Posted by stew - Sat, Jan 17, 2009

Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 23, 1875
Turners Falls bridge

Turners Falls bridge - Plans of the proposed bridge are now ready at the office of the Clerk of Courts, which have been drawn by E.A. Stratton, the Engineer employed by the County Commissioners. The specifications require that the bridge shall have a carriage way of 18 ft. in the clear, and a projecting sidewalk on either side of 5 ft. in the clear. The bridge shall be capable of sustaining 80 lbs. to the square foot, exclusive of its own weight.

From the Turners Falls side of the river to Great Island, the bridge is to be built of iron, of a suspension or truss form as may be decided upon. The span for a truss bridge over the present canal shall be 75, 100 or 150 ft. as may be determined...From Great Island to Gill shore, there will be a clear span of about 210 ft., making a total length of 960 ft. The masonry for the bridge is to be of that character called "first class rubble". The stones are to be of a hard and durable quality, and so quarried as to admit of being laid in regular courses without hammer dressing, and all to be laid in the best quality of hydraulic cement mortar.

Particular attention must be giver to the up-river ends of the piers in the main channel of the river, and cut-water points are required of similar style as in the piers of the Montague bridge, and all the stone in the up-river end of the piers are to be dowelled together up to high water line. In quantity there will be about 1630 cable yards of masonry. There will be embankments required of approaches to the abutments, and excavations for the roadway on Great Island, which will amount to about 2800 cubic yards.

Proposals will be received for the whole work or separately, as parties may prefer, and all work to be done to the acceptance of the county commissioners. The plans take from the east end of the Montague Paper Mill about 20 ft., and keeps clear of the Clark & Chapman machine shop. The estimate is as follows: 1630 yards of masonry at $7, $11,410; 2800 yards of earth work at 25 cents, $700; the price of the superstructure will determine the balance of the cost; assuming that the entire bridge may be made of wood, at a cost not exceeding $30 per lineal foot, the amount would be $28,800, making the total cost $40,910.

It is claimed that a truss bridge or a suspension bridge can be built at low figures as those given in the estimate. The matter of damages is the most serious difficulty to be disposed of. It will be remembered that the act of Legislature requiring the construction of the bridge limits the cost to $42,000. Now it is claimed that the land damage should not be included in this sum, and high legal opinion has been obtained which takes this view of the question. A no. of bridge builders have made inquiries either by letters or by personal visits, and bids are likely to be made at quite low figures. If the bridge is to be built, a time will never be found when it can be done cheaper than now.

[This bridge would come to be known as the "Upper Suspension Bridge". See http://www.memorialh...age.jsp?itemid=15762 for more information and a photo. See also http://www.bridgemeister.com/pic.php?pid=670 ].

Subjects: Bridges, Business Enterprises, Canals, Connecticut River, Economics, Gill (MA), Government, Law and Lawyers, Literature / Web Pages, Mail, Massachusetts, Montague (MA), Rivers / Lakes / Oceans, Roads, Transportation, Trees, Turners Falls (MA), Work, Architecture / Construction