The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1915-10-01
FORMER
Mt. Vernon Boy Tells Of His
Work In The South

One of the many Mt. Vernon boys
who has gone out into the world and
made good, Harry Hyman of Marathon,
Florida, has written his old friend, Of
to s. Baker of East Gambler street,
an interesting letter, describing the
work in which he is now engaged. Hy-
man Is assistant to the chief construc-
tion engineer of the Florida East Coast
Railway Co.
Max Hyman, this city. He is gradu-
ate of Mt Vernon high school, later
going to the University of Pennsylvan-
self as runner on Penn track teams
ia where he achieved name for him
For number of years back, Hyman
has been engaged in work which he
interestingly describes as follows:
"ln 1904 the Florida East Coast rail
! way had been extended south as far as
Homestead which is 2S miles south of
Miami. From this point construction
work was started in 1905 on the Ex-
tension to- Key West, a distance of 1928
miles, Ia miles of which was on the
mainland and the remainder across the
string of Keys or small islands that
|. fringe the coast and extend beyond the
mainland to deep water at Key West.
AS far as Knuights' Key, which is 45
miles north of Key West, the islands
are admirably situated for the location
of the railway, aflording good align
ment and necessitating comparative
| ly little bridging, the longest stretch
of water being at the lower end of
Long Key where concrete viaduct, a
| little over three miles in length, was
built. Immediately below Knights Key
Is a stretch of water seven miles wide,
ranging in depth from 12 to 90 feet.
A few miles farther south, where Ba-
hia Honda Channel Is encountered, a
through truss bridge is located, 5,1O0
feet in length, over waite" whose depth
averages 30 #. Knights Key Bridge
| Sohoioto VI nlo oV'lt. anu IL OV-lt. ueCh
girders with 210 arches of 53 IT. span
at the southely end where shallower
water Is encountered and a 253-ft .-6-in
draw span over Moser Channel. Bahia
Honda bridge consists of IL spans 12S
It. In. long, l3 spans 1856 it. long and
l span BAT #. in. long and plate
| nj rhnn A
permanent bridges on the Key West
Extension, including four drawbridges
varying in length from several hun
dred feet to seven miles The con
struction on the Extension resolved it
self into three methods: grading across
the Everglades and other submerged
lands, grading across the Keys and
bridge work. On the Extension there
are approximately IA miles of concrete
viaducts and nine miles of steel bridg
es AT Key West all the land needed
for terminals was made by pumping
material by hydraulic dredge, as nC
land was available ON Key West
Island, AT the present time the term
inal contains about 12 miles of track
besides all other facilities for handling
freight and passenger traffic including
car ferry to Havana, Cuba. The term
inal .wharves are built of concrete ant
contain $500 lineal feet of concrete
piers in water varying in depth from
"a to Al feet, 12 IT, thick beneath the
water line, The embankments alone
the line are protected from wave ac
ton by mari which is dredged from
the water among the Keys and ther
unloaded from dump cars along the
I'LL. This mari is of such consistency
that 1t takes a natural slope of about
to l, corresponding very nearly to s