The Coolidge examiner., 1937-04-01

oSC IOW LllS 1dllI OdO, III 81 Will ltS
crude wooden trestles, scattered
bridges across America. AS west
ward migration rose to millions, the
use of fordS and ferries dWindled
and bridges multiplied, sometimes
not without local disputes.
When the first railroad bridge was
started over the Mississippi at Dav-
export, Iowa, steamboat men en-
joined it's building as a nuisance"
to navigation! Abraham Lincoln,
lawyer, argued the case for the rail-
way-and the bridge was built.
He is crazy!" men said of James
B. EadS when he sought to build
the largest steel-arch bridge of its
time over the Mississippi at st.
Louis. Doubters shifted at Eads' use
Of pneumatic caissons for bridge
pier foundations. II told you so,"
they said, when the first two half
arches approached their junction at
mid-span and failed by few inches
to fit. Pack the arch in ice," or
dered Eads. The metal shrank and
the ends dropped into place.
The same taunts of ignorance
were flung at John A. Roebling and
his Brooklyn bridge. Men cannot
work like SPIDERS" these critics
said. ''They cannot spin giant cables
from fine wires high in air." Roeb-
ling died before the task was done,
but his monument is the bridge that
spans East river. In the half century
since its completion, amazing ad-
vance has been made in the design,
materials, foundations, and erec-
ton methods of bridge engineering.
And there is speed! It took more
than ten years to build the Brooklyn
bridge. Greater structures are built
now in one-third the time. When
opened in 1883, Roebling's Brooklyn
bridge was called one of the WON
ders of the World" Now the George
Washington bridge over the Hudson
at New York has a span Of $500
feet-more than twice that of the
Brooklyn bridge. And the new Gold
en- Gate bridge spans 4,2Oo feet
Lore of Ancient Bridges.
Our American bridges were all
built yesterday, as the Old World
counts time. Except that American
Indians laid fimsy bridges of poles
over narrow streams and sometimes
sent a crowd of squaws to test
new bridge to see if it would sustain
the tribes horses, we have little of
the lore, the traditions, and supersti-
tions which cling to ancient bridges
of Europe and the East.
It is even hard for us to imagine
that the Caravan bridge in Smyrna
may be 5000 years old; that Homer
wrote verse in nearby caves, or that
st. Paul passed over this bridge on
his way to preach Or that Xerxes,
the Persian king, bridged the Greek
straits more than 400 years before
Christ. Then, tasting grief even as
Eads and Roebling, he saw a storm
destroy it, so that he had to order
the rough waters to be lashed and
cursed by his official cursers, while
he executed his first bridge crew
and set another gang at the task.
Reading the papers, it was easy
for us to learn all about the Inter-
national bridge over the Rio Grande
between Ell Paso and Juarez, when
President Taft walked out on it to
shake hands with President Diaz of
Mexico. Later, by radio, we heard
the Prince of Wales, now Duke of
Windsor, and the diplomats speak
when the Niagara Peace bridge
opened to let Amerians and Can
adams mingle in friendly COM
merce.
Myths and Folklore.
Myths and superstitions linger
about many bridges. Since people
often die in floods, the Romans
looked on a bridge as an infringe
ment on the rights of the river gods
to take their toll. Hence, human be-
ings first, then effigies, were thrown
into the flooded Tiber by priests,
while vestals sang to appease the
river gods. In parts of China today
a live pig or other animal is so
sacrificed when rising floods threat
en- bridge.
Turkish folklore reveals this same
idea. In his book, Oar VI ISlam,"
Sir Mark Sykes records this legend
of bridge under construction which
had fallen three times. This bridge
needs a life," said the workmen.
"And the master saw a beautiful
girl, accompanied by bitch and
her puppies, and he said, We
will give the first life that comes by
But the dog and her little ones hung
back, so the girl was built alive into
the bridge, and only her hand with
a gold bracelet upon it was left out
side"
1t was Peter of Colechurch, a
monk in charge of the Brothers of
the Bridge" who built the Old Lon
don bridge. 1t was a queer struc-
ture, with rows of high wooden
houses fanking each side, overhang-
ing the Thames. Soon after its COM
pletion the houses at one end caught
fire. Crowds rushed out on the