The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1918-11-22
BRIDGE OF MAGIC
CUT FROM FORESTS
Timber To Span Atlantic
Went Into Building
OF Ships.

Washington Nov. 16.-Nearly
400, 200, 900 feet Of yellow pine tim
Der have been cut and transported by
rail and water to the shipyards on the
Atlantic Coast and the Gulf Coast for
the construction Of wood vessels un-
der the direction of the United States
Shipping Board Emergency Fleet
Corporation. With this amount Of
lumber We could span tbs Atlantic
20 the French coast-3, 900 miles or
more--with a bridge floor twenty-five
feet wide and one inch thick and have
about 1000. 900 feet of yellow pine
TO spare. This is only half thc story.
as it does not include lumber shipped
TO Pacific Coast shipyards.
These figures are contained In a re-
port filed by the Lumber Department
Supply Division. Emergency Fleet
Corporation, In which the department
gave the total lumber requirements
Sr 275 wood ships then in course Of
construction on the Atlantic and Gulf
coasts as approximately $4,000, 200
feet of which 4OO,OOO,OOO feet, as
stated above. have already been cut
and delivered.
Made In Years Time.
And these, including Pacific Coast
shipments to shipyards on that coast.
have been made in little more than
a year.
The figures given apply to the
yellow pine vessels built and build
ing on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
and do not include those on the Pa
rinc Coast which are built of fir. If
these are included, the bridge floor
from the Atlantic to the French Coast
could be 80 feet wide. With the
millions of feet of lumber used by the
shipping board for the construction
| of tugs and barges added. the bridge
foor could be provided with sides
three and half feet high.
The necessity for the bridging of
1.-The Atlantic" was dwelt on by Chair
man Edward n. Hurley of the United
States Shipping Board in March,
|19lS. Since that time the shipyards
under the direction of the board have
made world history in the construc-
| ton OF the magic bridge" by the de-
livery of the wood and steel ships.
Deliveries are increasing from month
' TO month. The ship tonnage made
available by the board, with that fur
nished by the Allies, made possible
the landing in France of our superb
army and its necessary material and
SUPPLIES.
Hurley Waved His Wand.
In an address delivered before the
National Marine League of the United
States in New York on March 20,
|191S. Chairman Hurley said:
IF by the exercise of magic a
bridge could be thrown across the At
lantic over which our armies, their
ARTILLERY and supply trains could move
rapidly and unhampered to the battle
lines in France, would any military
man in Berlin, Vienna, Rome, Paris,
London or Washington have any
doubt but that the world would be
made safe for democracy before the
year goes out? We have the men,
we have the guns, we have the sup
plies. But without means of getting
them to the front we might as well
be without them. And unless we get
our men to the battle line we will not
win this war.
$50 it all comes back to ocean
transportation--to the vital need OF
me-. Fail there and we fail utter
~"
81 To obtain this vast quantity OF
oumber and maintain its steady How
from the forests to the ship ways,
veritable army of workers is engaged
In the Northwest the lumber re-
rioA runs from northern California
almost to Alaska. From the coast IL
extends inland to the Sierra Nevada
range. Hundreds of lumber camps
some of them containing a thousand
men. are operating in this territory.