Show from front life illustrated Illustrate dj the mississippi railroad Eail rall road bridge I 1 1 L tills this structure is ow owned ned and managed by a cor horation po pD ration styled the mississippi railroad I 1 bridga company henry henrs of new now haven conn coull president which was organized in 1853 under the file aug aus ices aces of the chicago and rock island and the mississippi and missouri railroads the tha chicago and rock island railroad terminates ju jil the city of rock island ill iii and the mississippi and missouri Alis railroad terminates in the city ot 0 davenport iowa and this bridge companas Comp anys structures embracing two bridges aud about one mile of grade track traci i form a connecting lin link between those two roads the great bridge extends from the iowa lowa shore shora to the island of rock island on oil which old fort armstrong standa stands and was erected by the firm of atone intone boomer boyington of davenport its entire length is 1581 feet and there are five stone piers seven feet wide at the top by thirty five feet long and thirty eight feet high which rest oa ort solid limestone rock at the bottom of the river the ther water being ordinarily from six to ten feet deep and very swift at eacle end of the bridga is a T abutment one thirty and on thirty five feet high and in the steamboat channel stands the draw pier which is of octagonal form thirty two feet feel fe 1 et in diameter di ameter ampter at the top and protected by a crib three hundred and fifty feet ion lon long iong and forty feet wide this crib is a complete wall and network of hewn timber filled iu in with broken stone from the bottom of the river up to the pier level and has one hundred and twenty feet of clear channel on each side for the passage of boats the lurli table pan bing two hundred and eighty five feet long iong lie he longest now nov in the united states there are airee spans on the iowa iova side of the draw pier and wo on oil the rock islina side each cadi being two hundred and gifty fifty feet long there was used in its construction one million feet of timber four hundred thousand pounds of wrought iron and two hundred thousand pounds anast of casl cast iron it has cost the slough bridge as it is called connects co knect rock island with the illinois shore ana and consists of three spans one hundred and finly feet long each with no draw these bridges are bant after howes flowes patent truss model with wi mth fth main and lateral braces and four magnificent arch beams lo 10 ach each span the piers are all wedge shaped with a gradual slope at their upper side so as to cut cat the current or floating ice the more readily the construction work was commended in jan 1851 the draw was first swung april at 6 PM pat P at april a anew new locomotive crossed from the island to davenport after 7 p r M which was the first passage and a long train of cirs c I 1 r S new locomotives etc immediately follower follow follo ZT eo oa 0 tho following morning the regular 8 sau SAM AX passenger and frel frei freih glit t trains from chicago crossed and established the route but bt after a few cl diye lys tys trial rh thi th i passing trains trans were found u to interfere so much with the progress of the finishing work that they were stopped entirely un until all shoula be cio cettl ns piete on the octh of may alay about t t A M U the ule steamer teamer efna afton attempted lopsy topsy to p up the bridge channel on one wheel having disabled dis abed her starboard works a few days dys previous by a collision with y ith the 1 B carson the wind and current carried her against the stone pier next south bouth of the draw on the rock island side her hull huil and knocking her chimneys down so that she immediately sunk to her guards and took fire consuming sum aig the boat entirely and burning downtO dowil moue ue soan span oan of the tho bridge bridga no lives lost work was commenced the swie bamo day dy toward replacing the tho lost span and in a it few weeks eastern amini tm ma will acan agan steam it in midair mid air acom the fattier of 0 waters A good distant view of this brid brij bodde brijo 0 o ts is hardly surpassed in grandeur by that of niagara except in the comparative tameness lameness of the adjacent scenery our river landscapes are exceedingly beautiful but not sublime and it is certainly the most stupendous highway structure yet completed on this continent the niagara bridge possibly excepted daven Duven davenport port is called the bridge city HIRISI A rean ran DAVENPORT IOWA july 7 1856 |