span is $50 feet in length.
and the ends are secured by massive
anchorages sunk into the face of the
cliffs. T~hroughout il is of wrouol,t