Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 April 1892 — TRIUMPH OF ENGINEERING. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TRIUMPH OF ENGINEERING.

Magnificent New Railroad ItrlUgo Over the Peco* River, In Texan. The great high bridge of the Southern Pacific Railroad over the Pecos River, near Shumla. Texas, is now practically completed, the work yet to be done being the driving of'ubout two thousand rivets. It is the third highest bridge in the world, and is by several feet the highest in the United States, being twenty-six feet higher than the great ICinzua viaduct on the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railway. The Pecos bridge, or via-

duct, is 2,180 feet long and 1128 feet above the surface of the stream. It consists of forty-eight spans in nil. They ate nearly all iron-plate girders, alternately thirty-live feet land sixtyfive feet long. In the center of the bridge, immediately above the bed of the river, is a cantilever span 185 feet long. The high structure is supported by towers, which rest upon stone ledges or rock piers. The dimension of the towers at their base is 35 by 100 feet, but they narrow dowii to 10 by 85 feet at the top. The lightness of the structure gives it a spider-web appearance, but it is • pronounced by practical engineers and railroad men as being one of the most substantial bridges in the country. The flooring is twenty-one feet wide, giving room for a single track and two marrow footways. The bridge was thoroughly tested as the work progressed, and it Is daimed the short spans will carry two and a half tons to the lineal foot, and the longer ones two tons to the lineal foot.

BRIDCE OVER THE PECOS RIVER.