Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-07-31

were required to he constructed il
 the bridge oyer sIt Missouri rher 1t Omaha; two in tue bridge over the Missouri river ll Sioux City, tg pro vide against tHl# .dif of the thau-
 neh The channel si ahe ri9er has left the draw span ef the St Louis, Iron Mounta Il & Soa .hern bridge Il Fort Smith, and he owners ol the bridge over the Missouri river at At- chison, Kan, iaar1 h.tI 10 spend large sums of mon"f 10 r5 and keep the channel under lae dfd# span and avoid building d see nd movable span. It is thHs evident that thc pos slolllty ot moEnlS -e towers and Tit ing any ole of h. nine spans is all adFatEagc of eEe4g large financial value.
 Fills Needs 0i Future.
 IHe vertical lifting span used in this br 3ge although comparatiycly new, has proved ad4aRtage0Hs in sfe3t ulatE instances. The engineers Tor this bridge have built for tho city of Peg ian4, Ore, 250 foot span; & 220-feot span in thl Mississippi river bridge ot the Iowa Central Railway Company, q kthesbure. H.; and they are how building d large number ot other spans. i@eIHdinS two for tha city ot Tacema, Wash, one for the Oregon-Washing m Railroad &, Navi- gatlon 9omHany at Portland, Ore, one over the Missouri river at Kan sas City; ene 3a Cheago, for the Pennsy ylNani& iiuce one in Chicago for the Lake Sin re x Michigan South ern; one at Tehama, Cal, and mum Der Of other lesser structures. In ev- cry case il has proved it's great eeono- my and its mechanical superiority.
 The completed bridge affords every practicable fac lily for standard steam railway. heavy interurban electric Tall way, Vedleular and pedestrian traffic between Fort Smith and Van Buren. The railway loading for which t is calculated is heavier than that m common use today, and corre- spends to the heaviest trains which are likely 70 be in service for many years to come. The bridge was built in the most thor ugn and subsentlal manner practicable throughout, and, II properly mainta ncl will be sub stantially premaEent in service. The ,russes are of the rigid, riveted type and every detail of the work has been inspected and found t0 have been car ried out with the utmcst thorough ness.
 The commission which carr ed out the work is composed of George II. Lyman, presiden5s William J. Jobn- ston, C. W. L. Armour. of Fort Smith; Robert P. Allen and John E l Brown, of Van '6uren, and Randolph Comstock, of .:EiontoWn. Roy NJ. l Johnston, of F2rt Smith, is the able secretary of the commission. The consulting engineers who des gned the bridge and supervised it's con- struction were Waddell x Harring- ton, of Kansas City.
 The Merchants National and the First National Banks enabled the work cn the bridge to go forw srd at an earlier day by financing the pro- Ject to the extent of advancing about Sl30,00 at a 6 per cent rate of ln- terest in November. 1910.
 Judge Joseph M. Hill was the eoun- sel fer the commission who guided the legal phases of the work. The contractors for the substructure are kahmann and McMurray, of Kansas City; the contractors for the super structure, the Arkansas Bridge Com- uany of Fort Smith.
 In tomorroW's issue of the Graph ic l will rev CIV the popularity of the Free Bridge in Sebastian and Craw- ford counties, it's cost, the nominal taxes paid by the property owners ard the many benefits that are al- ready evident as a result of it's con- struction. One only has to see the life in Fort Sm tn and Van Buren to be convinced of it's worth.
 Mr. and Mrs. w. F. Coleman and | will probably leave today for