Identifier: historyofeaststl00tyso (find matches)
Title: History of East St. Louis : its resources, statistics, railroads, physical features, business and advantages
Year: 1875 (1870s)
Authors: Tyson, Robert A
Subjects:
Publisher: East St. Louis (Ill.) : J. Haps & Co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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com-pletely, and the extensiveness of the structure renders it themost daring and wonderful piece of engineering in the country.The superstructure is supported by steel tubular arches, eight innumber joined together by a net work of braces; the archesbeing four above and four below, and twelve feet apart. Tbecenter of the middle arch is fifty-five feet above highest waterlevel. The tubes were manufactured in lengths of twelve feeteach, eighteen inches in fiameter, and from one-eighth to twoand one-fourth inches in thickness of metal, and are of chromesteel. They are made in sections, six of which complete thecircle, and about them is an envelope of steel, one quarter of aninch in thickness. Each length of tube weighs two tons. Thelength of the middle arch is 520 feet, and of the outer arches 502feet. The piers were sunk, the east pier ninety feet below thebed of the river and 120 feet below the surface of the water, andthe west pier sixty feot below the river bed and ninety below the
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84 HISTORY OF surface on solid rock. The piers rise above the surface eightyfeet. The iron caissons on which the piers rest with a weight of25,000 and 45,000 tons of stone, were eighty-two feet by sixtyfeet, and eighteen feet in depth, and weighed 500,000 pounds. Inthe caissons, workmen removed the mud and sand as fast as theincreasing weight of the pier sunk them, which was hoistedthrough pipes or tunnels. At one time the workmen laboredunder three pressures of atmosphere, to retain which two airchambers were necessary, one communicating vvith the open airand the lower one with the upper one. Work began in March of1869, and the final test ivas applied in July, 1874. The bridge isbuilt in two stories, the lower one tor the double car track, andthe upper one is divided into two carriage ways, two horse cartracks, divided from which by an iron railings are two walks forfootmen. The width of the top of the bridge is fifty-four feet.The length of the bridge proper is 1,628 feet. Carriages

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