The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-05-22
DIVER FINDS old
BRIDGE IS WRECK
Broken i'm Middle and All
Sections Badly Bent
and Twisted
SUGGESTS HOW 1T
COULD BE SALVAGED
Bottom of Structure on Downstream
Side-Accumulation of Debris Makes
1t Impossible to See Whether Body
of Flanagan Is There.

of Flanagan Is There.
After examining the steel arch bridge |
which formerly spanned the Connecti- |
cut river from the railroad yard to the |
island and was lifted off its foundation
and plunged into the river by the ice
jam of Sunday evening, March 28,
Peter Peterson of Cambridge, Mass,
reports that the structure which was
once pictured as one of Brattleboro =
handsome attractions is now a broken,
twisted and shapeless mass, wrecked
beyond redemption except for use as
old steel
Mr.. Peterson was here yesterday, as
was Engineer John W. Storrs of Con-
cord. n. H., who had him come here.
and lie spent three hours under the
water TO determine the condition of the
structure for the selectmen of Brat
tieboro and Hinsdale. Securely en-
closed in his divers suit, he could
laugh at those who stood OUT in the
| rain and assisted him.
| His report that the bridge is
wreck confirms the opinion held by
those who saw it give way before the
| tremendous pressure of water and ice
on that momentous Sunday night when
/ Cornelius Flanagan ventured out upon
it and was carried beneath the seeth-
| ing. crunching mass in the river, not
| TO be seen again.
It confirms also the opinion held by
. L L 4
ee exposed sections of the wreckage
rs the water has been drawn low by the
/ Connecticut River Power Co. by OPEN
! ing the flood gates at the Vernon dam
i So much debris has accumulated in
the networ kof broken steel chords
and braces. including brush. trees and
other objects washed down by the river.
that it was impossible to make min
ute examination to see whether Mr.
: Flanagan s body was held within the
embrace of the old structure
Mr. Peterson did 90 over the loca-
tion enough, however. to see that there
!, was no possibility of salvaging the
bridge as unit He found that prac-
, tically every connection with the top
, chords, the heavy pieces of steel that
| constituted the upper part of the two
arches. was broken.
: Most of the I bars and pins that
: hold the bottom chords together are
intact. but the bars and braces are
twisted and bent and broken. In short
the bridge, as Mr.. Peterson saws. CLAWS
like scrap iron in a dump"
Mr. Peterson states that the bridge
!, is broken in two in the middle and that
the west portion, the part nearest the
Vermont shore, lies in an easterlv anG
westerly direction, while the east por
: ton lies at an angle up stream. From
the appearance, he says, the east enc
dropped down first and the west enc
swung farther down stream. In genera
the bottom of the bridge is dowr
stream. In general the bottom of tn,
5 bridge is down stream and the top sid
a up stream, and the part that show
Il when the water is drawn down is
part of the sidewalk, which was on tn
= south side.
Il When asked by a member of the Re
e former staff if it would be Difficult
: task to get the old bridge out. in viev
of the fact that it weighs close to 30
= tons. Mr. Peterson expressed the opin
rs ion that the task would not be partie
,r ularlv difficult but would be expensive
i He thinks large cables could be at
tached to it in such a way that by us
y ing q portable engine the bridge coul
{. be rolled over against the river ban
where it could be cut in pieces by pow
erful torches.
The pieces could then be shipped i
h. freight ears and be utilized for cel
tain purposes, but whether there woul
be a wide margin between the value c
XII the salvaged steel and the expense {
re salvaging it is question for engii
Dn GERS to determine. In view of the Il
o. gal status of the bridge question Il
e. matter of salvaging the old bridge
IS not likely to be settled right away.
Mr.. Peterson is diver of ID years
experience in river and harbor wor
and he has worked on some importal
ps Jobs This is not his first visit to Bra
ok tleboro, as he examined the old pie
NJ which supported the wooden covert
of bridge on the site of the steel brid,
sh in question, several years ago. He al
be worked above East Putney a few yea
Xxi ago when locomotive went into Il
river.
Every two years he examines Il
Portsmouth Kittery pile bridge aero
the Piscataqua river. The bridge
supported by many thousands of pile
DIV some of them about 90 feet long, al
these piles have to be inspected to $
whether they are being Weekend
ner worms or in any other way. 1t w
oily while he was working on those pill
in that Engineer Storrs became a
quainted with him.