Evening star., 1932-02-14
Linking the North and the South

is clamped in position and locks itself auto
naticalIy with the aid Of magnetic soienoid
brakes that prevent movement. TINS Is the
plan used in passenger elevators, though the
passengers may be unaware OF the mechanism
There is an auxiliary gasoline engine gen.
orator set that is started by pressing but
ton at the operators desk This device IN
sures the same operation as that secured by
the commercial electric current, but only nall
as fast To make sure that the auxiliary engine
is always in working order, the rules adopted by
Col. Grant and his associates require that II
be started once every "A hours.
The outer sides of the bascule draw span are
made of non-oorrosive steel that is known to
the engineers by the highly technical name OF
"n1olybdenum steel"
The operation of the bascuie draw span is
one of the most interesting features OF the
whole bridge project. The stout little tugs,
putting hborio,lsly as they push upstream with
their barges of sand and gravel, signal shrilly
for gangway and the giant leaves of the bascule
draw span rise obedientiy to the symphony OF
great sirens
ny 1924 the preliminary plans and studies
y we're completed so that the bridge it
stands today might be built. Its architects are
McKim Mead & White of New York and the
executive and disbursing officer of the Arlington
Memorial Bridge Commission under whose eye
the project was started actively, was Lieut. Col
~
Army When Col Sheriff. left the Army to be-
come city manager of Cincinnati Ohio the
supervision of the building of the bridge fell to
his assistant, Col. Grant and he has since car
ried the program forward.
Mai Joseph c. Mehaffey Corps of Engineers
United States Army. who is in Panama, be-
came assistant executive officer of the Arling-
ton Memorial Bridge Commission. He was sue
ceeded in 1880 by Mai. Douglas n Gillette who
is also an engineer officer and came to WASH
ington from duty in Alaska. Mr.. Nagle, the
designing engineer for the bridge, was assistant
engineer in the Office of the chief of Engineers
Of the Army in 1922, when he appointed
to his present post.
At each stage OF the DEVELOPMENT involving
ornamental features the Fine Arts Commission
was consulted. Originally it had been proposed
that the bridge should be built in the extension
of New York avenue, but Charles Moore, chair
man of the Fine Arts Commission, braved the
displeasure of President Harding and made
public the opposition of his group and its pref
erence for the location the line from the
Lincoln Memorial to the mansion of Gen. Lee
in Arlington National Cemetery. MIR. Moore
and his colleagues, whose advice ultimately
prevailed, urged that the suggestion of the Park
Commission of 1901 be carried out and their
plan adopted.
And So out of the dreams of Gen. jackson,
the fiery oratory of Daniel Webster, the SYM
pathetic consideration of Q dozen and more
Presidents and the labors of other Americans
of note the Arlington Memorial Bridge has
become q thing of beauty and usefulness,
stretching from one of the worlds most mag
nifcent memorials, raised to Abraham Lincoln,
to the old home of Gen Lee at Arlington.
Planned long before the Civil War, Is has came
to be regarded as a rainbow of hope. cement
ing anew the friendship Of North and South