The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1916-08-04
New Concrete Bridge

New Concrete Bridge
Gust Swanson. Pats in = Fifty
Thnee Foot Reisforced Concrete
Bridge for Alban Township
Through the courtesy of PfnED-
grapher Niles last Tuesday morning
we enjoyed an auto ride out i'm Al
ban township. some six or seven
miles east and FIVE miles south of
the city, near the Chas. Stevens
farm and over the Yellovbanks
creek. A farce of eighteen men
we're at work putting in the con-
crete for the roadway, and the net
iwork Of steel re-inforcements
throughout gave an indication of
what the strength and durability of
the bridge will be when completed.
The bridge is So feet and 3 inches
in length and % feet and 2 inches
wide, and the slab is 13 inches
thick, reinforced with what
is known as through truss work.
The supports to the bridge ON
either end have already been put in,
this work also having been strongly
reinforced with steel. One end
of it having been made in water,
and the difficulty in doing this
caused some delay in the work, but
it was successfully accomplished
An ingenious device in the con-
struction Of the bridge is that the
north end rests on rollers, thus CIV
ing the concrete space for expansion
when heated, allowing for nearly q
six inch play in this regard.
The board of supervisors of AL.
ban township, consisting Of Harvey
Schaffer. Spence Seldom and Chas.
Melitz, upon resolving to put in
bridge across the Yellowhank at that
point, concluded that they would
put in one that would stay, and in the
future save the expense and annoy
ace Of . washout at almost every
high water. as had been the case
with the old bridges. In conse-
quence the construction Of this
concrete bridge was awarded to Mr..
Gust Swanson, of the Milbank Ce-
ment Works.
That the bridge should be Of per-
feet construction as possible, the
supervisors secured tha design from
the sente engineers Office at Pierre,
the state fuEnidlsiag = compiete d.
sign, with plans and specifications
all perfected for the proper con-
struction Of the bridge. It is possi-
bile that all township officers are
not aware Of the fact that the state
is prepard to render this service to
townships free of cost and in under
taking bridge work or other public
improvement Of like character it
would be we'll for township officers
in all cases to correspond with state
engineers office before entering up
on work Of this kind.
This is the first concrete bridge
Of large size that has been erected
in the county, but it will undoubt-
edly be followed by many others,
as the temporary character and
short life of the old pile bridges
have been fully demonstrated in
years past, and the permarancy
and durability of this reinforced
concrete structure can be readily
seen. Mr.. Swanson has with him
experimenting the work Mr.. A ].
Rouch. Of the Universal Portland
Cement company, and in laying the
slab floor this week has with him.
J. r. HaswelD. and the gang Of
workman who have been doing the
concrete work at the court house.
the other labor being supplied by
the farmers Of the locality. This
is another item that is important
in the construction Of the concrete
bridge, the fact that much Of the
expense Of building remains in the
locality, the steel for reinforcing
and the cement being the only items
in construction that have to be i'm
ported.
The bridge when completed will
be worth Investigation by other
townhsip officers who are con-
templating the erection Of similar
structures in other parts Of the
county.
HARVESTING
This week will see most Of the
vr,hnok - Ahsa - - 2.