Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-30
Eurntttg Grat

'A"h VI tnS oldte Caplpot, pTOpdpS
the most extensive operation to be
undertaken in Harrisburg in years
and engineers familiar with the
magnificent structure which IL IL
planned to swing from the line of
or the Hill say that the proportions
are not realized generally. To be-
gin with, the cost will be something
like twice that of the Penn-Harris
Hotel, six times that of the Null
berry street bridge, first and last,
many thousands more than the
Rockville bridge or the Cumberland
Valley bridge; thres times the bill
for one of the modern blast furnaces
at Steelton; an amount greater than
the cost of buying the SIS properties
in Capitol Park extension and three
times the amount of Harrisburgs
first loan in 1902 for public i'm
provements, the piece of municipal
enterprise that put this city on the
map and brought people here from
Toronto, Dallas and Richmond to
Watch Harrisburg Grow"
1t is not CALCULATED that the bridge
can be finished before Christmas in
1921. The preparation of the site. as
DR.. J.E. Griner, the bridge expert in
charge, terms it, will take weeks and
weeks. 1t means taking down the
old State street bridge, tearing up
tracks, water mains and houses, put
ting down new mains and clearing
almost half a mile. A temporary
foot bridge will have to be put up
and all sorts of things done. Prob
ably this will take until the snow
flies, but If the weather man is kind
it may be that some of the founda-
tions will be dug for the pylons
and the piers. So that 1t will be
seen that it will be next summer be-
fore the bridge proper will COM
mence to assume shape. The prep
aration, the pylons, the Royal Ter
race and the North Side approaches
are all separate operations, each bid
upon separately and each fitting in
with the scheme. The bridge will
be built as close to things eternal
as possible. The foundations will
rest upon the rocks that underlie the
city and the granite pylons will
tower almost as high as the obelisk
at Second and State streets. There
| will be mountains of cement and iron
used. In fact, the calculations on
what materials will be required read
| like a census report. The Central
| Construction corporation, which has
the contract in sight at this writing,
| has handled some enormous Govern
ment operations and is organized and
equipped to tackle this gigantic job.
Time and money will be the two
great items. and as soon as the con-
| tract is signed the preparations al
ready made in many details will be
speeded up to meet Governor
] Sprouts desire to make the dirt
| fly"
The remark that appears to have
been most generally made in Har-
risburg as a result of the welcome
home celebration was that no one
realized how many men Harrisburg
I had given. And yet there were
scores of men who could have been
in the parade who did not get out.
1t has made all estimates revisable.
A few months ago wes were talking
about our $500 men in the service,
but when over $500 men from Har-
risburg, not Steelton or other places
in the Harrisburg district, but Har-
risburg register with the Chamber
of Commerce, 1T means something.
If Harrisburg has $4,000 population
it is a pretty fine showing. Equally
remarkable is the representation in
the navy. The sailors in the parade
were an eye-opener to more than
one Harrisburg man who thought he
knew about it," And some of the
sailors said that there were other
men who had decided to stay in
the navy. When the list is finally
made up by the Chamber of Com
merce and the Dauphin County His
torical Society, Harrisburg will be
able to make a roll of honor that
will be still more worth while. The
important thing now is to get every
name.
The edition of The Harrisburg
Telegraph yesterday is one that
should be filed away. 1t contained
more about Harrisburg in the war,
in service and at home, than has
been assembled in any one issue of
any paper here. It was obtained
from first-hand sources and while it
did not go into the details of the
Liberty Loan and other drives, nor
give anything like what could have
been said about the Red Cross, the
churches, the lodges. the United
States Army recruiting station and
other agencies that contributed to
such a splendid local showing in the
war, it was a survey of a city that
has ever been loyal and ready to
give of its men and substance. 1t
should be put away for future ref
erence.
when will the people Of Harris
burg learn that they can see just
as we'll from the sidewalk as they
can from the edge of a marching
line?" asked policeman yesterday
afternoon. "All along the line of the
parade we had to push people back,
calling to them to let the parade
by. The worst part of it is that
people put the children in front and
work out from the curb. I am al
ways glad when a parade is over
because the handling of people on
the streets is the hardest part of
1t ALL"
Here is a new story from France.
II was told by an officer from this
city. Two colored soldiers were on
duty in a railroad yard of the Amer
lean army system in France last
Christmas and one said to the other
"To-morrow's Christmas in de
States" The other man thought
while and replied: "Yeh, but it's
les like any Wednesday heah."
|