The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-12-18
As Well as a Splendid Testi-
mOnial to the Concern
Which Constructed II. *
WILL ENDURE FOR AGES
Artistic Appearance Eiicits'
Great Admiration and Loud
Are Praises bv All.

Ton years ago the people OF Clarks-
burg and West Virginia knew COM
paratlvely little OF concrete. To be
sure they knew that It was a mix
ture OF gravel, pebbles, or broken
stone with cement, sometimes used
for sidewalks and foundations. but
Tor other purposes It was consid-
cred Of little use. At that time ifl
anyone had approached the members
OF any county court in West virr
sinia and advocated the use OF con-
crete In the structure OF bridges.
other than small culverts, he would
have been pronounced a fanatic. No
one then thought that a substantial
bridge. OF any size. could be COM
structed Of anything but steel. And
this thought was not only prevalent
In West Virginia. but in many other
states Of the. union. But time. the
worker Of great changes, has been
at work. and today the fnassiye
Fourth street bridge Just complet-l
ca and designed to carry unlimited
weight and to last for ages, stands
40 monument to the. progressive
ness OF Clarksburg and q testimonfat
TO its constructors, the Luten Bridge
Company. and 1t Is constructed Of
concrete. This structure Is the llare.
est concrete bridge in the state and
II is also the costliest. For these
reasons the Telegram thinks Il at
ung to publish the events leading
up to the construction OF this bridge
ana the various steps In the history
of its building. Ts'i5'
The Predecessor.
Along In the early nineties.
Clarksburg began to show the first
signs Of an awakening. Prior 10 this
time the town had given no evidence (
OF ever being anything but very
oralnary community. reaching the
maximum population some days OF
perhaps SIX or eight thousands souls.
The facts which caused the growth
from town OF little consequences Ia
the greatest business center "a the
state are well known to the people
OF West Virginia and those OF neieh-
boring states. About 1895 several pri-
vate individuals. realizing that
CIarksburg was destined to become
town OF Importance, conceived the
idea OF constructing bridge across
Elk creek at Fourth street. connect
ing Clarksburg proper with Glen
Elk. After talking the matter over
these men agreed to build d steal
structure and considered that the' IA
yestment would be PAWN 4 4 'one.
Glen Elk was beginning to grow ana
many residents OF that section wot,ld
use the bridge In addition IA ne
general traffic. It was decided 10
charge q toll and q fair return foi
the money invested was practically
assured. ~ \
Let Contract
The contract fora steel bridge was
!et and the work was started IA
1897. The bridge was complete IN
1893. The old bridge was 5S6 fssf
long. 1t had twenty-foot roadvav
and two fve-foot sidewalks. II 7var
puilt to carry the maximum load.
which at that time was thought Ia
be about seventy-five pounds "a sths
square foot. The men who conaposed
the corporation which built fhIs
bridge were r. T. Lowndes. DAVID
Davidson, Charles III. Hart. Nathan
Con, and Jasper y. Moore. When fbe
structure was completed IT was soId
to Harrison county. The Feline
price was practically the same a. tire
cost-$17.000. y - B -
The First Change.
About 1900 Clarksburr had rrc,. y.
70 sucn an extent and the people
We're coming from different parfs 81
inc country In such q number ID
settle here that the street car com
pa decided that 1t was overlook-
ins q big source OF reyenue by nj
having branch line run from fho
city propersto the Baltimore and Ohio
Tgailroad station. For the construc-