Evening star., 1932-10-16

will last a long while, though a modern struc
ture should be built somewhere along the river
in this vicinity
= first opened, The Star printed long de-
scrption of it, a portion Of which said:
'The plan for the new bridge selected by Gen.
Babcock as best adapted for this site is what
Is known as the Murphy -Whipple Truss 1t
is divided into eight spans, two OF 160 feet and
six of l72 feet each. The entire length Is 1852
feet The spans separate and independent
Of each other, resting on cast-iron bridge seats.
securely anchored to stone copings one end OF
each span is fixed, and the other rests upon
friction rollers provided for the expansion and
contraction Of the iron. The trusses are % feet
in depth and placed % feet apart from center
to center Each truss of 172 feet span is divided
into IL panels, and each truss OF 160 feet into
IL panels Of 14h feet each. The upper cords,
main and intermediate posts, are formed OF
Phoenix column iron. and the lower cords main
and intermediate ties of the the forged links,
without YIELDS. The posts are fitted to cast
iron caps and seats, the bottoms of the former
and the tops Of the latter being truly turned
for that purpose. Turned wrought iron pins,
3 inches in diameter. lock in one connec-
ton the caps Of the columns and the diagonal
ties, also the bottom cords, the seats Of the
columns, the diagonal ties, and the floor beam
suspenders. The floor beams are 15-inch
Phoenix rolled beams and the floor joists and
flooring are of the best North Carolina pine,
3 inches thick and not over inches wide,
with edges sawed straight, laid close, and
iron railing 4 feet high is placed on either
side of the carriageway The width of the
roadway IS 20 feet and the bridge is propor-
toned SO as to safely carry in addition to the
weight of the structure, 100 pounds for each
square foot of roadway, and the maximum
T.
per square inch Of section, or about l inch
Of its ultimate strength The contract price for
the entire work was $94 900, which was paid by
installments, as each span was completed.
"Mr. Theodore B. Samo was the engineer in
charge of the work, and the contractors for
building the bridge were Messrs. Clark. Reeves
& Co., Phoenixville Works. near Philadelphia.
At the point where this bridge is built the
channel is deep, the bottom rocky and uneven,
the current swift and running close to the Vir-
ginia shore. There have been several bridges
on this site, and on each successive one being
built the defects in the plans and construction
Of the former ones have been avoided. The
first bridge erected on this site was constructed
about 40 years ago. which was an iron suspen-
sion bridge, supported by immense cable chains
stretching from pier to pier, from which the
term chain bridge was derived.
This bridge was destroyed by ice and drift
wood, which lodged against the chains and
PIERS The bridge has been continually repaired
up to the time of the construction OF the
present one. The long stretch Of rocky fats
nearly 500 yards in width, between this channel
and the canal on the District side, Is seldom
covered with water, except in times Of freshets.
Immediately below the Little Falls the depth OF
water Is over 80 feet and continues very deep
until the Aqueduct Bridge is reached. So dis
astrous hitherto have the floods been to the
bridges here that Gen. Babcock has taken the
precaution in this instance of having all the old
piers raised 2 feet additional thus giving more