Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-10-18

ported by the swirling brown wate
that tugged and eddied about tn,
stubby, fat-bottomed boats, eacl
moored to its separate great ancho
OF wrought steel. There was no give
or play" in the structure. 1t wa
solid even by comparison with tn,
permanent suspension and cantileve
arrairs that carry street cars and tina
sort of traffic.
The method of pontoon bridge
building Is simple. That might be in
ferred by the space Of time in which
n privates and 16 non-commissionet
officers of the engineers hitched 1t to-
gether. Captain Dillon said that N
company had made a neat little rec.
ord a while back, building pontoor
bridge 200 feet long in precisely 16
minutes. But that was In still water
in a lake near the post.
And still water is a long ways re-
moved from the powerful, sullen
heave Of the Big Muddy rounding q
bend.
Two classes Of boats were used In
the bridge. Near the bank the col
lapsible canvas pontoons were used;
boats that can be knocked down and
carried by cavalry, yet capable Of sus-
tanning bridge that will carry every
thing except heavy artillery. The
main portion Of the bridge rested on
80 wooden boats. Starting at the
shore, the boats were poled and pad
died out and sanchored in position.
Then the beams or "baulks" were
laid, from the shore supports to the
saddle" of. the first boat, then to the
second, then to the third, being cover
ed with planking or "chesses" as
fast as each span was finished. The
position Of each boat was corrected
before being spanned, by
or shortening the anchor
cable. The structure as q whole was
slightly bowed" upstream, so that
the terrific pressure Of the current
might not force 1t into a Sag but
instead would tighten 1t as a unit.
And, as the building Of Solomon's
temple, the sound of a hammer was
not heard. Not nail or a spike or a
bolt was used In that pontoon bridge
that would carry tons. Every joint
was 'lashed," tied, IL you please,
with new Manila rope, twisted loose
ly and then brought to the proper ten
sion by a stout stick, like broom
handle, twisted in the loop, and
locked" against the planking. Solid
as the structure appears under foot,
1t is elastic by its construction, and
may rise or fall with the river with
out damage.
An army in the field would carry
both canvas and wood pontoon boats,
with all the other parts, ready to as
semble. The engineering corps would
be in the advance guard, far enough
ahead Of the army to have the bridge
waiting for 1t. After crossing, the
bridge would be taken down begin
ming at the end 1t was started, and
in. two hours the engineers would be
ready for the road again, the boats
travelling on great wagon trucks and
packed with the other parts Of the
bridge.
The art Of pontoon bridge building
is not a new one. In fact, 1t has
hardly been changed or improved since
the civil war. It was in that struggle
that the longest pontoon bridge on
record was built by engineers of
Grants army, 1000 feet across the
Chickahominy river, just before the
against Petersburg. But
the modern type may be said to date
from the eighteenth century, though
1t is matter of record that, long and
long before the gunpowder era, Darius
and his army crossed the Hellespont
and the Danube on bridges built on
boats" Which may very well be called
pontoon bridges, even in these later
days.-Kansas City Star.