THE WEST SHORE.
6
without the town limits. The majority of the settlers at
present are Mormons, though the new-comers, especially
miners, are chiefly Gentiles. A large number of men are
employed in the shops, and the present population of the
town is about 800. Coal is brought by the railroad, sev
eral extensive beds lying along the route, and timber is
floated down from the mountains. The mining and
agricultural interests will develop together, rendering
mutual support, and a large and prosperous population
will ere many years occupy the valley of Snake River.
THE CANTILEVER BRIDGE.
The cantilever bridge is described as one of the great
est triumphs of modern engineering science. The one
now just completed at Niagara is 245 feet above the
rushing torrent below, and it is not dissimilar in appear
ance to an ordinary truss bridge, although erected on an
entirely different plan. At the water's edge, on each side
of the river, excavations were carried down until solid
rock was reached, when massive blocks of boton or cement
were firmly placed in position. Upon these beton blocks
were built pillars of masonry of the most substantial
character, carried up fifty feet above the surface of the
water. On these rest two steel towers, rising 150 feot
above the masonry, and upon these were set the steel
superstructures. The design is such that after the arm
from the shore to the tower is completed and anchored
the river arm may then be built out, one panel or section
at a time, by means of great travelling dorricks, and be
Belf-sustaining as it progresses, balanced by the weight of
the shore end. After one panel of twenty-five feot is
built and has its bracing adjusted the travelling dorricks
are moved forward and another panel erected. Thus the
work progresses, section by section, until the ends of the
cantilever are reached, when there still remains a gap of
125 feet to close. Into this will be swung and suspended
from the cantilever arms an ordinary truss bridge, form
ing the connecting link and completing the structure.
Compensation for expansion and contraction is provided
for by an ingenious arrangement between the ends of the
cantilever and fixed span, allowing the ends to move
freoly as the temperature changes, but at the same time
preserving perfect rigidity against the side pressure from
the wind. There will be no guys for this purpose, as in
the suspension bridge, but the structure will be complete
within itself. Neither will there be any of that motion
noticed on a suspension bridge as a train moves over ii
The total length of the bridge proper is 895 feot,
divided into two cantilevers of 375 feet on the Canadian
and 395 on the American sido, supported on steel towers
rising from the water's edge, as above described. A
fixed span of 125 feet is suBponded from and connects the
river arms of the cantilevers. The clear span across the
river is 500 feet, being the longest double-track truss
span ever built In fact, but one bridge on the cantilever
plan has been built previously; that across the River Tny,
in Scotland a famous structure which takes the place
of the one that fell on a very stormy night in 1880, as a
train was passing over it
STAGING AT NIGHT.
To my youth and evon my earlier manhood stngos
were an unknown quantity. To bo sure, such convey,
ances were occasionally hoard of, but tho name was gen
erally associated in my mind with the delicate attentions
of road agents and Indians. I know moro now. Wo oil
know more some time. Even the dull wit who has passed
successfully through the birchen reign of tho villago
pedagogue, the shower of newspapers and books of in
formation and travel, and oven listened for hours to the
wise saws of tho oldest inhabitant, without learning more
than the hours whon he must appear at tho family table
to appease his appetite, finds upon entering the busy
world without his little circle a master whose lessons can
neither be avoided nor forgotten, and tho groat teacher is
named Experience. My usual faculty for taking hold of
the hot end of tho poker has kept this instructor con
stantly busy imparting to me valuable information, but
not always in the most agreoablo manner. My first intro
duction to staging consisted of that most undesirable of
all stage experiences, a night ride in tho mountains, and
the opportunity to teach mo a lesson was not neglectod by
the master.
Several years ago I wont to California from tho East,
and docidod to take an overland trip to Fortland, stopping
for a time at Yroka, where funds wore awaiting mo. Ar
riving at Redding, the northern terminus of the Central
Facific, at nine o'clock in tho evening, tirod and sleepy, I
determined to go to bod at once, oxpocting to bo called
early in the morning to take tho stage for Yroka. Stop
ping up to the hotel bar I inquirod of the proprietor, who
was dexterously mixing a cocktail for an awaiting cus
tomer, whon the stage left, whon it arrived at Yroka and
what was the faro. " In fifloon minutes ; to-morrow
night at nine o'clock; soventoon dollars," lie answorod, as
ho shoved tho concoction towards his thirsty customer,
grabbed a glass with one hand, a pieco of ice with the
other, put some water in tho glass with tho ice, and skill
fully pushed it toward tho drinker. He then spread loth
hands ujxm the counter, turned his eyes full upon me and
smiled, as much as to say, "Well, what's yours?" I
turned away, but not until I had caught his look of sur
prise at my not wanting anything to drink. Until I wont
to California I had always considered tho physical essen
tials to be food and drink, but I soon loarnod they wore
drink and food.
A hnsty inventory, taken slyly in the corner, rovealod
but 119, cash assets, which loft a margin of only $2 for
meals on tho route, and firmly convinced me that this
was my stage. The fare was quickly paid, and a big
fellow in a rod shirt, with a scar on his faco and a wreath
of tobacco juice encircling his mouth, took charge of my
trunk and strapped it on tho stage. He was the driver,
and consequently a personage of no small importance,
equal, if not superior, to the hotel clerk; so when he
asked me if I would ride with him or on tho inside, tho
temptation was great, but I resisted, and said, with the air
of one who hod owned several stages from boyhood and