Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1921-06-24
PLANS FOR new
BRIDGE PROGRESS
Scow and Derrick Secured from
Power Company
All New Parts to BE Manufactured
Philadelphia Office of American Bridge
Co. Arranging to Send Diver.

Arrangements have been made by Supt.
Dan Burns of the American Bridge Co.
force of workmen on the Connecticut
river bridge site here to use a scow, der
rick and hosting engine owned by the
Connecticut River Power Go. in moving
the steel bridge framework which fell into
the river last week Thursday and which
now lies on the bottom of the river.
The scow, fully equipped, is now at
the power plant in Vernon, and Supt.
Burns and a force of men are at work
there getting it ready to float, as it has
been out on dry land the past few weeks.
This ScOW, which was used in the CON
structon of the Boston 4 Maine railroad
bridge, has lifting capacity of 40 to 80
tons. The derrick is nearly 40 feet in
height. and as the railroad bridge has a
clearance of only about II feet the dis
mantling of the derrick is necessary be-
fore the scow can be towed under the
bridge.
Through the Philadelphia Office of the
American Bridge Co. plans are being
made to send q diver Acre. who will make
an inspection of the wrecked bridge and
assist in attaching the cables to the
Wreckage so that it can be hauled clear
in order that new falSewOrk can be put
The company has given up the idea
of trying to salvage any of the steel in
the river for use in the new bridge. and
duplicate parts will be made of all eX-
cept the pieces now on land, which means
that at least two-thirds of the bridge
will be made new. \ few pieces in the
river might be saved perhaps. but the
saving would not represent large
amount financially. and with view to
eXpediting the erection of the bridge the
company plans to make the necessary
new parts at once.
Whether the bulk of the steel now in
tnp riVpr will hn tal ont CHI
away as scrap iron or be left in the
river remains to be determined but the
impression now seems to be that it will
be taken out. Such of the falsework as
the men could remove has been made into
RATS and fastened to the shore north and
south of the Brattleboro abutment, and
the Philadelphia office of the company
is looking up new piling. The company
plans to have the steel here by the time
the men are ready to use it.
Ten or more of the men who were on
the bridge when it fell have gone to their
homes to remain until called for. The
others are here doing what preliminary
work they can.
you may assure the good people of
Brattleboro that the American Bridge
Co. will have new bridge erected before
snow flies, said Manager j. Il. Gem
berling of the company when interviewed
by member of The Phoenix staff Friday
iOi'hpVi az Nv was surveying tHP WRECK
age of the bridge which toppled into the
Connecticut river Thursday forenoon
after one of the piles in the falsework
gave way and caused the collapse of the
bridge in process of erection.
Mr.. Gembpring was at the company's
office in Philadelphia when news of the
disaster reached him. and he started i'm
mediatcly for Brattlcboro. reaching
Springfield, Mass, Thursday night ant
coming here next morning.
1T is very gratifying to us that no
body was killed or badly injured" con
tinued Mr.. Gcmbcring. "Such an ac
cident never could happen again with
out more serious results. We are sorry
that the accident happened, but W.
should have. felt much worse if there had
been loss of life. We can replace tho
steel without difficulty, but we could not
replace lives lost"
When asked if any blame was at
tached to anybody for the collapse of tho
structure Mr.. Gamberling replied Sab
solutely not Supt Dan Burns was Q
competent bridge builder, he said. ant
used every precauti0n that anybody
could use. The weight of the load wa,
so distributed, he said. that he did not
believe the pile which broke was carry
ing more than nine or 10 tons, which
was very small amount for piles of that
size to carry.
Mr.. Gemberlikg said, however. that he
did not like the looks of the broken end,
of such of the piles as are visible. Tho
piles used on this job are Adirondack