TIIE SUNDAT OREGOyiAX, PORTLAND. AUGUST 13. 1911.
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TREMENDOUS TASK IS
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IPTOC were atked If you could sue
eessfulljr place a foltd block of re
inforced ooncret welshing S4.000,
pounds, 72 feet long. St feet wide
od atandlna perpendicularly higher
than any 11-atory building Id Portland,
down Into the hard rock at the bottom
of the middle or the Willamette ao
that It would atand absolutely straight
and support many millions of founds
of steel abore without moving the
slightest fraction of an Inch, what
would bo the answer?
This question was put to a party of
engineers about two years ago by the
Herrlman railway system heads and
without hesitancy they anawered that
Ihey could accomplish It. They wera
glTen the opportunity and the two
hure concrete piers projecting from
the f-.rer Just south of the Steel bridge
are the results. They are ordinary
looking piers as they stand above the
water but below the surface Is hld
den the story of one of the greatest
ecsjineerlng struggles of recent years.
Down In the watery depths rests a
pile of shattered and Assured rock,
which stands a monument marking the
place where all nature revolted against
the Intrusion of the bridge piers and
where modern Inventions showed their
superiority over nature by winning la
the six months' struggle which fol
lowed nature's protest.
The laying of the piers was the main
epglneering feat undertaken la the
erection of the big new steel bridge,
and with that work completed the rest
r.f the way Is easy, according to the
engineers In charge. It la compara
tively a simple matter to awing 13-ton
girders out over the water and fasten
them to the concrete piers, because the
procedure Is according to rules estab
lished by precedent. It will be easy,
for the same reason, to hoist two sheave
wheels 14 feet In diameter 104 feet Into
the air and adjust them to the top of
steel beams.
Difficulty of Submarine Work.
It was In the laying of the concrete
piers that real engineering was re
quired, because work had to be done
along new lines, with no set rules to
follow. The work as It progressed was
all under water and fate had to be de
pended upon to make the mathematical
rgurlngs "f h engineers result as
planned. The slip cf a detail in con-
strucMoa would ha,ve wrecked tbe whole
huge arrangement, at a cost of hun
dreds of thousands of dollars.
The gigantic piers were put Into
the bottom of the river by means of
cutting edge sinks, which are nothing
particularly new in modern brldge
bulldlng. but which In the case of the
Harrlman bridge piers became decided
ly new when ther failed to operate
properly because of the uneven and
hard bottom of the Willamette. The
troubles experienced could not be fore
seen. The first operation In the building
of the bridge piers was the manufac
ture of the cutting edge sink bases,
which are used In scientifically sinking
the concrete. This work was started
at docks near the Hawthorne bridge,
where launching boata were specially
constructed. The base, which la the
most Important part of the whole ar
rangement, had to be constructed with
the greatest care and required many
months. The base when finished was
rectangular In shape. 71 by It feet In
siie at the top and 14 by It feet at the
bottom or cutting point. It was built
of heavy timbers bolted In every direc
tion with 30-tach bolts and strands of
ateel and shod on the bottom with thick
steel plates. Extending up through the
center were a series of six wells, each
three feet square. These were arranged
at the bottom with cutting edges ao
set that when the base rested on The
bottom of the river the edges would
rut Into the gravel and continue to
sink lower and lower as weight waa
added to the arrangement from tbe
surface above, forcing the gravel up
through the wells. The sand was re
moved from these wella by means of
grappling dredge buckets which, by
digging out the gravel, assisted the
cutting edges In their lowering process.
When the base was finished the sides
extended up a distance of eight feet.
The outer edges were of heavy tim
bers bolted In every direction and dove
tailed at the corners. Between the
outer walla and the walla of the wells
were large compartments In which the
concrete waa to be placed.
Sinking the Great Bases.
Tbe cutting base waa floated down
the river to temporary docks, which
were built of timbers, extending 100
feet down to the sand on the river
bottom and were for the purpose of
holding the base In place and break
ing the force of the river's current
which, wlthoat the docks, would have
played against the broad side of the
sinking base and moved It from place.
The sinking base wse moored Into the
docks and anchored up stream and
then concrete put In the compartment
around the dredge wella. Aa concrete
was added the arrangement began
slowly to sink. Great care was nec
essary In not adding the Concrete very
rapidly, aa that operation would have
sunk the arrangement faster than the
force, of carpenters could build the
sides up aa the base went down. Slow
ly the concrete was added and the ar
rangement sunk until It reached the
bottom of the river and the cutting
edsrea rested In the aand.
Derrlcke were then erected at both
atdea of the affair and dredge bucketa
were lowered down through the dredge
wells to remove tbe aand. Gradually
the cutting edges sunk down as the
buckets removed the sand and aa con
crete was added to the arrangement
above the aurface.
This procedure was kept up until
the. hard cement rock upder the aand
was struck. Blasting then became nec
essary. By means of a pile driver,
holes four Inches In diameter and
about 15 feet deep were dug "in the
rock. A dynamite cartridge was In
serted In the hole by means of a long
4ube and the charge exploded by a bat
tery. The blasting was carriea on ia
this manner until the cutting edge or
base of the pier had sunk far down
Into the rock and was absolutely solid.
This -system worked well with the
pier which rests on the west side of
the channel, but with the east channel
pier nature revolted against the In
sertion of the big mass of concrete
Into the rock.
When the huge cutting edges reached
the -bottom of the sand It was found
that the rock below was not level.
The river bottom of cement rock was
fifteen feet higher on one side of the
cutting edge than on the other, and it
was necessary to cut thla down by
blasting.
Backing, Flinty Rock.
This work delayed the bridge sev
eral months, as the blasting operation
was extremely difficult. The rock was
100 feet below the surface of the water.
Tbe derricks were rslsed and used for
drilling again. The work waa ao alow
that II took the heavy drllla from 10
to 11 hours to sink a hole a few feet
In length. As the holes were . com
pleted the tubing three Inches In diam
eter and six feet long filled with dy
namite was lowered and exploded by
the use of a battery on the surface.
For weeka this operation waa kept
up until the pier retted la Uis rock
deep enough to be absolutely' solid.
In this pier are 8275 cubic yards of
concrete and over 1.000.000 square feet
of timber.
The piers are much larger below the
surface of the water than above. On
the top of the main shafts are the
smaller concrete tops which are seen
above the water and which will form
the base upon which the eteel will
rest.
The plans for the new bridge are
contained on 700-large sheets of blue
print paper, filling a fair-slxed room.
The plans required many months of
steady work on the part of dozens of
engineers.
The work as seen on the bridge here
Is only a small amount of the work
which la actually being done. The en
gineers eay there are men working on
the bridge from the Atlantic to the
Pacific in hundreds of cities and towns.
Their efforts are seen in the store
yards) on the- east side of the river,
where are thousands of tons of steel
and other supplies to be used in the
bridge construction.
Besides the two main piers there are
othera which are of huge dimensions.
On the dock, between Front street and
the west harbor line, are thousands of
piles Inserted deep Into the ground to
hold theplers. If all these were placed
end to end they would extend for six
and three-quartera miles. Between
Front and Third streets are enough
piles to cover a mile and a half 't
placed end to end.
. Cost of Great Bridge.
The foundations of the bridge cost
$540,000, which is about $30,000 more
than the entire cost of the Hawthorne
bridge. The total cost of the Harrl
man bridge will be $1,800,000. The
main river piers are 127 feet down
from the extreme low water line of
the river, and 22 feet 3 Inches above,
making a total length of 149 feet S
inches. The towers will be 246 feet 9
inches from the top of the piers to tbe
top of the sheave wheel. The total
height from the base to the top of the
sheave Is 396 feet. The steamboat
clearance when the lower deck is up
will be 12 feet above low water. When
both decks are up to the top there will
be a clearance of 161 feet. The width
of the channel between piers is 205
feet.
An interesting feature of the bridge
! the fact that it is to have two mov.
lng decks. To allow steamboats to
pass the lower deck, which win sup
port the trains, can be raised and boaU
allowed to pass under without lnteT"
ferlng with - the road traffic on the
upper deck of the bridge. Only in case
of boats with long- masts will the
upper deck have to be raised. The en
gines to raise the lift span will not he
large because of the nuge cuuiiwiu-
anra which Will Weign ino "
as
the lift span. The only power n"
to raise the span will be that neces
sary to overcome the necessary lrlc-
Ttie engineers for the bridge are
Waddell & Harrington. They are rep
resented on the job by C. K. Allen,
resident engineer. John D. Isaacs
is consulting engineer; George w.
Boschke, assistant general - manager,
and George T. Forsythe. bridge engi
neer of the O.-W. R. &. N.
UNCLE SAM'S DAREDEVIL EXPLORERS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
that a rescue party from camp ap
peared with canteens of water, the
violation of the scientific principle of
exploration would have, meant death
to this Government party. .
Quite different from this experience
was one which Mr. Chapman passed
through in the exploration of what Is
now the Glacier National Park. In Mon
tana. He was far up on the Swan
range following a goat trail, which
was rough and dangerous. He had
dismounted and was leading his horse
when the animal stumbled, knocked
him down and fell upon him in the
narrow trail, which skirts the edge of
the cliff. The surveyor realised the
great -danger which faced him as he
lay under his fallen horse. Were that
horse to flounder and fall over the
cliff there was danger of the man be
ing carried with him. Were he in
any way to disable the rider the soli
tude afforded no hope of reacue. But.
fortunately, as the horse attempted to
rise the man struggled free from him.
Then the horse slid over the cliff and
fell a precipitous 600 feet before strik
ing the earth. The surveyor states as
the animal fell be uttered a ahriek
that was almost human in his trsglo
fright-
Surveying the Bad Lands.
Nowhere In the United States does
the primal condition of lawlessness
J,cxJ4t as It does in the ig eoa o
the Rio Grande River, in Texas. Here
Is a stretch of land of such an extent
and of such scattered population that
an Eastern state might be dropped into
It without the knowledge of any of
Its Inhabitants. There Is a cattle
ranch once in a hundred miles, a
quicksilver mine at Terling-un, an oc
casional visit of rangers in pursuit
of a cattle thief and a well-covered
trail or two over which smugglers oc
casionally Introduce tobacco - and
Chinamen from Mexico.' Otherwise the
country Is left alone with Its great
solitude and the mournful howl of
the benighted coyote. .
It was Into this region that Arthur
Stiles, representing the Geological Sur
vey, went for the purpose of making
maps. His experiences were novel
from the standpoint of the roll-top
desk or the morris chair. For in
stance, in the spirit of the explorer
seeking knowledge, he 'once allowed
himself to be let down on a rope
Into a cave be had discovered. Such
caves had been known to yield the
mummified remains of prehistoric
dwellers rn this region, and Stiles was
In search of mummies. Before reach
ing the bottom he, by chance, dis
lodged a rock, which fell Into the cave.
The .result of Its fall waa the hissing
of a veritable multitude of rattlesnakes
which Inhabited the chamber below.
SOles signsjed. io bis assistants above
to haul him up, and escaped the fato
that would have been his but for the
accidental falling of the stone.
One of the best examples of the su
periority of the scientific explorer over
the mere adventurer Is to be found In
the case of Dr. W. J. McGee, Govern
ment geologist, ethnologist and soil
expert. In his trip to Tlburon Island,
in the Gulf of California. Upon this
Island dwell the Serl Indians, the most
Isolated and primitive people in the
world today. These Indians are of gi
gantic stature and fanatically believe
that the touch of any man from the
outside world Is damnation to them.
They, therefore, resist to the death any
expedition that is sent Into their coun
try. Sixty miles of desert and aetretch
of exceedingly rough water separate
them from Inhabited Mexico, of which
they are supposed to be a part. Any
invader of their Island Is forced to
surmount these difficulties which na-
ture places in the way before they can
be Intruded upon. For 300 yeara they
have successfully resisted all attempts
on the part of the Mexican Govern
ment to subdue them. Scores of parties
of adventurers and prospectors, led on
by the tales of a wealth of precious
metals in Seriland, have attempted to
explore Tiburon, and In practically
every case up to the time of the Mc
Gee expedition the attempt had re
sulted ia tragedy, ana often la tbe.
the members of the
extermination of
party.
But Dr. McGee arranged his trip
upon the principles of the sclentiflo
explorer. He knew the amount of sup
plies necessary to take his party across
a 60-mile desert and guarante their
return. He knew the necessary mate
rials with which to build a craft that
would make it possible for his party
to cross to Tiburon. He knew the
strength of a party equipped with mod
ern firearms that would be required
to beat off any attack of the natives.
He met every one of these require
ments on the scientific basis the occa
sion demanded. As a result the trip
was made without any especial risR.
When Tiburon was reached Dr. McGee
kept his fighting men together in such
force as to discourage any attack frorn
the natives, who knew the danger of
firearms. The entire expedition, which
had proved death to many adventurers,
was in this way made entirely safe
through the man of science.
So are the men of the test tube and
the spectacles robbing the adventurers
of the glory of their many accomplish
ments in the face of danger and death.
So is it being demonstrated that adven
ture is a thing that comes only to the
amateur, and is due to a lack of knowl
edge and precaution. So are the great
feats in exploration and discovery now
being nua.de by the men of science
rather than the lover of adventure. The
season Is now on when the stunts are
being done, and the coming of Autumn
this year, as in other years, promises
additions to the store of knowledge,
because these men of science have gone
afield in the Summer months.
.(Copyright, 1911, by. W, A, Du Puy.).