Tensaw River Lift Bridge, Spanning Tensaw River at U.S. Highway 90, Mobile

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AL-104. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

U.S. Highway 90 spanning Tensaw River 1.4 miles east of the City ofMobile Mobile and Baldwin CouQ.ties, Alabama U.S.G.S. 7.5 minute Mobile, Alabama quadrangle, Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: Date of construction: 7. Altered Engineer: Harrington, Howard & Ash, Kansas City, Missouri i Fabricator: Virginia Bridge & Iron Company, Roanoke, Virginia Erector: Kansas City Bridge Company, Kansas City, Missouri

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AL-104. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Tensaw River Lift Bridge is one of the oldest remaining lift bridges in Alabama. It is important in local history as an integral component of the "Cochrane Bridge", a mile-long causeway connecting Mobile and Baldwin counties over Mobile Bay. The construction of the causeway helped complete the "Spanish Trail", a transcontinental highway designed to increase tourism and commerce on the Gulf of Mexico coast and westward. It is the work of Harrington, Howard & Ash Consulting Engineers of Kansas City, Missouri, one of the most important early century bridge designers in the United States. The bridge is not currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Report prepared by: Daniel R. Pratt Staff Archaeologist Panamerican Consultants, Inc.

924 Avenue East Tuscaloosa, Alabama 3 Date: December TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 2 Introduction The Tensaw River Lift Bridge (ADOT Structure Number is located at UTM Coordinates N and E, Zone 16, Mobile and Baldwin counties, Alabama, and is a component of the "Cochrane Bridge," the first causeway across Mobile Bay (Figures 1 and 2).

The bridge was financed by the Mobile Bay Bridge Company, a private firm established in The span was designed by Harrington, Howard & Ash, Consulting Engineers ofKansas City, Missouri, and fabricated by the Virginia Bridge & Iron Company of Roanoke, with steel provided by the Carnegie Steel Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company ofBirmingham, Alabama. The bridge, with its vertical lift span, was erected in and by the Kansas City Bridge Company, of Kansas City, Missouri, and operated until when the lift mechanism was retired. Fallowing the removal of the lift towers in the bridge carried vehicular traffic. In its deteriorating condition forced the bridge's closing.

- -t Traffic projections for the Mobile Bay US and Interstate 10 causeway show that the system must be expanded to meet increasin& traffic rates. The cost of constructing a replacement bridge on a new alignment has beeri shown to be prohibitive. Therefore, in January of the Alabama Department of Transportation (ADOT) will remove the Tensaw River Lift Bridge in order to construct a replacement bridge within the identical right-of-way (Project Because the bridge has been considered eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places the ADOT has contracted Panamerican Consultants, Inc. of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to perfonn a Level I Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation of the structure prior to its demolition.

~ In compliance with the State Senate of Alabama Joint Resolution No. 112 of April 5, "all suitable materials salvaged from the project replacing the bridge ... [will be used] for artificial reefs to provide fish habitat and scuba diving opportunities. "2 Previous Investigations The Historic Structure Report prepared by the ADOT is the only fonnal historical investigation perfonned for the Tensaw River Lift Bridge prior to this documentation. The report is accurate, with one minor exception: the statement that "the sheaves, or take-up wheels used when raising or lowering the lift span, still remain intact on the bridge span" refers to the small 18-inch diameter deflecting sheaves located at each end of the lift span.

The sheaves proper, used to wind the take-up ropes of the lift span, were located at the top of the lift towers, 1 Alabama Department of Transportation, Montgomery, Alabama to Panamerican Consultants, Inc., Tuscaloosa, Alabama, June 29, Historic Structure Report, Tensaw River Bridge Replacement, U.S. 90, Baldwin and Mobile Counties. 2 State Senate of Alabama, Resolution No. Directing the Department of Transportation to Utilize Suitable Materials From the Tensaw River Bridge Project for Artificial Reefs, (April 5, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page3 Figure 1: Location of the Tensaw River Lift Bridge. Western terminus of structure located 1.4 miles east of the City of Mobile. Tombigbee Alabama River River Mo bile Baldwin .

County County; /i '- -0 Mobil tl ~1~ 1 0 1 2 3 miles Mobile Bay ~ TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL- I04 Page4 Figure 2: Detail of the Tensaw River Lift Bridge Site (measurements in feet). Western terminus of structure located 1.4 miles east of the City of Mobile. 0 POLE:CAf BAY Iff N5AW RIVf RLiff BRlt7uf j LAKE LY ISLAND 129 if. . "o,,. if. '<o,,. BAf1U'5HIP fU"l}AMA / MOB/Lr BAY TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 5 and were 9 feet in diameter. Narrative History: The City of Mobile and the Mobile Bay Causeway Mobile Economic Revitalization Following the First World War, the County and City of Mobile began an economic campaign to revitalize their commerce and industry.

Pushing.through an amendment to the Alabama constitution to use state funds on internal development projects, Mayor Hany T. Hartwell, with the backing of George G. Crawford (of Birmingham's United States Steel subsidiary) and Governor Thomas E. Kilby, succeeded in acquiring a bond issue for the construction of the Alabama State Docks in Mobile. The Alabama State Docks were designed to lure national industry to Mobile and increase the breadth of the city's economic base. 3 The development of the tourist industl")f'Was also an attractive proposition to Mobile. With the increase in American mobility following the popularization of the Model T, the city hoped to entice vacationers who might otherwise . subsidize the Florida coasts.

The building of a transcontinental highway, known as the Old Spanish Trail, was eventually designed to link the cities of Jacksonville, Mobile, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Phoenix and San Diego, and open up a new American Riviera, completing an interstate system that encircled the nation. 4 The Old Spanish Trail Highway system endorsed by Mobile had one economic hitch, however. The existing road around Mobile Bay amounted to a 217-mile detour for truck traffic (13 hours in an average Model T), forcing agricultural producers (with produce amounting to over in and other industries east of the Bay to ship their goods through the docks at Pensacola, Florida.

The only other option that would allow shippers to _avoid the detour was an expansion of the "Bay boat" system, which would require the purchase and maintenance of large ferrying vessels, the e_xpensive dredging and maintenance of a new channel, and a 3 to 4 hour shipping delay. Mobile Bay Boats/Ferries Following the Civil War, there was a considerable increase in vessel traffic on the waters of the Mobile area by local steamers and small boats, involved in transportation and in the collection of seafood. The development of resorts and summer homes on the eastern shore (Baldwin County) led to a number of cross-Bay ferries and excursion steamers that became a major part of the life of the people of Mobile and Baldwin counties.

The Bay ferries and excursion boats, known locally as "Bay boats", developed a substantial and regular feny service 3McLaurin, Melton and Michael Thomason, Mobile: The Life and Times of a Great Southern City, an illustrated History ~incisor Publications, Woodland Hills, California, p. Trail Dream Comes True",Mobile Press-Register, 11 September, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-I 04 Page 6 until a rapid decline following the opening of the Cochrane Bridge (Mobile Bay causeway). 5 In there were four fenies operating in Mobile Bay, 6 each taking approximately 45 minutes to complete a one-way trip with thirty automobiles (see HAER Photograph 7 The Bay boats could carry vehicles as well as passengers, but the trip was tedious and inconvenient. The Bay boats were also expensive.

A one-way .ticket for an automobile and passenger across the Bay was typically $3. 10. 8 An expansion of the "Bay boat" system to handle heavy industrial traffic was probably never considered as a serious option for avoiding the 217-mile Mobile Bay detour. From the early plans were underway to bridge the Old Spanish Trail gap. 9 The Old Spanish Trail Hiway The initial concept of the "Old Spanish -t!'rail Hiway" has been credited to Stewart Le Blanc, manager of the Mobile Liners steamship company. 10 In the early Le Blanc foresaw an roadway link between New Orleans,: Louisiana, and Jacksonville, Florida as a way of stimulating the growth of industry and tourism on the "American Riviera." The Spanish Trail remained a reverie until when a committee headed by L. C. Irvine, the owner of the St.

Andrews Motel in Mobile, petitioned a roads committee in Nashville, Tennessee to route the new "Jackson Highway" through Mobile. The petition failed. In response to this failure, Le Blanc, then vice-president and Chairman of the Good Roads Committee, presented the concept of the Old Spanish Trail Hiway to the Mobile Rotary Club. The Rotarians appointed members to a new committee, staffed by J. W. Hunter, L. C. Irvine, Martin Holbrook, W. M. Clemens, E. C. Grace, Palmer Pillans and Le Blanc, to develop the concept in cooperation with E. M. Bailey and L. G. Adams, both of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce. The committee raised funds, sent a scout car from Mobile to St.

Augustine, Florida, and called the first Mobile Old Spanish Trail Convention on December Participants from Arizona to Florida (the proposed Trail route having been extended) were favorably impressed with the concept, and formed the Old Spanish Trail Association, with Palmer Pillans as President and Le Blanc as Secretary. Harry Lock, the delegate from Arizona, was the first to drive the coast-to-coast path of 5 Judith Anthony, The Way It Was: A Maritime History of Mobile Bay (Public Television Services, Mobile, Alabama, 6 Record Group 6, Records of the Board of Commissioners of the City of Mobile, Series 75, Streets and Roads, General Files, Mobile City Archives, June 18, 7 Record Group 6, 7 January, 8Higginbotharn, J., The First National Bank of Mobile (First National Bank, Mobile, p.

9 The earliest reference to the construction of a bridge over the headwaters of Mobile Bay comes from a United States Senate Report of March 23, allowing a period of one year for the structure's completion. 9 PCI was unable to locate further infonnation concerning these construction plans during the time allotted for research. 10 Trail Dream Cornes True", Mobile Press-Register, 11 September, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page7 the Trail, making strip maps of the proposed route. In the Old Spanish Trail Convention was held in Pensacola. In the same year, S.

Harry Peck, the owner of the Battle House Hotel in Mobile, with the assistance of Alabama Senator John Craft (whose motto "Let's take Alabama out of the mud," made possible the paving of many of the state's roadways 11 ), secured a franchise from the Mobile and Baldwin county commissioners for the building of a bridge across Mobile Bay. United States Senate Report Number 573,.issued on June 30, (endorsed by William M. Ingraham, Secretary ofWar) 12 and Congressional Act, Chapter issued on August 21, 13 authorized the construction of the bridge. In the Trail convention was held in Tallahassee, Florida, and the Mobile-Baldwin Road Association was formed. Mobile-Baldwin Road Association The Mobile-Baldwin Road Association (S.

Harry Peck, President) was incorporated on February 7, to pursue the construction of a highway across Mobile Bay. J. H. Webb discussed the project in an article in the Mobile{Press-Register the following day: In October 14, the Alabama-Mississippi Gulf Coast Highway Association appointed a committee to consider the Iilatter of a highway across the delta between Mobile and Baldwin counties, and it selected Captain Nichol to survey the route and submit plans and estimates for the same.

A route from Magazine Point to Blakely was advised, with ferries across Mobile and Tensaw rivers and a bridge over Spanish River, and cost estimated at about Mobile County agreed to pay of this and Baldwin Bids were requested, but the cost of construction, particularly that part requiring bridge work, having rapidly advanced, it was found that the cost would exceed the ,. estimate and further progress was temporarily halted. 15 -- (Members signing the charter included T. W. Gilmer, J. H. Webb, S. J. Gordon, J. A. Camey, Dr. 0. F. E. Winberg, E. Brodbeck, Florence B. Glennon, H. H. Wefel, H. Pillans, S. H. Peck, L. G. Adams, William Dryer, Lawrence, H. H. Patterson, T. W. Nichol, W. B. Curran, Robert M. Mahler, E. B. Gaston, John Craft, J. R. Tapia, W. D. Bellingrath, Palmer Pillans, C. L.

Coleman, W. B. Martin, S. A. Le Blanc, R. F. Powell, L. C. Irvine, A. F. Hutchings, W. M. Clemens, Robertson, C. C. Huxford, I. V. Wood, W. D. Stapleton, Charles B. Hervey and Henry Hall.) On February 25, Le Blanc reported that the Spanish Trail in Florida, and specifically between Tallahassee and Pensacola, was "in fine shape," and that tourists could Taylor, Richard Vipon, "A Voice From Alabama" (Unpublished manuscript in the collections of the Mobile Public 11 Library, Local History and Genealogy Division), p. 12 Report No. United States Senate Reports, Congress, 1st Session, Volume 3, 13 Chapter United States Congressional Acts, Session I, 1 4united States Senate Report of March 23, 15 "Mobile - Baldwin Road Association is Incorporated",Mobile Press-Register, 2 February, p. 1.

TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-I 04 Page 8 travel from Mobile to Pensacola via an excellent ferry boat system. 16 On October 5, the United States Senate prescribed a time of three years for the Gulf Ports Terminal Company (a Florida corporation) to complete a Mobile Bay bridge. 17 In October of Senate Report Number 604 again extended the time. 18 With the advent of the First World War in work on the Trail plan was suspended. It was resumed in after the Trail Association's annual meeting in Houston, Texas. In a letter to Harry Pillans of November 29, S. H.

Peck stated: Prior to the late war myself and associates contemplated forming a Company for the purpose of building a modern road and bridges connecting Mobile-Baldwin and adjacent Counties in Alabama and Flordia [sic], and secured franchises from the Counties of Baldwin and Mobile, also rights of way through the lands necessary. The war coming on we ceas~d our efforts, now that conditions have - become normal we feel that the time is bpportune for the furtherance of this project. Knowing your interest in the welfare of our community, I cordially invite you to be my guest at a luncheon to be keld in the Battle House Auditorium, Wednesday December for the purpose of discussing ways and means of construction. 19 Mayor of Mobile George E.

Crawford, a former City Engineer, also accepted an invitation to the meeting. The following day, he submitted a long letter to Peck, reminding him that the State and County Engineers had performed extensive soundings in the swamps between the two counties prior to the War, and that the soils of the delta were determined to be saturated and of poor quality for road-building. Crawford suggested that the use of piling and trestles might be an attractive option, and stated that it was essential to build the shortest causeway possible. 20 The meeting also drew responses from bridge and road contractors across the country. Maurice R.

Scharff, of Morris Knowles Engineers, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, offered his company's services on December 13, Harrington, Howard & Ash, Consulting Engineers of Kansas City, Missouri (a well-known inn), citing their recent work on the Columbia River Interstate-Bridge in Portland, Oregon, explained that the Columbia bridge was built by bonds issued by the connecting counties, and that the tolls collected over years were sufficient to pay for maintenance, operating cost and interest and retirement on the bonds. 21 Four days after this communique, senior partner L. L. Ash had visited the Mobile-Baldwin Bridge Company and 16 "Raising Money For New Bridge," Mobile Press-Register, 25 February, p. l. 17 Referred to in Report No.

United St.ates Senate Reports, Congress, 2nd Session, Volume 1, 1 8Report No. United States Senate Reports, Congress, 2nd Session, Volume 1, 1 9Record Group 6, Records of the Board of Commissioners of the City of Mobile, Series 75, Streets and Roads, General Files, Mobile City Archives (hereafter referred to as "Record Group 29 November, 20 Record Group 6, 9 December, 21 Record Group 6, 17 December, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 9 had returned a letter to them, complete with a project cost estimate. Unfortunately, this estimate could not be located.

Creosoted Materials Company, Inc., of New Orleans offered to supply the project with treated timber on December and the Mobile Eastern Company of Mobile offered its surveying services for the right-of-way on the By January 5, another well-known.bridge designer, The Strauss Bascule Bridge Company, had offered to bid on the project. (The Contracting Engineer, P. L. Kaufinann, referred the Mobile-Baldwin Co. to John Taylor Cochrane (see HAER Photograph President and General Manager of the Alabama, Tennessee & Northern Railroad, as to their standing. John T.

Cochrane was a well-known and respected citizen, having been the first President of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce Chair of the School Board, Governor-appointee of the board of the Montevallo Girl's Technical Institute and King of the Mardi Gras Carnival. He would later play a large role in the financing of the causeway.) There appeared to be no lack of interesrln constructing the Mobile Bay Causeway. Mayor Crawford, however, still seemed skeptical in a letter to Gordon Smith, Chamber of Commerce President, of February 15, .I\ ... while the bridging of the bay might be a convenience for people living on the eastern shore and for tourists generally .. .it might make it possible for a lot of business to be taken from Mobile. Pensacola [has] a deeper harbor and ...

while many vessels now go there to coal, they go to Mobile for their cargo. The bridge [might] make it possible for the cargoes to be transferred to Pensacola, and hence those boats would both coal and load there and never reach Mobile. 22 . Other critical financial considerations were at hand by his time. W. S. Keller, State Highway Engineer for Alabama, stated in a September letter to John T. Cochrane, that the counties of Alabama had requested at least of roadwork more than the Highway Department had in its coffers. Keller felt that the State Highway Commission should at least partially fund these counties before engaging a major project like the causeway.

23 Harrington, Howard & Ash, by the summer of had calculated the construction costs for six different causeway routes, with two additional alternatives. The estimates included an eighteen-foot roadway, with vertical lift spans at the major rivers; creosoted timber bents with wood floors and asphalt paving over the shallow bay and swamps; and reinforced concrete bents with wood piles below the water line, wood floors and asphalt paving in the delta areas, where grass fires might threaten creosoted timber.

The maps that John Lyle Harrington included with the letter could not be located, but the estimates for the routes ranged between and 24 The City of Mobile appeared to balk at the cost, resolving on September that 22 Record Group 6, I 5 February, 23 Record Group 6, 26 September, I 24 Record Group 6, I I July, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 10 trade and commerce between Mobile and Baldwin County could best be served by "the institution of a ferry between the west and east banks of Mobile River, and the construction of a bridge between the east bank of this river and the highlands of Baldwin County.

"25 On September the Mobile Press-Register reported that Major Earl North, of the Mobile District Anny Corps of Engineers, had b~gun surveying the Mobile-Baldwin routes and was attempting to determine if a Mobile River feny was the best option, and whether the War Department would require a movable span over the Spanish River. 26 Major North reported to City Commissioner RV. Taylor the following day, stating that there was "absolutely no need for a draw at any place in this proposed bridge," and that the Spanish River was deep enough to continue to serve as a dredge-dumping grounds for material from the main shipping channel (the Mobile River).

Despite the fact that the State Highway Department had warned of budget shortages, the Mobile Board of Revenue and Road Commissi lners issued an October resolution calling for State and Federal funding of the causeway project, appealing to the civic organizations of Mobile for financial support. 27 (In the meantime, Harrington, Howard & Ash had revised their plans to include tolled railway lines across the Bay. 28) On February 7, after months of committee brainstorming, Mayor Crawford penned a letter to State Representative John McDuffie, describing the State Harbor Commission's plans to devise a Port Aid Amendment which would help with "the embarrassment in raising the money" to build the causeway.

29 Between the 9th and of February, Crawford drummed up support from State and County officials (including State Senator Oscar W. Underwood, Representative McDuffie and twelve southern Alabama County Commissioners) to attend a March State Highway Commission meeting in Mobile. On the basis of an October letter of introduction written by R. V. Taylor, President of the Board of Commissioners, the State Highway Administration agreed to survey potential routes and establish cost estimates for the causeway. However, the incremental availability of Alabama's $25 million road bond issue, and the burgeoning amount of state highway work prompted Taylor to hire S. R. Porter and C. J. Van Duesen to determine the feasibility of a subscribing a private bond issue.

30 Mayor Crawford expressed a complete lack of faith in Porter in a confidential letter to W. E. Neal, General Manager of the Union Central Life Insurance Company oflndianapolis, Indiana, citing Porter's attempts to sell bonds before he had "worked out all the preliminaries. "31 Crawford suggested to Neal that perhaps he (Crawford), Neal and six or eight other Mobilians, gather dollars in bond purchases before making a general 25 Record Group 6, 27 September, I 26 "City Advocates Mobile-Baldwin Connecting Link," Mobile Press-Register, 28 September, I p. l.

27 Record Group 6, 18 October, 28 Record Group 6, 8 November, 29 Record Group 6, 7 February, 30 Record Group 6, 14 October, 31 Record Group 6, 27 November TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 11 public announcement as to the availability of the remaining bonds. On January 17, the State Highway Department's estimates for the causeway were received. The longer northerly routes (between and miles) considered by W. A. McCalla, Principal Assistant Engineer, were chosen because of the potential for storm damage to a causeway positioned near the southern end of Blakely Island. Despite the length of the routes, however, the prices were generally comparable to Harrington, Howard and Ash's: between and 32 The question on Mayor-Elect R. V.

Taylor's mind in March and April of concerned the durability of creosoted timbers (the current choice over concrete and steel) in an environment such as Mobile Bay. Reiterating the need for the construction of the shortest bridge possible (as he had stated in Taylor sent a letter of inquiry to Dennis D. Curran, an old friend involved in the building of the Lake Pontchartrain Trestle,, as to the state of the trestle's 40-year old creosoted pilings. Curran replied that 40% of t'fie original trestles had remained intact, and that "good timber, well-treated and properly constructed," would have a life of 40 to 50 years.

Curran also stated that timber trestles had been Jittle affected by teredo worms, or by the anti- cyclonic winds of hurricanes and tropical storms , and that they were in greater danger from drifting vessels. 33 By mid-May, the State Highway Department's prescriptions for the long, roundabout northerly bridge routes had been discarded. 34 Mayor Taylor had also convinced the State Engineers that a draw bridge was necessary over the Mobile River, just north of Three- Mile Creek. 35 In a rather terse letter to State Highway Engineer W. S. Keller, Taylor and W. H.

Reynalds, the Chairman of the Bridge Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, stated that: If a detour is made too great in distance to permit the passage of a motor vehif le going and coming on the same day between the City of Mobile and the territory in Baldwin County located south of an east and west line drawn through Mobile, it will not satisfy the demands of a present traffic that four bay steamboats are at times unable to handl.e, and which would be at once many times multiplied as a result of the reduction in time and cost following the construction of a bridge... In regard to the effects of storms and high water, able opinions have been submitted by Hon. Harry Pillans and Professor Paul C. Boudousquie [Spring Hill College, Alabarna]. ..

[clearly showing] that Mobile Bay is not in the cyclone area ... The kindergarten illustration that these facts are correct can be found in the examination of many of the structures on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay. This is shown notably by a Summer house in front of Point Clear hotel oflight construction and not more than seven feet above mean low tide, which has stood for a quarter of a century without serious damage from any storm which has 32 Record Group 6, 17 January 33 RecordGroup 6, 12 April, 34 Record Group 6, 11 May, 14 May, 15 May, 35 Record Group 6, 18 May, TENS AW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 12 occurred during that period. 36 A month later, on July Taylor wrote again to the Department, this time to W.A.

McCalla: We are all on the tip toe of expectancy here with respect to the conclusions which you will arrive at as to the proper location of the bridge between the highlands of Mobile and the Highlands of Baldwin County... Mr. Fisher [Mobile City Engineering Department] was pronounced in his opinion that a bridge consisting of a crossing of Mobile River just above Three Mile Creek and a roadway down Blakely Island and thence straightaway by trestle in a south-easterly direction to Baldwin was not only the most available site possible ... but that it could be constructed at a cost of at least less than any other route ... I am certain that the selection of any other route would be a fatal mistake.

37 if" There was apparently no reply to this letter, and the causeway project languished until January 4, when Major Earl North, ofthe,,.Corps of Engineers, gave notice of a public hearing to consider extending the time allotted to the Gulf Ports Terminal Railway Company of Pensacola for the building of the bridge. 38 On February 25, Mayor Taylor reminded W. S. Keller that the State Highway Department had conducted surveys across the Bay, and requested that the information and cost estimates be provided to his office. The next day, Keller submitted W. A. McCalla's findings and conclusions.

McCalla had originally surveyed three lines, "A", "B" and Dropping Line "B" from consideration, he provided estimates for Line "A" (Starting just south of Saraland, crossing the delta through timbered swamps to Blakely Landing) and Line "C" (starting directly west of Magazine Point, crossing to the southern end of Blakely IslaIJ,d and thence to Park City on the Eastern Shore), at and respectively. McCalla reiterated the danger of exposing Line "C" to storms and wave action, and suggested that the favored 24.5-mile alternative, Line "A", would require only 1.5 hours to traverse at a speed of 16 miles per hour. Unfortunately, the specifications and estimates that the State Highway Department attached to these findings did not match the text of the letter.

39 Wright Smith, Mobile City Engineer, commented that the prices provided by McCalla seemed high for materials and labor, but that McCalla must be more familiar with this type of work than himself 40 . In the meantime, Mayor Taylor had received favorable replies from John D. Colgan & Company ofNew York, who were arranging a causeway bond proposition. 41 By late July, Taylor had arranged for a meeting of Mobile businessmen to discuss the current state of the 36 Record Group 6, 18 June, 37 Record Group 6, 19 July, 38 Record Group 6, 4 January, 39 Record Group 6, 26 February, 40 Record Group 6, IO March, 41 RecordGroup 6, 18 April, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 13 project, requesting the presence ofB. F. McMillan (Brooks & McMillan Attorneys at Law), J. J. Blacksher, J. U.

Blacksher, B. B. Chamberlain (City Bank of Mobile), W. B. Inge, G. T. McCorvey (City Bank ofMobile), AS. Towle, G. E. Crawford, H. T. Hartwell, N. E. Stallsworth (Sullivan & Stallsworth Attorney at Law), W. H. Oates, Mark Lyons (McGowin- Lyons Hardware & Supply Co.), P. B. Dorion, Leon Schwarz and AP. Bush. 42 This meeting appears to have produced little action, possibly due to the lack of detailed plans and specifications for the causeway. Taylor requested these from the State Highway Department on August and again on September stating that the City had paid for the surveys and deserved to see the results. 43 On September 23, the desperation felt on the part of the City of Mobile was summed up in a new City Resolution: ...

Be it further resolved that no sacrifice can be made by the people of Mobile that will not be justified by the results which will follow the building of a bridge to Baldwin. 44 f Mayor Taylor again requested survey information from the State Highway Department, stating that Albert S. Towle (see HAER Photogpph Chairman of the Mobile Board of Revenue and Road Commissioners would be in :Montgomery the next day (September to receive the documents. 45 Towle evidently did not obtain the survey reports, as L. M. Dinsmore, a State Engineer, submitted a letter to Taylor on the promising that the information would be provided "at an early date.

"46 In early October, the Fairhope, Alabama, Chamber of Commerce adopted a unanimous resolution to support a Mobile County constitutional amendment (scheduled for vote on November for the funding of the causeway 47, which was adopted the following day. 48 On October Mayor Taylor received W. A McCalla's complete report from the State Highway Department. 49 Mayor-Elect Harry T. Hartwell (see HAER Photograph #4) received a document from City Attorney Jason L. Cawthon on October 21, outlining a proposal for the formation of a Delta Construction and Development Company in Mobile.

The organization of the company was described in detail: The formation of a Company by pre-organization subscription, having Common Stock and of preferred stock, the rate of the 42 Record Group 6, 28 July, 43 Record Group 6, 21 August and 12 September, 44 Record Group 6, 23 September, I 45 Record Group 6, 24 September, 46 Record Group 6, 29 September, 47 Record Group 6, 7 October, 48 Record Group 6, 8 October, 49 Record Group 6, 11 October, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 14 latter being 7% and an authorization of in First Mortgage Bonds. All funds received from sales of stocks and bonds to be placed with a Trustee in escrow and may be disbursed by such proper regulations as may be provided for ...

Disbursements: The cost of construction, including right-of-way, Ferry Trestle, 7 00 Advance interest First year 7% on of Preferred l, 00 7% on of 00 Organization Expense, including franchise, commissions, fee of 00 Total: Estimated Earnings: Are based on the daily flow of 600 cars or 300 each way at which would make an annual income of ... Expense: Estimates of ove~ead and expenses are considered maximum, as follows: Interest 00 Sinking F 00 U 00 00 Operating 00 Total: Showing a probable surplus of I have had it suggested to me that if the interest on the bonds could be guaranteed jointly by the City and Counties that they could be sold at 94, and the rate 5%. Section of the Code appears to authorize aid of this kind. 50 On October W.A.

McCalla forwarded the State Highway Department's revised cost estimates to Wright Smith, Mobile City Engineer. 51 The County of Mobile fonnally adopted an amendment to its constitution to raise funds for the building of the Mobile Bay causeway on November 4, Six days later, the State Highway Commission resolved that they would appropriate and supplement not more than of construction money appropriated by the County and City of Mobile, on the condition that the causeway consist of a free ferry from the west to east banks of the Mobile River, and a bridge from Blakely Island to Baldwin County.

52 By this time, Mobile Board of Commissioners Chairman Taylor was fielding 50 Record Group 6, 21 October, 51 Record Group 6, 27 October, 52 Record Group 6, IO November, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 15 multiple suggestions for the construction of steel bridges over the Tensaw, Spanish and Mobile rivers and the use of concrete along the proposed trestle. 53 Taylor however, cautioned that the State Highway Department had estimated the cost of non-wood systems as exceeding In an attempt to settle the ongoing controversy over the various proposed routes of the causeway, the City of Mobile hired J. F. Coleman of J. F. Coleman Engineering Company, New Orleans, Louisiana, to inspect the options for causeway construction.

54 The Mobile-Baldwin Highway Association In a community conference ofJanuary 7, representatives from the Fairhope, Foley, Robertsdale, Grand Bay, Bay :tvfinette, Loxley, Silver Hill, Magnolia Springs and Mobile Chambers of Commerce, the Kiwanis Club of Baldwin County, the Farmers Clubs of Lillian and Elberta, and the Fowl River Community Association agreed to the permanent organization of a Mobile-Baldwin Association. The following staff were elected: .t John T. Cochrane President (and newly elected President of the Mobile Chamber 9f Commerce.) Judge W. D. Stapleton 1st Vice President E. B. Gaston 2nd Vice President J. H. Webb 3rd Vice President David Holt Secretary-Treasurer On February J. F. Coleman, Consulting Engineering Company submitted 8 alternate routes for the causeway.

In his report, Coleman stated that, on the basis of his observations of river ferry traffic in New Orleans, the use of ferries to handle traffic oyer the Mobile River would likely be feasible. He therefore submitted costs for each creosoted timber alternate, with and without the inclusion of a Mobile River bridge (Table 1). D . Record Group 6, 13 November and 14 November, I 54 Record Group 6, 18 November, ff TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 16 Table 1: Cost for Causeway With and Without Mobile River Bridge Route# Cost with Mobile River Bridge Cost without Mobile River Bridge 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Coleman noted that Routes #2 and #4 were the most direct crossings of the delta, and that Route #3 would pennit the greatest percentage of earrl1work construction.

He offered an estimated life expectancy of 15 years for a creosoted timber structure in the brackish water of Mobile Bay, and 35 years for concrete. The following constructis;m rates were also offered: Earthen Embankment $18.75/linear foot Gravel Surfacing (18 feet wide, 6 inches thick) $2. 00/linear foot Concrete Pile Trestle (20 feet wide) $11 O. 00/linear foot Creosoted Pile Trestle (20 feet wide, asphalt surface) 00/linear foot In closing, Coleman suggested that a thorough soil boring of the proposed routes would permit a better future decision to be made on the basis of foundation stability. 55 , The Mobile Board of Commissioners sent a copy of Coleman's report to General William L. Sibert, Chairman of the State Docks Commission in Mobile.

Sibert had been in favor of a causeway since the birth of the idea, and suggested that Coleman's Route #2 (extending from Old Blakely Landing in Baldwin County to Magazine Point, Mobile) was the best of the construction options. Sibert asserted that the route was the shortest of the eight options; that it was better protected from Gulf storms; that a large portion of the route would be permanent fill; that the route would be north of the State Docks (still under construction); and that it would connect Mobile most closely to the territorial and population center of Baldwin County. If a ferry system were to be chosen by the citizens of Mobile, Sibert suggested that Route #3 would be best.

56 Plans to survey Routes #2 and #4 of Coleman's designs were submitted at a cost of by Durant Engineering Company of Mobile, on March 16, 57 55 Record Group 6, 23 February, 56 Record Group 6, 9 March, 57 Record Group 6, 16 March, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-I 04 Page 17 The next two months were spent ironing out the legal ramifications of establishing the causeway as a toll facility. In a letter of April 21, Mobile City Attorney Frank Yerger answered questions posed earlier by Mayor Hartwell: ... Section Alabama Code, authorizes the Court of County Commissioners to license any person to establish a bridge, for a term not exceeding ten years, and fix the rate of toll, without discrimination in favor of the inhabitants of their county.

Second, under State law, the bridge would not become the property of either the county or state at the expiration of the franchise or license period, unless purchased by the State or County. Code Section has, in my opinion, a prospective operation, in that the toll bridge, at the expiration of a given franchise period, would not become a free bridge, until or unless the State or the County, either by acquisition of same or by adequate compensation to the owner or owners, converted it from a toll bridge into a free - bridge. 58 r By this time, the Mobile citizenry may have beeo running low on patience. In a personal letter to Mayor Hartwell, M.

Tisdale remarked: I am awfully sorry to hear some folks still use the expression "Build anywhere just so long as we get a Bridge." Tell them to quit it. If they have no civic pride and confidence then let it alone. Thank God there are some people in this town that are going to have it done right. .. Frame this over your desk. 59 Mobile City Commissioner R. V. Taylor refers to this problem in an exasperated letter: to J. H. Wilson, of the Mobile Light & Railroad Company: I greatly fear that on account of the divided public sentiment in Mobile that we are not likely to have a bridge in the near future.

I am more than willing to follow any leadership in this matter, but I have made two unsuccessful efforts to take the lead myself and I am not inclined to waste any further time on this subject at present. I greatly regret this, as I feel that the construction of a bridge between the highlands of Baldwin County and the highlands of Mobile County would double our population within five years. 60 Taylor was promptly chastised in a reply from Wilson, who stated: I regret to hear that you do not intend to waste any further time on the bridge question. I think it is your duty to, not "waste time", but to give the question 58 Record Group 6, 21 April, 59 RecordGroup 6, 22 April, 60 Record Group 6, 28 April, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 18 some of your time.

We surely need a good strong man who is in an official position, to make a study of the bridge and after all the questions that have and will arise, have been considered, to come to a decision, and you are logically that man... I hope you will continue to give the bridge question your careful and intelligent consideration, and I might say I am sure you will do so. 61 Mayor Hartwell, meantime, was still soliciting quotes for causeway construction. The firm of Hedrick, Smith & Frost (like Harrington, Howard & Ash, a descendant company of J. A. L. Waddell's bridge-building firm of the late nineteenth century), submitted an analysis of the causeway problem on the of April. Ira G.

Hedrick recommended a direct concrete and steel viaduct be constructed between the Arlington Docks and Village Point in Baldwin County. To address the matter of maintaining a viable shipping channel, Hedrick suggested that a high level bridge, with 135 feet of vertical clearance and 500 feet of horizontal clearance, be constructed over the Mobile River channel. The cost of this project was to be just over million.

62 Hartwell was favorably impressed with Hedric~; proposal, not only for its use of concrete throughout the causeway, but for its aesthetic appeal: I have just opened up the drawing of the bridge and it looked so good that both the young lady stenographer and myself agreed that we want the bridge built right now, for it looks so inviting especially when the lights are lit and when the moon is shining, I am afraid that any couple that would attempt to drive across it, even the old ones, would have to pause and drink in the atmosphere that would surround such a scene especially on "Mobile Bay. "63 Mayor Hartwell's current plans for the bridge project were summarized in a letter to I. Thompson, of the United States Shipping Board, several days later .

...I leave tomorrow night, Sunday, to attend the legislative conference in Montgomery with the hope that we can urge [Alabama Governor] Bill Brandon to call an extra session... My plan is, to have every public organization of the City appoint either its Chairman or President to constitute a governing committee. This body ... would ... by majority vote, decide on the location and structure of the bridge. I had Mr. E. J. Hockenbury [of The Hockenbury System, Inc., Harrisburg, Pennsylvania], whose card I enclose to you, call on me several days ago.

Their plan is to organize a community, sell preferred stock to all of those interested and after a sufficient amount has been disposed of, organize a Corporation, issue bonds or make a mortgage for the balance of the funds necessary to complete the project. 64 61 RecordGroup 6, 30 April, 62 Record Group 6, 28 April, 63 Record Group 6, 1 May, 64 Record Group 6, 4 May, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 19 The Mobile-Baldwin Highway Association seems to have been less impressed with Hedrick, Smith & Frost's high-level bridge proposal. A letter from the group's Secretary and Treasurer, J.

Bestor Patterson, agreed with General Sibert's suggestion for the establishment of a ferry system to Blakely Island, asserting that a double-ended, gasoline ferry could make round trips in eight minutes, and two such ferries could carry to automobiles in 14 hours. 65 This disagreement with the Mayor's office brought out the pessimist in Hartwell: ... there are so many angles to this bridge idea that it reminds me of our traffic problems and I must confess the advantages and disadvantages oflocation and structure so thoroughly ramify that the conclusion in my judgment can only be reached through a united effort on the part of our people to agree on some plan whether or not it suits any of us in its entirety ...

for my part, I do not care so much where the bridge is located as I do having it constructed. 66 The City of Mobile Bridge Committee :t The Mobile Board of Commissioners re~olved in June to form a new bridge committee, composed of the Mayor, the presidents of the chamber of Commerce, the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, the Kiwanis Club, the Lions Club, the Central Trades Council, the Real Estate Board, the Contractors and Dealers Exchange, the Optimists Club, the Citivan Club, the Old Spanish Trail Association, and five other prominent citizens. 67 J.

Bestor Patterson, from his Chair on the Mobile Council of Patriotic Societies, responded to the committee's formation with vehemence: [In we raised [for a bridge], but because of the underestimate,of the late Captain Nichol, of the cost of constructing a five foot bank for a roadway from opposite Magazine Point to opposite Fort Blakely, the project was given up in as the war was on, and we would have had to secure more. In we still tried to interest the citizens to construct the highway, but there were so many pessimistic citizens regarding the project, we gave it up at the time.

I will mention that one present prominent city official, at the time refused to become a member of the Mobile-Baldwin Highway Association, because his letter to me stated that he "considered the project impractical and chimerical". I am glad to know that he has now become a fery [sic] enthusiastic booster now for the bridge. Has any one of the heads of the five Civic Clubs ever done one bit of work in trying to promote the construction of this bridge?, or the Labor organizations? 68 As Patterson explained later, his communique was meant for Mayor Hartwell alone.

The 65 RecordGroup 6, 6 May, 66 RecordGroup 6, 7 May, 67 Record Group 6, 2 June, 68 Record Group 6, 6 June, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 20 letter's routine distribution to the City Commissions, and Hartwell's undocumented response on the of June, produced an apologetic reply from Patterson. The reply also stated that two- thirds of the produce of Baldwin and Escambia counties had been lost to Mobile over the past three years, and that if a farmer could leave Loxley or Robertsdale at in the morning, travel to Pensacola and be home by or in the afternoon (rather than "breaking bulk" three times on the way to Mobile), who could blame him? 69 A well-attended Bridge Committee meeting of July 1st marked the turning point for the causeway project.

70 A motion was made by Hartwell to elect John T. Cochrane President of the Committee. Cochrane initially declined, saying that he wanted to first present his plan for the financing of the bridge as an equal member of the group. The committee, however, insisted, and immediately elected him to the post. After Cochrane's presentation of a bond mortgaging plan, the Committee enthusiastically approved it as practical and feasible. 71 In a letter of postponement to E.J. Hocfenbury, Mayor Hartwell stated that "there is merit in the Cochrane plan for the reason that we make it profitable to the investor in two ways, one he reaps a true profit and another he assists in the l:l ilding of the bridge which means everything to this community. "72 (Albert S.

Towle, Chainnan ofth; Revenue and Road Commissioners, was not so optimistic, believing that, like the ancient Greeks, the outcome of the project meant Mobile's "future success" or "total annihilation. Hartwell described the Cochrane plan in a letter to F.I. Thompson, Commissioner of the U.S. Shipping Board in Washington, The plan is to issue first and second mortgage bonds giving everybody a chance to purchase second mortgage bonds at 80% of par value, naming the three banks as trustees for the bondholders. First mortgage bonds will be sold to investment bankers. Both first and second mortgage bonds bear an interest rate of 6%.

As soon as the bridge is financed, the holding Company sells to the County the bridge subject to first and second mortgage bonds, the trustees agreeing with the County Board upon a toll rate to be charged and after operating expenses and cost of bridge is paid for from earnings, it becomes property of the County of Mobile. 74 Despite warnings from the Hockenbury System that this plan would not give back to Mobile citizens what they would contribute in tolls and bond purchases, 75 and a confidential offer to finance the project from Dewberry & Company Investments, ofBirmingham, 76 Mayor Hartwell 69 RecordGroup 6, 15 June, 70 "Conference on Bridge Scheduled Today With All Mobile Represented",Mobi/e Press-Register, I July, p. 1.

71 "Declared First Concrete Effort to Build Bridge," Mobile Press-Register, 2 July, p. 1. 12 RecordGroup 6, 13 July, 73 Record Group 6, 14 July, 74 Record Group 6, 14 July, 75 Record Group 6, 18 July, 16 Record Group 6, 31 July, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 21 appeared to have decided once and for all on the Cochrane plan. In fact, in mid-August, Hartwell penned an associate in New York: Just finished a three mile work out this morning and feel so good over the success of the bridge matter, I believe I could enjoy a few evenings around Street on Broadway.

77 On August a City of Mobile resolution stated that the bridge committee had "agreed upon the location of a bridge north of Three Mile Creek, and a causeway running from the south end of Blakely Island, both to be connected by a street... "78 The next day a mass meeting of Committee members and Mobile citizenry was held at City Hall. According to the Mobile Press- Register of August 13, the proposal that the bridge committee members be elected as a board of directors for a "Mobile Bay Bridge Company" was enthusiastically approved by those in attendance. i Two directors will be named by the New York investment house [Peabody, Houghteling & Company, Inc.] which p1,1rchases the of the first mortgage bonds ...

the first mortgage bonds of the bridge shall be sold for 90 cents, while the second mortgage will go for 80 cents... The Chamber will give the which is necessary for the formation of the Mobile Bay Bridge Company. 79 Not all area residents were pleased with the City of Mobile's presentation of a plan that had already decided the location of the causeway. O.K. Cummings, the Secretary of the Fairhope Chamber of Commerce, for example, denounced the "public be damned" attitude of the Bridge Committee, stating that the northerly connection of the proposed causeway would route travelers through an area with no wealth, little population or intelligence, and no progress.

80 Cummings was, in turn, the subject of a resolution by the Agricultural and Civic Club of Bay Minette, which distanced themselves from his rhetoric and reminded the public that 75% of Baldwin County's wealth was north of the proposed bridge site. 81 77 Record Group 6, 13 August, n Record Group 6, 11 August, . 79 "Mass Meet Gives Approval to Plan to Build Bridge," Mobile Press-Register, 13 August, p. 1. 80 Record Group 6, 21 August, 81 Record Group 6, 1 September, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 22 The Mobile Bay Bridge Company The Mobile Bay Bridge Company was incorporated on August 12, Albert S. Towle declined to join the Company to avoid later conflict of interest regarding the transferral of bridge ownership to the County.

The County Probate Office in Mobile holds the certificate of incorporation listing the members: 82 John T. Cochrane (Chamber of Commerce of Mobile) Four Shares W. Marshall Turner (Turner Supply Company of Mobile) One Share Ernest F. Ladd (Merchant's National Bank of Mobile) One Share (see HAER Photograph #5) Harry T. Hartwell (Mayor of Mobile) One Share Robert M. Weinacker (Weinacker Bros. of Mobile) One Share AC. Dent (Peabody & Houghteling of New York) One Share Hibbard (Peabody & Houghtelin{of New York) One Share Following the assignment of the bridge-Quilding contract to Harrington, Howard & Ash, Consulting Engineers of Kansas City, Missouri, 83 the Bridge Company began work to arrange a financial plan for paying off the bond issue. In an unexpected snag, Albert S.

Towle refused to sign the document pledging Mobile County to operate the bridge following the return on the bonds. Towle maintained that the construction location of the proposed bridge was too far from the population center of Mobile; that the bridge would not be storm-proof; that the method of financing was too costly; and that the electorate had not been sufficiently consulted on the project. He threatened to resign his position rather than affix his signature. An office clerk signed the County contract instead. 84 ,. Following an investigation into traffic levels in the Mobile Bay area, a report from ford, Bacon & Davis, Valuation and Construction Engineers ofNew York (under contract with Peabody & Houghteling) estimated that the causeway would pay itself off in ten years.

Mayor Hartwell stated on November that: We have a contract with Peabody-Houghteling and Company to purchase first mortgage bonds at ninety, and the Bridge Company is issuing second mortgage bonds which we will put on the market at eighty, both issues bearing seven percent ... Our bankers here [Merchants Bank, First National Bank, Peoples Bank of Mobile and State Savings Bank] are purchasing approximately [in] second mortgage bonds and will hold them until the entire issue has been subscribed for. We have an additional subscribed by our local citizens in amounts ranging from to 82 County of Mobile, Alabama, Office of Probate, Incorporation Book 9, page 83 "Submission of Plans to U.S. is Next Step", Mobile Press-Register, 14 August, p. l.

84 "Bridge Contract Validated Minus Towle Signature", Mobile Press-Register, 18 August, p. 3. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 23 Turner Supply Company is subscribing for McGowin- Lyons, Weinacker Brothers ... We have information that once [sic] Chicago Brokerage firm is seriously considering the purchase of of these bonds. 85 A miniature relief map of the Mobile Bay.area, complete with the proposed causeway and bridges, was placed in the window display of the Merchants Bank Building in late November (see HAER Photographs #6 and 86 By the end of the month, Harrington, Howard & Ash had completed the design blueprints (see HAER Photographs #39 - for the Tensaw River Lift Bridge (and presumably for the Mobile River Bridge).

On December the Mobile Press-Register proclaimed that slightly over in second mortgage bridge bonds had been sold, leaving only in bonds remaining to purchase. 87 The remaining bonds were sold shortly after. Bids for steel and other units of constru'ttion were opened in the first week of January, 88 On the John T. Cochrane notified the other Company directors that the contract for the concrete trestles and roadway had been awa,rded to Doullut & Ewin Company ofNew Orleans, and that contractors had broken ground for construction. The contract for the paving of the causeway was awarded to Hancock Brothers of Mobile on February 89 On May 2, a photograph in the Local News Section of the Mobile Press-Register, entitled "All Alone" shows a Doullut & Ewin pile driver at work in the Tensaw River.

90 By mid-May Cochrane and representatives from the State Docks Commission were inspecting approach roads on the Mobile and Baldwin sides of the bay. 91 By June 13, the first pier had been completed on the Tensaw River Lift Bridge crossing, 92 the construction being rushed to meet a December deadline. 93 On July 10, a letter from William H. Armbrecht, City Attorney, stated that the bridge fabrication contract had been awarded to the Virginia Bridge & Iron Company, of Roanoke, Virginia; the bridge erection contract to the Kansas City Bridge Company, of Kansas City, Missouri; the dredged embankments contract to John Jacobson (of unknown company affiliation); and the pavement contract to Gwin (of unknown company affiliation).

94 A letter from Leon Schwarz, Sheriff of Mobile County to George E. Crawford, then 85 Record Group 6, 10 November, 86 Advertisement for Merchants Bank, Mobile Press-Register, 22 November, 87 Advertisement for Mobile Bay Bridge Company, Mobile Press-Register, 6 December, 88 Record Group 6, 2 January, 89 "Bay Bridge Directors Urge Early Acceptance of Project By County," Mobile Press-Register, 14 May, p. 1. 90 "All Alone", Mobile Press-Register, 2 May, 91 "Two Routes From City to Bridge Ready This Year", Mobile Press-Register, 17 May, 92 "Progress on Bridge Reported", Mobile Press-Register, 13 June, p. 1. 93 "Tensaw Spanish River Bridge Rushed", Mobile Press-Register, 13 June, p. 2.

94 Record Group 6, 10 July, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 24 Mayor of Mobile, on August states: Here is something without any politics in it. The Mobile Chamber of Commerce, and several other civic clubs, have passed Resolutions recommending that the Mobile-Baldwin Bridge should be called the "Cochrane Bridge, fl in honor of John T. Cochrane. Now, while no one man co_uld have brought this bay bridge to successful conclusion, yet we must all concede that it was due to John T. Cochrane's zeal, commanding business influence and promoting experience, which made it possible for the bridge to be well on its way now, instead of being still talked about as we did for so many years.

Therefore, in view of the foregoing, I am of the opinion that it is not only appropriate to call this bridge the "Cochrane Bridge," but that it will serve as an inspiration to other men to do some public service of a similar nature for their county. My suggestion is that you gentlemen officially endorse the recommendation already made by the Chamber - of Commerce and other civic bodies ... Please do not bring this matter up before your honorable body, unless you are agreed on doing it. It would be very embarrassing to Mr. Cochrane, as well to you, to have this matter brought up, and then voted down or no action take~ 'at all. 95 The following week, City Commissioner Harry T. Hartwell wrote to John T.

Cochrane, announcing that he had Sheriff Schwarz's letter in hand and cautioned him about the naming of the bridge . .. .it is my judgment that it would make you a much bigger man to decline than it would to accept [this honor]. Few men know their limitations: Roosevelt and, Wilson both fell from a high pedestal on this account and I am sure our great war president died of a broken heart. Some well developed mind once said: "He who controls passions, desires and fears is more than a King.

fl You are today at the height of your strength and popularity, enjoying the confidence and respect of your people and what I fear is that if your friends who I know are legion and sincere, attempt to carry out this plan, they might overreach and develop a division of sentiment in the community that will destroy all the glory which you have received from the task you have so well performed in the construction of this splendid causeway. There is another phase to this movement that you have possibly not considered, and that is, the public value that will accrue to this community by virtue of the bridge being known throughout the United States as "The Mobile Bay Bridge" ...

96 Mayor Crawford expressed his disagreement with Hartwell's views in an August letter, suggesting that a resolution for the naming of the causeway not be introduced 95 Record Group 6, 4 August, 96 Record Group 6, 13 August, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 25 immediately, as it might "create an embarrassment. "97 Hartwell made a second appeal to Cochrane on the same day, reminding him that "men's real greatness comes to them through their achievements, rather than through compliments. "98 The next day, Hartwell had received a notice for a Mobile Bay Bridge Company directors meeting to consider the naming of the causeway.

He penned to Cochrane, "To me this is a very unhappy situation, but it looks as though it was one of those things that apparently cannot be prevented so long as human ambition finds lodgment in the heart of man. "99 On August 19, the causeway from Magazine Point to Baldwin County was named the Cochrane Bridge. The bridge project progressed without major obstacles through the autumn, until September, when a hurricane swept through southern Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico. Cochrane notified the Company directors that the bridge contractors had lost about ten days of work, and that the incomplete causeway was insignificantly damaged. Cochrane also stated that he had secured an agreement with W.A.

McCalla of the State Highway Department for the building of a paved road from the Baldwin Coufity end of the bridge to the highlands. 100 Electric service for the causeway was arranged in late October with the Gulf Electric Company, at per circuit crossing the Bay, in exchange for the best rates on power for the Mobile and Tensaw River bridges. On the basis of the relative paucity of documents in the City of Mobile's files, causeway construction went smoothly over the winter of On February 15, Major Emerson of the Mobile Corps of Engineers notified "navigation interests" that the Secretary of War had approved a permit for the Kansas City Bridge Company to close Mobile River traffic on March 2nd through March for the purposes of erecting the Mobile River Bridge's lift span.

101 Three days later, Harry T. Hartwell, again Mayor of Mobile, informed a citiz~n of Milton, Florida, that the bridge would not be open for traffic before April or May, due to a sunken dredge. 102 At on Friday, the of April, the directors of the Mobile Bay Bridge Company and members of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce and Civic Clubs, drove an inspection tour of the Cochrane Bridge from Magazine Point, across the Mobile River and the Tensaw River Lift Bridges to Chocaloochee Bay, just short of Baldwin County.

103 Just as the bills for the new Cochrane Bridge were being totaled (at the Mobile Press-Register reported that the plan to operate the bridge with a gravel surface for the first year (to allow the causeway fill to settle) with Mobile County funds would be the subject of 97 Record Group 6, 17 August, 98 Record Group 6, 17 August, 99 Record Group 6, 18 August, 100 Record Group 6, 4 October, 101 Record Group 6, 15 February, 102 Record Group 6, 18 February, 103 Record Group 6, 13 April, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 26 a court investigation to determine the legality of such a use of funds. The President of the County Board of Commissioners, Arthur D.

Davis, stated that a majority of the commissioners would be willing to accept a gravel-surfaced roadway for the bridge's first year of operation. 104 However, County Attorney Robert E. Gordon ruled that the Mobile County was not legally obligated to begin operation of the causeway until it had been completely paved. County Treasurer Gordon E. Stone then questioned whether or not Mobile County had the right to operate a toll bridge in adjacent Baldwin County. Stone calculated that a year delay in the paving of the Cochrane Bridge would cost the Mobile Bay Bridge Company 105 By the 6th of May, the County had determined that the burden of creating a supplemental contract for a working Cochrane Bridge prior to paving would be the responsibility of the Bridge Company.

106 Despite the fact that legal confusion threatened to prevent County acceptance of causeway operation for another year, John T. Cochrane assured the public that the bridg~ would open that summer. While the County debated ~ whether to create a new gasoline tax to pay for the Cochrane Bridge's operation 1 7, the Mobile Bay Bridge Company ignored the controversy and began planning a bridge dedication ceremony to take place on June 108 On June 2, the County officially declined to manage the causeway until the paving was complete. The Mobile Bay Bridge Company then appealed to the County Commissioners to reimburse the Company for for the first year of bridge operation, until the engineers approved paving of the causeway.

County Attorney Gordon threatened to resign should the County consider such an illegal act. Commissioner Smee then suggested that the County resolve to allow the Bridge Company to collect the originally-scheduled tolls until the paving. The Board unanimously approved this resolution. (The causeway was finally paved sometime before January, 1~ " The bridge was first opened to traffic on Saturday, June 4, The following rates were in effect from 7:00am to until the scheduled opening on the (Table 2). 104 "Bay Bridge Operation Hits Snag",Mobi/e Press-Register, 1 May, p. 1. 105 "Amendments in Contract for Operation of Bridge Likely Under New Ruling",Mobile Press-Register, 3 May, p. 1. 106 "County to Adopt Hands Off Policy in Bridge Tangle," Mobile Press-Register, 6 May, p. 1.

107 "County Board May Seek Additional Tax on Gas To Operate Bay Bridge," Mobile Press-Register, 20 May, p. 1. 108 "Mammoth Program Arranged," Mobile Press-Register, 25 May, p. 1, and "Report Says Builder May Open Bridge," I June, 109 RecordGroup6, l0January, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 27 Table 2: Toll Rates for Cochrane Bridge, Passenger autos with driver Busses carrying 8 or more passengers Truck & driver (under 1 ton) tons) tons) tons) (over 5 tons) Foot passengers 10 Motorcycle and driver (single or side-car) 25 Horse and rider 25 Bicycle and rider 15 Horse vehicle and driver .

50 Double team vehicle and driver r' 75 Driven livestock (per head) 25 Loaded lumber wagon and driver over 3,p feet in length Extra Passengers 10 110 On the first day of operation, 558 automobiles from eleven states crossed the bridge, with toll receipts totaling 111 The next day (June the toll was over representing cars, or one car for every 25 seconds the span was open. 112 The first merchandise was carried across the bridge the same day by Smith's Bread Company ofMobile. 113 By the merchants were looking for ways to economize on tolls: the Burbank Tire Company _pf Mobile advertised Harley-Davidson motorcycles for the cross-Bay transport of small merchandise, reasoning that a merchant could save $3 90. 00 per annum by avoiding the greater truck toll.

114 The Mobile Bay Bridge Company was apparently selling tickets for the crossing of the bridge following the dedication ceremony. John T. Cochrane wrote to S. H. Peck on June enclosing Ticket # 1 for bridge passage, remarking that "the bridge people had some trouble holding it. It almost got away from us. (The ticket is now in the archives of the Mobile City Mus.eum.) Cochrane also offered a complimentary pass to Cecil F. Bates, City Commissioner, reminding him, "You understand we could not afford to give passes out generally, but I am justified in sending this to you inasmuch as you are a City Commissioner and I want to do this on your account personally.

110 "Bridge Project Ready to Bear First Traffic," Mobile Press-Register, 4 June, 111 Record Group 6, 5 June, 112 Record Group 6, 6 June, 113 Advertisement,Mobi/e Press-Register, 5 June, 114 Advertisement, Mobile Press-Register, 12 June, 115 Mobile City Museum Files, 6 June, 116 Record Group 6, 22 June, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL- I 04 Page 28 The Cochrane Bridge Dedication Ceremony The dedication ceremony was planned to cost a minimum of and donations were solicited from prominent Mobile businesses to make up for the lack of public contributions. 117 At 9:00am on June 14, a motorcade left from St. Joseph Street in front of the Chamber of Commerce, and drove north on Telegraph Road to Magazine Point, through streets lined with celebratory flags and banners.

Crossing the Mobile River Bridge and driving south along the length of Blakely Island, the motorcade stopped at the Tensaw River Lift Bridge, where a crowd had gathered and an improvised speaker's platform had been raised. Alabama Governor Bibb Graves and his wife (see HAER Photograph #8) attended the bridge dedication ceremony, which was "bristling with pomp and colors. The other - dignitaries present included Mayor of Mobile T. Hartwell, Lieutenant Governor Davis, Alabama Secretary of State John Brandon, State Attorney General McCall, State Auditor Blann, State Treasurer Algo~od, Alabama House of Representatives Speaker J. Lee Long, members of the Alabama Legislature,' Chairman of the State Highway Commission Judge Woolsey Finnell, Alabama Public Service Commission President A.G.

Patterson, Florida Governor John W. Martin, Mayor of Pensacola Bayless, Florida Representative Tom Yon, Chairman of the Florida State Highway Commission F.A. Hathaway, Mississippi Senator Pat Harrison, President of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company George G. Crawford, Harrel B. Ayres, Managing Director of the Old Spanish Trail Association, and Adan Cuellas, Captain of the Mexican gunboat Nicolo Bravo. . The ceremony was to start at 10:00am, but was delayed until due to a briefrain shower. At 10:30am, Dixie Graves, the Governor's wife, christened the causeway by smashing a bottle of satsuma juice on the Tensaw Bridge. Gordon Smith, Master of Ceremonies, theri took the podium to introduce the Reverend Thomas J. Toolen, Bishop of Mobile, Rabbi Alfred G.

Moses of the Government Street Temple, and Dr. Dunbar H. Ogden, Pastor of Government Street Presbyterian Church, who presented invocations for the causeway. Following the raising of the American flag on the span by the Lamar Y. McLeod Post #3 of the American Legion (accompanied by the Boy's Industrial Band playing the national anthem), John T. Cochrane formally presented the causeway for public use. Governor Graves gave a speech, followed by Senator Harrison, Commissioner Hathaway, Judge Finnell, and Harrel Ayres. Saenger Theatres, Inc.

and Harcol Film Company, both motion picture companies from New Orleans, attended the dedication, 119 which was photographed by Erik Overbey (one of Mobile's early still photographers: see HAER Photograph as did official photographers from 117 Record Group 6, 8 JW1e, 118 Mobi/e Press-Register, 15 June, p. I. 119 Record Group 6, 2 June, . TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 29 the Pensacola naval air station, and California's Fox and Paramount studios. 120 (No surviving newsreel footage could be located during the time allotted for this documentation.) Governors Graves and Martin then cut a garland barrier (see HAER Photograph and shook hands on the Tensaw Bridge, followed by Mayors Hartwell and Bayless, and the Presidents of the Mobile and Pensacola Chamber_s of Commerce.

The legislators and officials resumed the trip to Baldwin County, and passage was opened to the Model Ts waiting to enter Mobile County (see HAER Photograph The Adams Tire Service of Mobile, anticipating routine car troubles during the crossing, had a service truck patrolling length of causeway. 121 At an luncheon for the officials was given at the Battle House by the Mobile Civic Clubs. By the visiting legislators had boarded a special train at the Louisville and Nashville depot to tour the state's new seaport project. In the meantime, bands had been playing in Mobile's Bienville Square sitice 10:00am. Governors Graves and Martin, Senator Harrison and others, congregated there at for a fresh round of speeches before a crowd of people.

122 That evening at a dinner for the officials was hosted by Peck at the Battle 123 House. Cochrane Bridge Operation Statistics for the first year of bridge operation following its construction were published in the Mobile Press-Register the following June: " The number of vehicles and the revenue paid by months is presented in Table 3. 120 Mobi/e Press-Register, 12 June, 121 Mobi/e Press-Register, 12 June, ~~Mobile Press-Register, 15 June, p. I.

Record Group 6, IO June, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 30 Table 3: Number ofVehicles and Revenue for Cochrane Bridge, Month Vehicles Revenue June July August 19, 175 September October November December January February March May f Totals 124 !\ This steady flow of income for the city was analogous to the general growth that had characterized the local economy since the beginning of the State Docks construction. A new building record was set for 125 and the following year a general report of the city's economic standing was given in the Press-Register: Building permits for ... showed an increase of 19 per cent over the total cost of construction being distributed as follows: Three hundred and eighty-six new residences, 436 repairs, 62 other ,.

buildings, New projects for the year included two incinerators built by the city, three churches, 12 gasoline filling stations, three public garages, " warehouse, telephone exchange, baseball field, three apartment houses, additions to a hotel and bank, two schools, public library and 28 new stores. Many building started in previous years were completed in among which was the country club at Spring Hill, which cost Among the commercial activities are noted the state docks at which the first ship berthed in May 23, [the) Mobile bay bridge ... and the extension of the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad [owned by John T. Cochrane] from Calvert to Mobile in connection with the St. Louis and San Francisco railway on February 1. The railroad company is erecting a modem station/building...

to cost Bank clearings totaled and there were 66 incorporations ... with a total of capital stock of Tabulation shows l 07 new business organizations, nine new real estate 124 "Chamber's Annual Report Depicts City's Progress," Mobile Press-Register, IO June, p. 1. 125 "Mobile Building Activity," Mobile Press-Register, 4 June, p. 4. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 31 organizations, eight new industrial plants and seven new fraternal, religious and social organizations... Twelve industrial groups are represented in Mobile, with 225 plants. These plants represent an investment of furnish employment to people, pay out annually in wages, and spend exclusive of payroll The value of the annual output is . ...

tonnage handle through the port of Mobile during amounted to tons valued at an increase of986,602 tons and over Among municipal improvements are noted incinerators, central fire station, city hospital annex and an addition to the municipal whruf A million dollar paving venture was authorized, sanitary sewers and water lines extended, police and fire departments were augmented... St. Joseph Street was widened and a white war installed from Dauphin Street to the Unfon Station and overhead wires removed ... the public library was completed. !r: ... There was an 8 per cent increase in the number of electric customers served ... The largest increase was industrial and commercial power, 17 per cent. The Mobile Gas company spent in laying 25 miles of gas mains ...

The Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph company completed a new central office building ... [at a cost of] ... The Mobile Light and Railway Company spent on additions and equipment. An airport has been secured and air mail service inaugurated for the city during the year. 126 It is difficult to determine how much of this spectacular economic growth was the direct result of the Cochrane Bridge and the Alabama State Docks, but it seems certain that the Mobile Bay bridge did its share to increase the volume of business traffic in Mobile, and that the removal of the 217-mile detour around the Bay was one less logistic headache for the city developers. One can only wonder what the volume at the Alabama State Docks versus the Pensacola Docks would have been without the bridge in place.

It was predominantly the healthy commerce-based economy of Mobile that allowed it to survive the Depression of the so wen.121 Damage to the causeway during the storm of August 31st/September 1st of created an insurance crisis for the Mobile Bay Bridge Company. Insurance companies refused to cover 126 "Chamber's Annual Report Depicts City's Progress," Mobile Press-Register, 10 June, p. I. 127 McLaurin, M. and M. Thomason, Mobile: The Life and Times of a Great Southern City, An I/lustrated History (Windsor Publications, Woodland Hills, California, p. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 32 causeways, claiming that the potential for destruction during high weather was too great.

128 Cochrane was able to secure partial coverage of however, by insuring individual steel and concrete units on the bridge, including the Mobile and T ensaw river lift bridges and their approaches, a viaduct over the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and the two concrete trestles between the Tensaw Bridge and Baldwin County. 129 (The road was rebuilt by the Brackin Construction Company of Mobile that spring.) Qver the years, recurring gulf storms raised the issue of a new Mobile-Baldwin link that would be more resistant to erosion, but these plans were not realized until the By the Bridge Committee of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce was attempting to find a way to free the bridge of tolls. 130 By John T.

Cochrane had produced a financial plan to eliminate the toll, but it appears not have been adopted. 131 Over the next five years, several other groups and a State Commission appointed by Governor Bibb Graves explored options. On March 10, an order by Judge Claude A. Grayson approved the sale of the bridge to the State of Alabama for $2, 132 "The sale was accomplished by the exchange of$2,145,000 of20-year state bonds, issued by the Alabama Bridge Authority, and in cash. This act fulfilled Gove~r Graves campaign promise to rid Alabama of all toll bridges. He noted, "That's the last toll bridge in the state. John T. Cochrane commented, "It is a glorious day for Mobile.

The freeing of the bay bridge means so much to our citizens that its accomplishment carries glory enough to be divided among all who aided in bringing this about. 135 John T. Cochrane died of heart failure on January 14, and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery (Lot in his home town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Tensaw Bridge Operation to the Present In the Bankhead Tunnel was opened under the Mobile River to shorten the route for travelers over the causeway. Traffic could now avoid the detour north to the Mobile River Lift Bridge that General Sibert had insisted upon fifteen years before. By the tunnel had received vehicles (equal to the number having crossed the Tensaw Bridge). By the the Cochrane Bridge causeway was beginning to outlive its ability to handle new volumes of traffic.

In September the Mobile Press-Register noted that the 128 Record Group 6, 25 November, 129 Record Group 6, 3 January, 130 Record Group 6, 23 October, 131 RecordGroup6, 132 Alabama Bridge Authority, Inc., First Mortgage, Submitted to The First National Bank of Mobile, July 1, 13 3J.iighlights of 100 Years in Mobile, First National Bank ofMobile (Powers Company, p. 13 'Toid., p. 135 Ibid., p. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 33 Tensaw River Lift Bridge had a "shoddy appearance," raising the question as to the general conditions of bridges around the state. 136 In June of traffic on the causeway was referred to as a "crush.

Conversely, river traffic through the Tensaw lift span had dropped to the point where the State of Alabama Highway Department filed an application with the Corps of Engineers to remove the full-time operator. "According to an application filed with the Corps of Engineers here," the Press-Register wrote, "the qridge has only been opened 15 times during the past year. By September, the Corps of Engineers had changed access to the Tensaw Bridge channel to require a 24-hour notice, with span lifting performed only between the hours of 9:00am and On July 11, it was announced that the lift span of the bridge had been permanently closed.

Captain Peter Shea, the harbormaster for Mobile, stated that the span had not been opened for about ten years, and that since World War TI, the lift span had only been used to reroute river traffic in emergencies. 140 Whether the latter portion of this statement was true or not could not be determined in the time allotted for this documentation. The meeting of two 10-foot wide traile~ on the 18-foot wide, 16-foot high (clearance) Tensaw Bridge in July of underscored the need for a wider causeway. 141 In when traffic volume was vehicles per year,.,the Press-Register stated that 14 accidents had occurred on the hazardous span since killing two people and injuring four.

If "a driver meets a house trailer or a big tractor-trailer truck on the bridge, he must be extra careful to avoid a collision and if he is inclined to be nervous, he has had a thrill that will last for a while." 142 (In a November, telephone conversation, Mr. Conrad Armbrecht, attorney for John T. Cochrane, estate, described the experience of driving past an oncoming 18-wheeled truck on the Tensaw River span at rush hour as "a terrifying test of manhood.") Due to shortages in state highway funds, however, discussions of a new four-lane bridge for the causeway remained vague and indefinite. By December, work on a second Tensaw River Bridge by Hardaway Construction of Columbus, Georgia, had begun.

The new two-lane structure was to be used for west-bound traffic and the old Tensaw River Lift Bridge for east-bound traffic. The bridge was completed on June 2, costing 143 On July 28, a new, four-lane Interstate 10 "Bayway" Bridge opened for traffic, prov_iding .an alternate route for cross-bay travelers.

144 136 "How Well Is State Keeping Up Bridges?," Mobile Press-Register, 25 September, 137 "Widening the Bridge," Mobile Press-Register, 13 June, 138 "Tensaw Span Change Asked," Mobile Press-Register, 26 June, 139 "Tensaw Span Rule Changed," Mobile Press-Register, 24 September, 140 "Tensaw River Bridge Permanently Closed," Mobile Press-Register, 11 July, 141 "Trailer Meeting On Terisaw Span Points Up Two Very Vital Needs," Mobile Press-Register, 23 July, 142 "No Swift Relief for Narrow Span," Mobile Press-Register, 18 March, 143 "New Tensaw Bridge Now In Use," Mobile Press-Register, 2 June, 144 Bridges Over Mobile Bay Open Today," Mobile Press-Register, 28 July, p. I.

TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 34 On June removal of the Tensaw Bridge's lift towers began, 145 but was stopped by the volume of tourist traffic using the roadway. The towers were finally removed in February of 146 On September 17, corrosion and metal fatigue forced the closing of the Tensaw River Lift Bridge. The eastbound traffic of Highway 90 was switched to occupy the adjacent newer bridge. 147 With the announcement that the bridge would be replaced, the Press- Register commented, "Drivers are familiar with the bridge.

Thousands have played chicken on it without ever wanting to." A Mobile citizen interviewed by the newspaper lamented, "I was just learning how to pass on it." 148 The Tensaw River Lift Bridge is, as of this documentation, scheduled for removal by the Alabama Department of Transportation sometime after January 1, Physical Character of the Tensaw River LiftBridge Site The character of the sediments underlyiog the trestles and piers of the Tensaw River Lift Bridge are described on Design Sheet #26 (see HAER Photograph The sediments underlying the approach trestles are characterized by alternating layers of mud, quicksand and sand.

The sediments underlying the piers are composed of a sur:ficial layer of soft mud and fine sand, 5 feet in thickness, underlain by a highly variable series of oily clays, fine to coarse sands, and pea gravel. The sediments were developed during the Pleistocene and Holocene periods, in alternating high- and low-energy fluvial and lacustrine environments, during alternate .periods of inundation and desiccation of the shallow Mobile Bay.

Physical Character and Design of the Tensaw River Lift Bridge Pilings and Piers Each of the six piers supporting the Tensaw Bridge was supported by untreated driven timb_er piles, and underlain by a Cunningham Wire-Willow Mattress, for which the patent was held by Kansas City Bridge Company (see HAER Photograph Data for each bridge pier are presented in Table 4. 145 "Repairs Scheduled," Mobile Press-Register, 20 June, 146 "Tensaw Bridges Work To Reswne," Mobile Press-Register, 19 February, 147 "State Closing Old Tensaw River Bridge," Mobile Press-Register, 16 September, p. l. 148 "Bridge Giveaway," Mobile Press-Register, 28 July, p. l. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 35 Table 4: Data for Tensaw River Lift Bridge Piers #of Pile Tip Bottom Bottom Top Pier Mattress Piles Elev.

Concrete Crib Elev. Size Elev. Elev. Pier 1 44 1 1 1 X 210 Pier 2 55 1 1 1 801 X Pier 3 84 1 1 90 1 X Pier 4 72 1 1 Pier 5 55 801 i Pier 6 44 1 X 220 Untreated timber was driven with a pile driver. 151 Cofferdams were constructed around the driven piles, and timber cribs built as forms f.or the piers. All gaps in the cribs were sealed with oakum. Concrete poured beneath the water line was composed of 1 part cement, 2 parts sand and 4 parts broken stone or gravel (l The concrete in the shafts, copings and all other pier elements was mixed 1:2 :5. Each pile was designed to support a load of not less than 40 tons (see HAER Photographs #42 - Floor System The central stringers for the floor system of the bridge were 22 - Bethlehem I-beams. The outside stringers were 20" - Bethlehem I-beams.

Each truss had nine, 29 - Bethlehem I-beams, as floor beams. The east ends of trusses 1 and 2, and the west ends of trusses 3, 4 and 5 were fixed. The west ends of trusses 1 and 2, and the east ends of trusses 3, 4 and 5 were expansion joints, each resting on a 29 - Bethlehem I-beam. Each truss was fitted with cast iron scuppers to drain the road bed through the 10" curb .. These scuppers were replaced at an unknown date, during the resurfacing of the bridge deck (see HAER Photograph Stationary Trusses, Lift Truss and Lift Span Operation The Tensaw River Lift Bridge is a continuous through Pratt truss of the Parker variety (for structural elements referred to in the following text, see HAER Photographs #12 - The Parker truss is defined as Pratt truss with a polygonal upper chord.

Each truss has inclined end- posts. All joints in the Tensaw Bridge are riveted connections, with American Bridge Standard rivets ("AB" insignia visible on rivet heads). The choice of a polygonal upper chord for the 203 1 6" lift span agrees with J. A. L. Waddell's De Ponti bus: A Pocket-Book/or Bridge Engineers, 149 Includes support for west trestle approach. 111cludes support for east trestle approach. 151 For more detailed information concerning pile-driving in the early consult Jacoby, and Roland P. Davis, Foundations of Bridges and Buildings, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 36 published in 152 The entire bridge's length is feet. Spans #1, #2, #4 and #5, as depicted on Design Sheet #26 (see HAER Photograph measure 198 feet in length, with nine panels each measuring 22 feet.

Span #2 and #4 supported the lift towers. The lift towers, removed in were 48' 10 " in height, measured from the upper chord of the trusses (see HAER Photographs #48 - The lift tower girders were constructed from equal and unequal angle bar, plate steel and 60 single bar lace. The front and rear transverse bracing on the towers was fashioned from equal angle bar, with 45 gussetted lattices. The four 9'-diameter main sheaves at the tower summits were cast steel. Spans #3, as depicted on Design Sheet #35 (see HAER Photograph measures 6" in length, with nine panels each measuring 22feet (identical to the other trusses), plus-two lifting girders with upper chord bracing, adding/~3 feet to each end.

The lift span allowed a horizontal clearaJ.lce of 180 feet and a vertical clearance of 23 feet when closed and 60 feet when raised. 153 The ra1sing was accomplished through a counterweight- sheave-take-up drum system powered by a gasoline engine ( described under Buda Company, later in this document). The drive axle of the Gasoline engine interfaced with a reduction gearage system, which in tum drove the rope take-up drums. The up-haul and down-haul ropes passed from the operating drums, across four rollers mounted on the lift span at the lateral base of the web bracing, and through a set of deflecting sheaves mounted on Spans #2 and #4. The up-haul ropes continued straight up to another set of deflector sheaves at the top of the lift tower, and thence to the up-haul rope take-up drums.

The entire system was balanced with two large concrete and steel counterweights, from which ropes passed over the main sheaves on the top of the lift tower and connected to the lift span. Several large and small balance blocks were . provided to compensate for slight additions to the lift span load caused by water, debris, etc. Winding of the up-haul ropes (to seven turns of rope) on the main operating drums and unwinding of the up-haul ropes on the lift tower drums raised the lift span. This action also unwound the downhaul ropes, leaving two turns on each main operating drum. Winding of the down-haul ropes (to seven turns of rope) on each main operating drum and unwinding of the down-haul ropes on the lift towers lowered the lift span.

This action also wound the up-haul ropes, leaving two turns each on the main operating drums. The height of the lift span was monitored by the operator through the use of a Height Indicator and Limit Switch in the lift house (Patent July 17, An inspection of each truss member revealed manufacturer's marks and melt numbers, 152 Waddell, J.A.L., De Pontibus: A Pocket-Book for Bridge Engineers (John Wiley & Sons, New York, p. 153 Preliminary Report on the Proposed Improvements to Cochrane Bridge Causeway and the Construction of a Recreational Area and Beach, Estimate Submitted to Southern Industries Corporation by Ewin Engineering Corporation, Mobile, Alabama, August 2, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 37 detailed in Table 5.

Table 5: Structural Element Data for Tensaw River Lift Bridge. Structural Element Steel Source Description Melt #s Inclined End-Posts Carnegie/ Plate, Channel Bars, 60 Single Flat ? TCI&RR Lattice, Plate Braced Upper Portal Strut TCI & RR Plate, Equal Angle Bar, 60 Single ? Bar Lace, Plate Braced Portal Bracing TCI&RR Equal Angle Bar, Single Bar Lace, ? 45 Lattice with Gussets Upper Lateral Struts TCI&RR Equal Angle Bar, 60 Single Bar ? Lace ' Web Bracing TCI&RR Equal Angle Bar, 45 Lattice with ? Gussets Truss Hip Verticals TCI & RR E.gual Angle Bars, 60 Single Bar ? Laced Truss Posts TCI&RR Channel Bars, 60 Single Bar Laced ? Truss Upper Chords Carnegie/ Plate, Channel Bar, 60 Single Bar ?

TCI&RR Lattice Lift Truss Hip Verticals Carnegie/ Plate, Channel Bars, 60 Single Bar TCI&RR Lattice First and Second Truss J&L Equal Angle Bars, 90 Plate Braced Diagonals Third Truss Diagonals TCI&RR Equal Angle Bars, 60 Single Bar , Lace Central Sway Bracing J&L Equal Angle Bars, 90 Plate Braced Top Lateral Bracing TCI & RR Equal Angle Bars, 60 /90 Single ? Bar "Z"-Lace Top Central Sway TCI & RR Equal Angle Bars, 60 Single Bar ? Brac;ing .

Lace with Central Gusset Upper Guard Rail - Ramp TCI&RR Equal Angle Bar Lower Guard Rail - Ramp TCI&RR Channel Bar Upper Guard Rail - Truss TCI&RR Equal Angle Bar .Middle Guard Rail - TCI&RR Channel Bar Truss Lower Guard Rail - Truss TCI&RR Channel Bar TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 38 Counterweights The two counterweights and several balancing blocks of the Tensaw River Lift Bridge were designed to balance the weight of the lift span: pounds. Each counterweight thus weighed pounds, and the sum of the balancing blocks, pounds (see HAER Photograph Counterweights were composed primarily of steel-reinforced concrete, with steel punchings added when needed to provide extra density.

Lift House Designs for the operator lift house are shown on Design Sheets #40 and #41 (see HAER Photographs #53 - The lift house and its stairway were removed in but the cross- bracing for the structure remains: two steel Bethlehem I-beams (see HAER Photograph ,I\ Bridge Design and Construction Contractors This section includes histories of the contracting firms that provided materials or services for the construction of the Tensaw River Lift Bridge.

Consulting Engineers Harrington, Howard & Ash On January 1, John Alexander Low Waddell (C.E., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; B.A.Sc., Ma.E., McGill University; D.E., University ofNebraska; University of Missouri; Kogakuhukushi, Doctor of Engineering, Imperial University of Japan), began his career as an agent for the Phoenix Bridge Company, in Kansas City, Missouri. Wadell resigned his position with the Phoenix Bridge Co. in and shifted his efforts to full-time consulting. He quickly became one of the most influential designers and builders oflong span and movable bridges in the United States, registering many patents for steel structures in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. On January 1, Waddell formed a partnership with Ira G.

Hedrick, his fonner principal assistant engineer. Earnest Enamel Howard, an engineer, joined the finn in as did Lewis R. Ash. On January 1, Waddell dissolved the partnership with Hedrick and replaced him with John Lyle Harrington, who had originally worked for the company in The firm of Waddell & Harrington existed until when Harrington withdrew to form a new partnership with E. E. Howard and L. R. Ash. The consulting engineering firm of Harrington, Howard & Ash moved into new offices at Baltimore Avenue in Kansas City and focused their attention on innovative bridge design. In or Waddell and his son moved their offices TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 39 to New York City.

154 Between the years and Harrington, Howard & Ash was responsible for the design of dozens of fixed and movable spans in the United States (see Table 6). In during the construction of the Tensaw River Lift Bridge, the firm was located at Baltimore Avenue, in Kansas City. The partnership split in. forming Ash, Howard, Needles & Tammen, and Harrington & Cortelyou, both of Kansas City, Missouri. Ash, Howard, Needles & Tammen subsequently became Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff in Harrington & Cortelyou continues to do business in as a consulting engineering firm.

Table 6 Bridges Designed bv Harrirnrton, Howard & Ash, 155 - Name of Bridge Location Type Date Interstate Bridge Portland, Oregon Movable Highway 65 Bridge Waverly, Misso\tn Fixed Highway 81 Bridge Yankton, South Dakota Movable Missouri Pacific RR Osage, ?\fissouri Movable 156 Highway 5 Bridge Bonneville, :Missouri Fixed Old Highway 30 Bridge Blair, ?--."ebraska Fixed Dumbarton Bridge San Francisco Bay, Movable Houston Ship Channel Houston, Texas Movable Cochrane Bridge Mobile, Alabama Movable ' Highway 80 Bridge Vicksburg, Mississippi Fixed Highway 146 Bridge Cape Girardeau, Missouri Fixed Highway 67 Bridge Alton, Illinois Fixed Highway 54 Bridge Louisiana, :Missouri Fixed Tennessee River Bridge Decatur, Alabama Movable Elizabeth River Bridge Norfolk, Virginia Movable Ohio River Bridge Paducah, Kentucky Fixed Mononghela River Bridge Port Marion, Pennsylvania Fixed 15 '1-Iarrington & Cortelyou, Consulting Engineers, Harrington & Courtelyou: A Heritage in Bridge Design, (Harrington & Cortelyou, Kansas City, Missouri, and Hardesty & Hanover, Consulting Engineers, Linked to Wadde/1-- 89 Years Ago, (New York, issibid.

156 0tis Ellis Hovey,Movable Bridges, Vol. I - Superstructure, (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: New York, p. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 40 Steel Manufacturers Carnegie Steel Corporation A great many histories of Andrew Carnegie and the Carnegie Steel Works have been published over the last 100 years. 157 Only a brief history will be presented here. Andrew Carnegie was born on November 25, in Scotland. He emigrated to the United States with his parents in and settled in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. After a number of odd jobs, Carnegie went to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad and eventually became head of the firm's western division. In Carnegie formed the Keystone Bridge Company with the backing of the Railroad.

About Carnegie became a partner in a new Bessemer steelmaking firm called Carnegie, McCandless & Company, organized with The firm built the Edgar Thompson Steel Mill twelve miles from Pittsburgh. In steel production got-under way at the mill. Carnegie acquired the Homestead Steel Works in and in the Duquesne Plant. In the Carnegie Steel Company Limited was worth and was handling tons of steel per annum. "J; e Union Railroad was constructed to link the company's works. In Carnegie consolidated his various holdings into the Carnegie Steel Company.

He sold the firm to United States Steel Company in Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Corporation The following company history is taken from Biography of a Business, published by the Tennessee, Coal & Iron Division of United States Steel Corporation in In Leslie Kennedy, of Nashville, Tennessee, discovered a seam of coal in the Cumberland Mountains between Nashville and Chattanooga. Hoping to obtain financial backing to mine the seam, Kennedy returned to the site with William N. Bilbo, an eccentric lawyer from Nashville. Kennedy and Bilbo purchased the coal-bearing property for as little as pennies per acre from local owners and traveled to New York to sell their investment. A group of five men, lead.by Samuel F.

Tracy, returned to Tennessee and purchased the land from Kennedy and Bilbo for Tracy began mining operations as the Sewanee Mining Company in The rugged terrain of the region delayed ground-breaking until when the company finished constructing its link with the new North Carolina & St. Louis Railroad in Cowan, Tennessee, about 10 miles away. Unfortunately, the coal seam turned out to be thin and localized. Tracy opted to abandon 157 Bridge, James H., The Inside Story of the Carnegie Steel Company (Aldine Book Company, Casson, Herbert N., The Romance of Steel (AS.

Barnes & Company, Livesay, Harold C., Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business (Little, Brown Company, Boston, J97 5); Wall, Joseph F., Andrew Carnegie (Oxford University Press, reprinted TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 41 the initial site and move 10 miles further back in the Cumberland plateau. A new mine site, at Tracy City, was opened in after heavy financial expenditure by the company's owners. The first shipments of coal, two carloads per day, began to arrive in Cowan, but it soon became clear to the creditors of Sewanee Mining that the company lacked the ability to successfully market its product. In post-Civil War Tennessee, wood was still the predominate source of household heat and fuel for steam locomotives.

J'his fact, coupled with the lack of geological schooling of the company owners and a dearth of trained mine labor forced the Sewanee Mining Company almost immediately into bankruptcy. In Tracy reorganized the company as the Tennessee Coal and Railroad Company. Two Tennesseeans and eight New Yorkers, including Thomas Richardson as president, formed the board of directors. Leslie Kennedy, having attained the rank of mine superintendent, resigned with enough to support his family on a small farm. Before the mine could stabilize its prodtfction, the Southern Army expropriated the property. After operating it for a year, the mine was captured by Union forces and used as a fuel source throughout the Civil War.

When the Tepnessee Coal & Railroad Company owners returned to Tracy City following the war's end, they found it in ruins. The Confederate Army had confiscated almost all of the min e's equipment prior to the Union invasion, and the Union Army had nearly destroyed the integrity of the mine shafts. In creditors in both New York and Tennessee claimed rights to the land as forfeit, and the Tennessee and New York Supreme Courts simultaneously issued decrees for the sale of the mine. Colonel Arthur St. Clair Colyar, a Tennessee newspaperman, managed to persuade the New York interests in the company to yield the property and take first mortgage bonds as payments on their claims. Four hundred thousand dollars in stock was then issued and held in escrow, to pay the Tennessee claimants.

When the debt was paid, the stock would be redistributed to the purchaser. At this point, Colyar liquidated his assets, paid the Tennessee interests and became sole OWQ.er of the company. Colyar, faced with a ruined mine and no capital, was able to interest Nashville banker A. T. Duncan in the rejuvenation of the mine. Duncan gathered investors and became president of the company after a reorganization in Coal production resumed.

Over the next five years, coal demand rose slightly, but the company was never "in the black." By with an annual production of tons, management was still unable to market their product After sending two representatives to gather information from the coal companies of the North, the Tennessee Coal and Railroad Company decided to switch to coke production, building 100 beehive ovens. The excellent quality of coke produced from the Sewanee Coal was unable, however, the lift the company out of its financial troubles, and in the property was again seized by creditors. A new reorganization found Thomas O'Connor, W. H. Cherry, Alfred M. Shook and William Morrow in charge of the four Sewanee mines.

Morrow, as president of the company, ordered the acquisition of more land and the construction of a 50-ton blast furnace. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 42 In John H. Inman, a cotton broker, and Nathaniel Baxter, a banker from Nashville, bought controlling interest in the firm. Immediately acquiring the Southern States Iron and Land Company, they renamed it the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. At this point, businessman Colonel Enoch Ensley approached Inman and Baxter and attempted to buy into the firm. Failing this, he traveled to Jefferson County, Alabama, where the rich Warrior Coal Basin and the Clinton Iron Ore Formation supported a number of small mining firms, including the Pratt Coal and Coke Company, the Alice Furnace Company and the Linn Iron Company.

Ensley purchased all these companies under the aegis of his new Pratt Coal and Iron Company. Ensley had been in control of the new company for several years when Colonel Alfred Montgomery Shook (former manager of the Tennessee Coal and Railroad Company) and T. T. Hillman (a former stockholder in the Alice Furnace Company) purchased an option in the Pratt Company. Shook and Hillman then resold their option to the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company in and Ensley became the firmf president. The Tennessee firm was now in control of acres ofland, 460 coke ovens, two blast furnaces and acres of Red Mountain iron ore seam. 158 Ensley began const[uction of four blast furnaces in Alabama's Opossum Valley near Village Creek, added coke ovens and opened four new coal mines.

In the company purchased the DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company and the Cahaba Coal Mining Company. Unfortunately, the nation's new desire for steel over wrought iron led to financial troubles at TCI & RR. In order to survive, Col. Ensley determined to switch over the company's production, but it was not clear whether the local Red Mountain ore (which contained low percentages of iron and high amounts of non-metallic acids) could be made to yield a"good quality product. Alfred Montgomery Shook, now separated from TCI & RR, addressed this dilemma by bringing British Engineer Benjamin Talbot back to South Pittsburgh, Tennessee, to devise a practical basic iron production system for a new company in Chattanooga.

Talbot's successful research encouraged TCI & RR to begin the transition to steel production in The year following the acquisition of the Sheffield Coal, Iron and Steel Company and the Bessemer Rolling Mill Company, steel production began at the Ensley Works facility, with 10 fifty:-ton open hearth furnaces, a blooming mill, billet mill and rail mill, producing its first ingots on Thanksgiving day, On January 1, TCI & first shipment of24 tons of steel slabs went to a customer in Connecticut. In Don H. Bacon succeeded Nathaniel Baxter as president of the company, and focused efforts to revitalize the deteriorating steel works.

Railroad properties were consolidated, new dolomite quarries were opened, modem facilities were installed at ore and coal mines, and electricity was adopted for the operation of the steam-run mills. Comprehensive health service 158 Tennessee Coal & Iron Division, United States Steel Corporation, Biography of a Business (Tennessee Coal & Iron Division, United States Steel Corporation: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, p. 22. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 43 was also offered to the employees, including access to small hospitals near the plant sites. Bacon also oversaw the completion of the steel rail works at Ensley, a product that was to form the bulk of TCI & output for many years. 159 Bacon was succeeded in by John A.

Topping, a proponent of good employee working conditions and living quarters, and an experienced iron and steel man. Topping did much to set new standards for employee relations in the South, and planned to double the steel output of the company by purchasing the Binningham Southern railroad, opening new dolomite and ore mines, and installing new coal washers, Bessemer converters and open hearth furnaces. A new rail mill was also planned. In during a financial panic which froze credit in banks and trust companies throughout the United States, TCI & RR appealed to United States Steel Company to purchase its properties and restore its stock value. While U. S.

Steel initially refused the offer, they later agreed to the purchase with the provision that P'"resident Theodore Roosevelt approve the sale. Roosevelt, with the backing of the U. S. Supreme Court, cleared the way for the acquisition on November 1, Thus, TCI [& after more than half a century of skirting the edges of bankruptcy, entered an era of sound financial condition. The wild surges between boom and bust were now at an end, and the company began a period of steady if somewhat less spectacular progress. 160 United States Steel immediately installed a new president, George Gordon Crawford. Like John A. Topping, Crawford saw the necessity for TCI & RR to innovate and expand.

Addressing expansion with the opening of new mines and quarries, Crawford attacked one of the root limitations to steel production in Birmingham-- the lack of water. By August Bayview Dam was built on Village Creek, creating a 530-acre reservoir holding approximately 3. 5 billion gallons. Crawford also solved the problem concerning non-recoverable coke by- products at the Birmingham Works by installing 280 by-product ovens. The recovery of coke fumes allowed the firm to manufacture motor fuel, heating gas, fertilizer, moth balls, paving materials, explosives and paint components. 161 A wire plant was built at the Ensley Works in Edgewater Coal mine was established soon after, and in a pulverizer for the production of agricultural fertilizer was constructed at Ensley.

With the advent of WWI, TCI & RR expanded further. A new facility at Ensley, the Fairfield Steel Works, began producing raw material for merchant ship construction. At the same time, plans for a shipyard at Mobile, Alabama, were introduced. Mobile had served as an 159Ib.d 3 I ., p. 4. 1 ~id., p. 38. 161 Ibid., p. 40. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 44 outlet for iron and steel products from Birmingham since the 162 Fourteen ships were built in Mobile through the efforts ofTCI & Chickasaw Land Company, Chickasaw Utilities Company and Chickasaw Shipbuilding Company before when the Fairfield Works were re-tooled to produce railroad freight cars. The Hamilton Coal Mine was placed in operation the same year. In mechanical loading equipment was installed in seven ore mines.

Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad's concern with transportation logistics led to the building of a special railway linking the Ensley and Fairfield Works, Jones and Opossum valleys and the ore mines on Red Mountain. The same year, fifteen feet was added to the Bayview Dam. significantly increasing the reservoir volume. The Fairfield Sheet Mill was completed in and a 21-inch continuous sheet bar, a billet mill and four new open hearth furnaces were installed at the Fairfield Steel Works. The birth of the company's Water Transportation Department in led to the creation of facilities whereby steel could be shipped down the Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers to Mobile, and then to other gulf ports.

(This department was sold in By the rapid growth ofthtFairfield Steel Works demanded the construction of blast furnace No. 5 and No. 6, and sixty-three new by-product coke ovens. The following year, the older, less efficient Alice an~ Oxmoor furnaces were dismantled. The Depression forced the steel industry to drastically curtail production. The new president ofTCI & RR in Herbert C. Ryding, and his successor, Robert Gregg, attempted to maintain at least partial employment at the company. Despite financial worries, however, the firm continued to enlarge its facilities and develop new methods of increasing finished product production.

A 42-inch Universal Strip Mill and a new open hearth furnace were installed at Fairfield and TCI & RR acquired the Fairfield Iron Works in The year after John Lester Perry took the president's chair in the Chickasaw Utilities Company was dissolved and the firm took over U. S. Steel's Universal Exploration Company in Jefferson City, Tennessee. By the Fairfield Tin Works was in full operation, and mechanical conveyors had been installed at four coal mines. Robert Gregg, former president of the firm, returned to his chair in holding the position of president until During the early years of his second term, the company answered to the need for steel in the new European conflict.

In TCI & RR raised its production to enlarged an ore and sintering plant at Wenonah and built a new blast furnace and 140-inch plate mill at Fairfield in purchased a small blast furnace at Holt, Alabama, in opened Short Creek Coal Mine and installed a new tin plating process at the Fairfield Tin Mill. After WWII ended, the demand for construction steel in the civilian realm allowed TCI & RR to continue its growth. In the Concord Coal Mine was opened, a tenth open hearth furnace was constructed at Fairfield, and the Sheet Mill at the works was almost completely 162 Historical Assessment Relative to Submerged Cultural Resources: Bridge Replacement on US-90, Tensaw- Spanish River, Mobile and Baldwin Counties, p. 46. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 45 refabricated.

During the later part of the decade, two more 220-ton blast furnaces, soaking pits, cranes and a third continuous galvanizing mill were installed at Fairfield. Robert Gregg retired from service in (succeeded by Arthur V. Weibel), and on January 1, the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company became the Tennessee Coal & Iron Division of the United States Steel Company (TCI), merging with United States Steel Corporation the next year. By TCI annual capacity had reached tons. With continued modifications to existing technology and the installation of new equipment for the collection and processing of manufacturing by-products (e.g., tar and coal gas), TCI raised its annual production to tons per annum in nearly half of the South's steelmaking capacity.

Beginning about TCI made their employee's working and living conditions a new focus of attention. Plant communities, for the most part, were composed of rented company- owned houses built on company land. An employee's children attended company schools, played in company-owned recreation areas andJ;ttended company-owned churches. The houses constructed for plant employees were often better than the employee could afford on the outside housing market, but the system allowed much r~om for abuse. Health conditions, including water quality, were often poor, usually as a result oflacking sanitary facilities and groundwater pollution. 163 These unfavorable conditions led to a annual labor turnover by and an average employee working time of 12 days per month.

In response to the housing problem, TCI & RR purchased a large plot ofland in Opossum Valley and constructed a "model industrial city." The company hired a Birmingham firm to develop the property with attractive, affordable homes. At the same time, George Gordon Crawford created the TCI & RR Health Department (with an initial budget of about and enlisted the services of Dr. Lloyd Noland, fonnerly stationed as physician and surgeon in the Canal Zone. Dr. Noland found many of the same environmental problems in Birmingham that had debilitated workers on the Panama Canal. A million hospital and dispensary was constructed, local swamps were drained and treated, and polluted water supplies were sealed off.

New sanitary facilities and a health counseling service led to 90% fewer malaria cases in and by the rate had dropped to .5% of the figures. The hospital was renamed after Lloyd Noland in and, after the construction of a new outpatient wing, the company donated the complex to Jefferson County the following year. Jones & Laughlin Company The following history is summarized from the publication "'J & L', The Growth of an American Business a transcript of a speech delivered on May 14, at the Pittsburgh Dinner" of the Newcomen Society of England, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by Admiral Ben Moreell, the Chief Executive Officer of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation of Pittsburgh. Admiral Moreell had been recognized as Pittsburgh's "Man of the Year" for his 163 Biography of a Business, pp.

TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 46 military service and his redevelopment and expansion of the Jones & Laughlin Corporation's steel plants. In Benjamin Franklin Jones and Samuel Kier operated a transportation business called the "Mechanics Line", a system of canal boats and mechanical lifts designed to carry barges from Pittsburgh, over the Allegheny Mountains, to Philadelphia. Jones and Kier also appear to have been merchants dealing in the sale of "fire brick, scrap iron, and pig metal. Moreell mentions in his presentation to the Newcomen Society that "various histories of Western Pennsylvania report that as early as 184 7 Messrs. Jones and Kier had an interest in an iron 165 furnace at Armagh, in Westmoreland County" , but he does not cite the source of this information.

It is apparent, however, that B. F. Jones foresaw the replacement of the canal system by the railroads. 166 While B. F. Jones and Samuel Kier ope~:ated their transportation business, Bernard and John F. Lauth maintained ironmaking furnaces m Ohio. Returning to Pittsburgh in the Lauth brothers purchased one and one-half acres ofland between Carson Street and the Mononghela River for an iron-making facility dmring June of By September four new puddling furnaces, two heating furnaces, a guide mill, muck rolls and a crocodile squeezer allowed a single shift working day to produce seven tons of iron. The Lauth brothers entered into a partnership with B. F.

Jones and Samuel Kier on December 3, establishing the Jones, Lauth & Company American Rolling Mills, "in the business of manufacturing or rolling iron and carrying on the American Iron Works-- in succession to the heretofore firm of B. Lauth & Brother. (American Iron Works thus appears to have been the name of the Ohio firm that the Lauth brothers moved to Pittsburgh.)' Capital value of each partner's share was about B. F. Jones acted as accountant and warehouse manager for an annual salary of Bernard Lauth managed the rolling mills and works, and John Lauth oversaw the small rolls and turning department, both for equal salaries. Early company records do not list duties or salary for Samuel Kier.

168 In March of Kier left the partnership and Lames Laughlin, banker for the company, bought into the firm. He advanced to the iron mills, with an additional available at the finn's request. In July of Richard Hayes and the partners formed a sister firm, Laughlin and Company, erecting the Eliza Furnaces opposite the original plant site of Jones and Lauth. By this time, there were thirty-one puddling furnaces in the main plant. Two months later, John Lauth sold his interest to his brother and B. F. Jones. In Jones, Lauth & 164 Admiral Ben Moreell, "J & L", The Growth of an American Business (The Newcomen Society in North America Press: New York, p. 10. 165 Ibid., p. 10. 1 ~erbert N Casson, The Romance of Steel: The Story of a Thousand Millionaires (A. S. Barnes & Company, New York, p.

167 "J & L", The Growth of an American Business p. 9. p. 11. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 47 Company was reorganized as Jones and Laughlins, with James Laughlin, his sons, Henry A. Laughlin and Irwin B. Laughlin, and B. F. Jones and his brothers, T. M. Jones and G. W. Jones, as partners. Bernard Lauth was soon bought out by the new partnership. For the next forty years, pig iron from the Laughlins and Company blast furnaces was ferried across the Mononghela River to the puddling furnaces and rolling mills of Jones and Laughlins. By the plant had expanded to include seventy-five puddling furnaces, thirty heating furnaces, eighteen rolling mills and seventy-three nail machines with an annual output of tons.

The Eliza Furnaces had been enlarged to provide an annual output of tons of pig iron. A railroad bridge was constructed in to carry molten iron for the Bessemer converters and open hearth furnaces and the annual capacities of the plants increased to tons of steel and tons of pig iron by In two seven-ton Bessemer converters were installed at the Jones & Laughlin site and a new blast furnace at the sister plant, and tithin four years the annual output had increased to tons of Bessemer iron and tons of pig at the Laughlins and Company plant and tons of iron and steel products and kegs of cut nails at J & L. In two nine-ton Bessemer converters replaced the seven-ton models, increasing the capacity to tons.

Moreen notes that by this time, wire-cut nails were replacing cut nails, and that sixty-three cut nail machines were removed.from the Jones & Laughlin Corporation plant. 169 Jones & Laughlin made the transition to exclusive steel manufacturing on January 1, with the addition of two forty-ton basic open hearth furnaces.

Moreell notes that the Directory to the Iron and Steel Works of the United States for states that there were still puddling furnaces in the country, and that "the most notable abandonment of puddling furnaces that has taken place in recent years has occurred at the American Works of Jones & Laughlins, In this firm reported 92 single puddling furnaces as still forming part of its plant; in the present edition only 15 single puddling furnaces are reported, and on February 8 the last of these 15 furnaces was dismantled." 170 In with 6 forty-ton furnaces and a single twenty-five ton acid furnace, the annual steel production for J & L reached tons. The two businesses were consolidated in April of with the acquisition of the Vesta Coal Company (partly owned by B. F.

Jones and his son) and Laughlin and Company by Jones & Laughlins Limited, which became the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company in Steady growth over the next decade resulted in the decision to open a new plant at Woodlawn, twenty miles down river. The Carson Street mill, with its blast furnace production of tons had reached the physical limitations of the original property. Moreell states in his presentation that the output rank of J & L "with the two or three companies next following the United States Steel Corporation" was due to the decision to reinvest 80% of the company's earnings in production and development since 169 lbid., p. 16. 170 Quoted in Ibid., p. 16. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 48 Under B. F.

Jones, leadership, the new mill site (called the Aliquippa Works) was inaugurated with the borrowing of twenty million dollars on the company's mortgage bonds. Four blast furnaces, steel works and rolling mills were producing tons of ingots by The Pittsburgh plant continued to increase production within its property borders, bringing production to tons annually in and tons in The Aliquippa Works, now managed under the reorganized Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation followed suit with the addition of two furnaces, and by production had increased to tons. The economic depression of the 193 Os seriously weakened the heavy industries of the United States, and the steel industry was not immune.

As Moreell states, technological innovation and production flexibility greatly afffcted J & L's likelihood of survival: The advent of the continuous strip mill revolutionized the production of flat rolled products, including tin plate. And the older installations for the production of other rolled steel products were at a disadvantage in competition with more recently built facilities. But, in a continuous hot strip mill was installed in the Pittsburgh Works, and cold reducing mills for sheets followed. 171 A twenty percent increase in Jones & Laughlin's capacity occurred in with acquisition of Otis Steel Company of Cleveland, Ohio.

In response to the tin shortage following the WWII, the Aliquippa Works installed electrolytic lines to supplement existing hot dip tin plate production, but the need for overall plant development and rehabilitation in the face of the Korean War far outweighed this specific consideration. Admiral Moreell's presentation to the Newcomen Society summarizes the state of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporations works for that year: No longer is any Bessemer steel produced at [the Pittsburgh Works]. A new open hearth shop of eleven modem furnaces-- an additional blooming and slabbing mill-- with ingot heating capacity to match-- a new bar mill and a substantial increase in the capacity of the strip mill.

Three modem rolling mills now handle to entire output of3,337,500 tons of ingots which can be produced in the open hearth furnaces of the Pittsburgh Works. At Aliquippa, a new rod mill has been built to replace two old mills producing this product... The ingot capacity of Aliquippa Works is now 1, 000 tons per annum. 171 Ib'd 1 ., p. 19. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 49 At Cleveland, two enlarged blast furnaces have replaced smaller ones, and four new and larger open hearth furnaces have been added, bringing the annual capacity of this Works to tons. Since the end of the Second World War, "J & L" has increased its total annual ingot capacity by tons, or by about one-third, and has maintained its position as fourth largest producer of steel in the United States.

172 The current status of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation could not be determined in the time allotted for this documentation. Bridge Fabricator Virginia Bridge & Iron Company The following history of the Virginia Bridge & Iron Company is taken from American Bridge, Division of US. Steel Corporation: History an4 Organization an unpublished manuscript compiled in by the U.S. Steel Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: In the spring of Mr. C. C. Wentworth, Principal Assistant to the Chief Engineer of the N & W Railway and Mr. J. L. Hunter, Chief Draftsman for James P. Withrow, the Pittsburgh furnace builder, established an iron making shop in Roanoke, Virginia.

The firm's name was "American Bridge & Iron Works." In spite of a very successful beginning, the firm later fell into financial trouble and in it was reorganized as the Virginia Bridge & Iron Company. ~ The first president of the reorganized firm was Mr. Samuel Watson. He served in. this capacity for a very short time and was succeeded by W. E. Robertson. Mr. Robertson resigned in due to ill health and was replaced by C. Edwin Michael who remained President of Virginia Bridge & Iron until February when the company was acquired by United States Steel.

Originally organized with a capital of in it was periodically increased as necessity required to in Following periodic enlargements of the original Roanoke Plant, the company built a plant in Memphis, Tennessee, during the year to better serve its customers west of the Mississippi River. Robert J. Meybin, superintendent of a little plant operated by the company in Burlington, North Carolina, was transferred to Memphis to supervise construction of the new plant there, and remained as its manager until when he was elected General Manager of Virginia Bridge [& Iron] and moved to Roanoke. 172 Ibid., p. 20.

TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 50 The company's business continued to expand rapidly throughout the South during the teens of making it necessary to have a plant more strategically located to serve the deep South, and a plant in Birmingham [located at 8th Avenue North; John McCleary, Manager, AR. Peyton, Contracting Engineer and L. F. Hunter, Chief Draftsman], was acquired in It remained in constant operation until replaced by an entirely new plant located at a different site on the original property in At the time of its completion, the new Birmingham plant was considered the most modem structural steel fabricating facility in the country.

Now with three plants favorably located to serve the South and the Southwest, the company expanded its sales organization and accounting records indicate it dominated the fabricated steel market within its logical territory [records possibly on file at U.S. Steel Archives, Pittsburgfi]. Following many years of successful ope;ation and high earnings, like all other business, Virginia Bridge [& Iron] suffered the effects of the long depression in the during which time construction in general was at a discouragingly low ebb-- so low and with such apparently unfavorable prospects in the short-range view, that Mr. J. P. Fishburn, principal stockholder of the company, felt he should begin to liquidate his business holdings.

And so Virginia Bridge & Iron passed into the hands of United States Steel on February 2, Almost immediately business conditions in the industry began to improve and from a low of tons sold in volume jumped to tons for " From February 2, until January 1, the organization continued to operate as Virginia Bridge Company to which the name was changed upon acquisition by United States Steel Corporation with headquarters in Pittsburgh. The company's contribution to the progress of the territory it served includes thousands of bridges built from Key West, Florida, up to and including Alaska [including one of the few remaining operational vertical lift bridges in the United States: the Meridian-Bigbee Bridge over the Tombigbee River, near Naheola, Alabama].

173 In addition to railroad and highway bridges, the steelwork for many other types of construction was the daily diet of these plants-- tall office buildings; power plants; industrial plants of many kinds; mining structures; port facilities; hangars; 173 Stephen R. James, Jr. and James A. Duff, Historical Assessment Relative to Submerged Cultural Resources: Bridge Replacement on US-90, Tensaw-Spanish River, Mobile and Baldwin Counties (Submitted to the .Alabama Department ofTransportation by Panamerican Consultants, Inc., TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 51 stadiums; schools; churches; hospitals; theaters; post office buildings; various types of water control gates and coal-carrying railroad cars.

During both World Wars, Virginia Bridge was called upon to furnish huge tonnages of structural steel for wartime construction and military purposes. During World War II, such tonnage totaled nearly half a million tons and included the famed Bailey-type portable military bridge used by the Gis in nearly every theater of operations; hulls and other parts for Liberty Ships; cargo and transport vessels; floating dry docks; wharf cranes; derrick cranes; portable loading bridges; ordnance plants; synthetic rubber plants; and, perhaps most outstanding, the Atom Bomb Plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

In recognition for its service to the Government in this emergency, the Virginia Bridge Company was the first structural steel fabricator to receive the coveted Army-Navy "E" Award, presented September 1, . :t When the old company was sold to United States Steel in Mr. L. A. Paddock succeeded Mr. E. C. Michael a:s President and Mr. Paddock served as President of both American Bridge and Virginia Bridge until his retirement. It was upon Mr. Paddock's strong recommendation that Virginia Bridge & Iron was purchased by the Corporation. Mr. Paddock quickly won the respect and high esteem of all Virginia Bridgers. The only other change in personnel made at the time of the acquisition of Virginia Bridge [& Iron] was the appointment of Fred E.

Bishop as Comptroller of the Virginia Bridge Company in the interest of coordinating accounting practices with those of the parent company. In attempting to record some of the highlights of a company's history, it is easy to forget many of those who helped make it. For this reason, the following list of those who served Virginia Bridge & Iron between the years and no doubt omits some who should be included. Also, it does not include the many men who contributed so much as foremen, department heads, and others in the semi-official capacities. In.the history of any organization, there are names that stand out in the memory of their contemporaries, and while there were a great many at Virginia Bridge [& Iron], those most mentioned by the "Old Timers" are C. Edwin Michael, President; J. H.

Whitner, Vice President of Sales; Beverly L. Sneed, Vice President of Sales; Robert J. Meybin, Vice President & General Manager; J. W. Ridout, Chief Draftsman; and Nathaniel B. Atkins. Each in his own way was an outstanding leader among men. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 52 Officers who served Virginia Bridge & Iron during the period from to Directors (Partial List) J. B. Fishburn T. T. Fishburn C. E. Michael W. B. Bevill Col. James P. Woods R J. Meybin Edward L. Stone W. W. Boxley B. L. Sneed W. C. Stephenson. Blair J. Fishburn General Administrative Samuel Wal ton, President Robert J, Meybin, General Manager W. E. Robertson, President H. S. Dance, Secretary C. Edwin Michael, President ( 6) R L. Mastin, Asst. Secretary/Asst. Treasurer J. K.

Graham, Vice President and General Manager Accounting T. T. Fishburn, Treasurer Neville Ammen, Auditor Filman Hunter John R. Parker, Treasurer C. A Long, Auditor Engineering A. Z. Drozdov, Chief Engineer J. W. Ridout, ChiefDraftsman James A Richey, Chief Engineer W. N. Woodbury, Division Engineer Paul A. Blackwell, Chief Engineer Earl Rasmussen, Asst. Chief Draftsman C. W. Ogden, ChiefEngineer Purchasing Tate Greer, Purchasing Agent George M. Milliken, Purchasing.Agent H. E. Obenchain, Purchasing Agent Charles E. Via, Purchasing Agent Sales J. H. Whitner, Vice President & Contracting Manager B. L. Sneed, Vice President of Engineering & Sales W. E. Leigh, Contracting Manager M. E. Chapman, Contracting Manager W. S. Miles, Contracting Manager E. S. Humphreys, Contracting Manager A R.

Peyton, Contracting Manager V. H. Smith, Contracting Manager L. W. Robertson, Contracting Manager E. E. Thompson, Assistant Contracting Engineer Walter Schielke, Assistant Contracting Engineer W. G. Tompkins, Assistant Contracting Engineer J. W. Leroux, Contracting Engineer Erection G. A. Tretter, Manager -- Erection J. T Jones, Manager -- Erection W. S. Beckner, Erection Superintendent TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 53 T. T. Perfater, Erection Superintendent C. C. Stedenfeld, Erection Superintendent D. C. Seagle, Erection Superintendent William A. Haislip, Erection Superintendent A. F. Waddell, Erection Superintendent M. F. Burton, Erection Superintendent Traffic C. R. Jones, Traffic Manager Operating John McCleary, Manager -- Roanoke Plant H.A.

Davies, Manager -- Binningham Plant A. B. Davis, Manager -- Memphis Plant Raleigh Hortenstine, Manager -- Memphis Plant N. B. Atkins, Shop Superintendent -- Roanoke J. L. Brooks, Shop Superintendtnt -- Roanoke John H. Powell, Shop Superintendent -- Birmingham Robert Peterson, Shop Sup ntendent -- Memphis Charlie Hooper, Shop Superintendent -- Roanoke As of this writing the following active American Bridge management personnel began their USS service with Virginia Bridge: H. B. Crossfield, Vice President -- Contracting R. D. Northcutt, General Manager -- Manufacturing Operations T. A. Dollins, District Contracting Manager -- Chicago C. F.

Hanis, Chief Engineer -- Drawing Rooms 174 American Bridge, the United States Steel subsidiary that absorbed Virginia Bridge in was sold to private concerns in and subsequently to a Taiwanese firm in They currently operate from headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A comprehensive list of bridges fabricated by Virginia Bridge & Iron could not be obt~ned in the time available for this research. However, it is known that the company was responsible for one of the only operating vertical lift bridges remaining in the South: the Meridian and Bigbee Railroad Bridge over the Tombigbee River near Naheola, Alabama, designed by Waddell and Hardesty and fabricated Mr.

Jack Bryce, a former Virginia Bridge Company employee, was able to provide two other bridge locations: Bridge on US Route 55, over Passage Creek in Warren County, Virginia (constructed and Bridge on State Route 40, over the Nottoway River, bridging Nottoway and Lunenburg counties (constructed Mr. James Key, another former Virginia Bridge Company employee, noted 174 American Bridge, Division of U.S. Steel Corporation, History and Organization (Unpublished manuscript on file at United States Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-I 04 Page 54 that the Main Street Lift Bridge in Jacksonville, Florida, and a portion of the Mississippi River Bridge in Memphis, Tennessee had been constructed by the firm.

Three other bridges, lacking construction dates, are noted in a United States Steel Corporation publication of the James River Lift Bridge on Hampton Road in Newport News, Virginia; the Yaquina Bay Bridge on the Oregon Coast Highway, Newport, Oregon; and the Coos Bay Bridge, also on the Oregon Coast Highway in North Bend, Oregon. 175 Virginia Bridge Company was also responsible for the construction of the Gator Bowl Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, the Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas and the Ladd Memorial Stadium in Mobile, Alabama (named for Ernest F. Ladd, a member of the Mobile Bay Bridge Company).

At the time of the Cochrane causeway's construction, the Treasurer of the Virginia Bridge & Iron Company was John R. Parker; the Secretary, Dance; and the Assistant Secretary, Mastin. 176 Vertical Lift Mechanism Component Manufact~rers Buda Company The Buda Company of Chicago, Illinois, furnished the gasoline engine required to drive the lift mechanism of the Tensaw Vertical Lift Bridge. The design sheets for the bridge list the engine as "Industrial Unit No. 40 Gasoline Engine, 34 HP [horsepower] at 800 RPM [revolutions per minute]" (possibly listed as Model in Buda Company records). These power specifications are similar to other vertical lift bridges constructed during the twenties and thirties (Robert Crabtree, personal communication).

The vertical-lift Meridian and Bigbee Railroad Bridge over the Tombigbee River near Naheola, Alabama, designed by Waddell and Hardesty and fabricated by the Virginia Bridge & Iron Company in utilizes a Waukesha Model DU gasoline engine with 45 horsepower at revolutions per minute. 177 No company history could be obtained for the Buda Company, which is now based in Shr~veport, Louisiana. D. C. James Company . The D. C. James Company of Chicago, Illinois, may have furnished the flexible coupling used to link the Tensaw Bridge's vertical lift engine drive axle to the gearage driving the take- up/take-down rope operating drums on each side of the lift truss (see HAER Photograph 17 5F'isher, Douglas A., Steel Serves the Nation (United States Steel Corporation, p.

176 Record Group 6, 19 June, 117 Historical Assessment Relative to Submerged Cultural Resources: Bridge Replacement on US-90, Tensaw- Spanish River, Mobile and Baldwin Counties, p. 50. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL- 104 Page 55 The design sheets for the bridge list the coupling as similar to "Grundy" Patent Flexible Insulated Coupling #8, D. C. James Co." This coupling allowed a non-rigid connection between the main drive engine and the gearage, which was removed during engine service or replacement, and during use of the auxiliary Model T automobile engine.

The patent number for this component is and it is listed in the September 14, issue of the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, Volu~e page The Meridian and Bigbee Railroad vertical lift bridge near Naheola., Alabama uses a similar device. 178 The James Manufacturing Company was founded in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin in The owner, D. W. James, had devised a stanchion that allowed dairy cows to be milked in relative comfort. 179 The development of this device, together with innovative modernizations of the science of dairy production, convinced the Wisconsin State Board of Agriculture to build a Model Dairy Barn on the state fairgrounds in In the company opened a plant in Elmira, New York, with Frank Williams as Manager.

Soon after, the firm opened a plant in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Fred Williams in tiliarge of service. In the James Manufacturing Company claimed to be the largest manufacturer of dairy barn, horse barn, hog barn and poultry house equipment in the world ~ith one hundred and fifty employees. 180 The original use of the flexible coupling chosen for the Tensaw Bridge is not known, as no company records listing equipment could be located. It is assumed, partly based on the size and apparent durability of the coupling, that it was used as a non-rigid connector between the drive axle of a large gasoline engine and an agricultural machine. It is not known whether the James Manufacturing Company still exists.

Ford Motor Company The Ford Motor Company of Detroit, Michigan, supplied a Model T gasoline engine for the lift mechanism of the Tensaw Bridge. This engine was to act as an auxiliary, or back-up engine should the Buda Company's "Industrial Unit Number 40 Gasoline Engine" fail to operate. The design sheets for the bridge describe the Model T engine as possessing 14 horsepower at 900 revolutions per minute, not as powerful as the main Buda Co. unit, but capable oflifting the cent!"al span nonetheless. There is a great deal of published work concerning the economic and social history of the Ford Motor Company. 181 Only a general summary of the firm's history will be presented here. 178 Ibid., p. 50.

179 Jamesway Manufacturing Company, The Jamesway Book Where It Began and How (Jamesway Manufacturing Company, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, pp. 18 Ibid., p. 9. 181 Bryan, Ford R., Henry's Lieutenants (Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Byrne, John A, The Whiz Kids: The Founding Fathers ofAmerican Business and the Legacy They Left Us (Currency Press, Collier, Peter, The Fords: An American Epic (Summit Books, New York, Lacey, Robert, Ford: The Men and the Machines (Little, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 56 Henry Ford was born July 30, His parents had emigrated from Ireland in and settled in Dearborn, Michigan. In Ford trained as a machinist in Detroit.

Ford completed his first experiment in automobile production, and the world's sixth gasoline-powered carriage, in the quadricycle. In Ford founded the Ford Motor ~ompany with capital of The Model T was first introduced in and by was being produced with a new assembly line system. Henry Ford's manufacturing and production methods were widely known; in Germany they were called Fordismus. 182 Ford established the Ford Foundation, to which they bequeathed much of the firm's stock. In Ford challenged the "Selden Patent", which claimed comprehensive ownership of the internal gasoline combustion process by the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers. Ford countered that the Selden patent did not embrace the four- cycle engine that the Model T utilized, and was vindicated in court.

Ford Motor Company lost the lead in t~ automotive industry to General Motors (founded in by William C. Durant) in due to a lack of evolution of the Model T design and the growing used car market. Ford pad pioneered the assembly line process, but General Motors had perfected the system oflong-term automobile production, and was able to introduce new automobile models on an annual basis. In an attempt to recapture the market, the Ford Model Twas discontinued the Model A was introduced in and the V-8 engine in By the annual production of automobiles in the Detroit area, by Ford and its competitors (Packard, Hudson and Chrysler) had reached 5 million.

By WWII, the aging and autocratic Ford was in direct conflict with his son Edsel, who was unable to use his figurehead presidency of the company to stimulate growth and change. After Edsel Ford's death on May 26, his father reassumed the presidency. " In due to his failing health, Henry Ford arranged for the United States Navy to release his grandson, Henry Ford II, to manage the firm. At this point, the company was in management, labor and financial trouble. A reorganization allowed Ford to capture second place in the industry. Henry Ford died April 7, In the the company expanded purchased the Philco Corporation, diversifying into electronics and aeronautics.

The following description of the operation of the Ford Model T four-stroke engine is taken from the Software T oolworks Multimedia Encyclopedia, Version 1: The operation of the internal-combustion reciprocating engine employs either a four-stroke cycle or a two-stroke cycle.

(A stroke is one continuous movement of the piston within the cylinder.) In the four-stroke cycle, also known as the Otto Brown Publishing, May, George S., A Most Unique Machine (Eerdmans Press, Meyer, Stephen, The Five Dollar Day: Labor, Management and Social Control in the Ford Motor Company, (State University ofNew York Press, Albanv, 182 The Software T~olworks Multimedia Encyclopedia, (Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., ed.) "Henry Ford." TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 57 cycle, the downward movement of a piston located within a cylinder creates a partial vacuum. Two valves located inside the combustion chamber are controlled by the motion of a camshaft connected to the crankshaft. The four strokes are called, in order of sequence, intake, compression, power, and exhaust.

On the first stroke, the intake valve is opened while the exhaust valve is closed; atmospheric pressure forces a mixture of_gas and air to fill the chamber. On the second stroke, the intake and exhaust valves are both closed as the piston starts upward. The mixture is compressed from normal atmospheric pressure (1 cm, or in) to between 4.9 and 8.8 cm (70 and 125 in). During the third stroke, the compressed mixture is ignited--either by compression ignition or by spark ignition. The heat produced by the combustion causes the gases to expand within the cylinder, thus forcing the piston downward. The piston's connecting rod transmits the power from the piston to the crankshaft. This assembly changes reciprocating--in other words, up-and-down or back-and-- forth motion--to rotary motion.

On the fourth stroke, the exhaust valve is opened so that the burned gases can escape as the piston moves upward; this prepares the cylinder for another cycle. 183 Geo. B. Carpenter Company The Geo. B. Carpenter of Chicago, Illinois, furnished the exhaust whistle designed to warn watercraft and automobiles of the lifting of the Tensaw Bridge's central span. The design sheets for the bridge list the whistle as the Geo. B. Carpenter & Co. Chicago, "Autochime" Whistle size "Senior." Even with such specific design information, research was unable to locate a U.S. patent number for the whistle. ~ An alleged history of the Geo. B. Carpenter Co. was referenced at the Chicago Research Library, but examination showed this to be the company's "Catalog # 11 O".

Figure 607 on page 702 of the catalog exhibited a "Single Bell Chime Whistle" (without valve) for steam or compressed air at between 25 and 150 pounds of pressure. It is likely that this whistle is similar to the "Autochime Whistle" mentioned in the bridge design sheets. The largest of the "Single Bell Chime Whistles" had an 8-inch bell and a 2-inch threaded connection. It sold for . The Geo. B. Carpenter Company is currently a division of the Astrup Corporation of Chicago. Inquiries produced no archival sources for company history. 183 Ib'd 1 ., "F our strok e Engme. " TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL- I 04 Page 58 Miscellaneous Bridge Component Manufacturers Sheaves The T ensaw Bridge design sheets do not mention a manufacturing source for the lift mechanism's sheaves.

Because the seven-spoked sheaves and lift towers were removed in a visual inspection for a manufacturer's mark was impossible. Mr. James Key, a former Virginia Bridge Company employee, informed PCI that sheaves on several other Virginia Bridge lift mechanisms had been cast in or near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Preliminary research in Milwaukee business records was unable to locate an obvious source for the sheaves. In an attempt to determine a manufacturer, PCI personnel examined the sheaves on the Meridian and Bigbee Railroad Bridge near Naheola, Alabama, but were unable to locate a manufacturer's mark. It is also possible that the sheaves for the Tensaw Bridge may have been cast by the Carnegie Steel Corporation, the Jon s & Laughlin Company or the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company.

Internal Lift Gears An interview was conducted in November, with former Virginia Bridge Company employee Mr. James Key, who stated that the internal gear assemblies responsible for driving the Tensaw River Lift Bridge's take-up drums may have been manufactured by a company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. No further information concerning this statement could be obtained during the time allotted for this documentation. ,. Bridge Erector Kansas City Bridge Company The Kansas City Bridge Company was responsible for the erection of the Tensaw River Lift Bridge after its component parts arrived on the construction site. Little is known about the company, ~d research was unable to locate a company history.

According to an obituary for Howard Platt Treadway, the company may have been organized in with Alexander Maitland as President and Treasurer. 184 Treadway assumed both positions upon Maitland's death in In the Kansas City Bridge Company was located at 510 Orear Street, Leslie Building, Kansas City, Missouri, with Treadway acting as President and Treasurer, and H. J. Smith as Secretary. The firm also owned a "T oolhouse," located at 7 510 East Street, Kansas City, Missouri, with Frank Trantham as Superintendent. iss 184 "H. P. Treadway Dies", Kansas City Star, 26 December, 185 Polk's Kansas City, Missouri Directory, Volume J57(Gate City Directory Co., Kansas City, p. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 59 An interview was conducted on November 28, with Mr.

Robert Dill, the former Executive Vice President (between ofKansas City Structural, a Kansas City, Missouri firm that fabricated many of the steel structures that the Kansas City Bridge Company erected. Mr. Dill recalled that the Kansas City Bridge Company went out of business between and but was unfamiliar with a formal written company history. No further information could be obtained concerning the Kansas City Bridge Company in the time allotted for this research. Road Grave/er A Mobile Press-Register advertisement for the Mobile & Gulf Navigation Company stated that the Cochrane Bridge causeway had been graveled with Radcliff Gravel. No further information concerning the Mobile & Gulf Navigation Company could be located during-the time allotted for this documentation.

i" Bridge Operators and Toll Collectors On the basis of the design sheets, the Tensaw River Lift Bridge does not appear to have had a separate operator house. All lift mechanism operation was performed from the lift house, located on the central span (removed in Research was unable to locate the names of the past operators of the T ensaw River Lift Bridge, although a letter from Harry T. Hartwell to John T. Cochrane on June 9, mentions an engineer by the name of C. H. Eisenhardt who wished to obtain employment on the bridge. 186 An informal interview with W. T.

Clark, an operator of the Meridian and Bigbee Railroad Lift Bridge near Naheola, Alabama, revealed that the life of a lift bridge operator was generally not one of great comfort, as there.was little room in the operator's house for a comfortable chair, and no sanitary facilities. The lack of sanitary facilities, as is evident on both the Tensaw River Lift Bridge and the Meri_dian and Bigbee Railroad Bridge, lead to the disintegration of areas of steel deck plate at the base of the bridge ladders, due to its regular exposure to urine.

While this disintegration appears not to have affected the structural integrity of the Tensaw Bridge, it did eventually force bridge engineers to apply -inch reinforcing steel plate to a corroded main deck girder outside the Meridian and Bigbee bridge operator house. Loneliness was a fact of a toll collector's day, especially during the night shift. John T. Cochrane, in a letter to the Mobile Bay Bridge Company board of directors suggesting the construction of a gas station and soft drink stand near the Baldwin side: 186 'Record Group 6, 9 June, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 60 There is one advantage in having some such place on the eastern shore, as company for the toll keeper.

We are all human and it is pretty lonesome for a man with a lot of money in his possession over there during the night time, especially alone. 187 Tensaw River Lift Bridge Alteration In the Alabama State Highway Department removed the lift towers and counterweights from the Tensaw River Lift Bridge to reduce the dead load weight of the bridge. This removal was performed in response to the general deterioration of the bridge's truss and pier superstructures (see narrative history). Tensaw River Lift Bridge Repair Mr. James C. Henley and Mr.

Thdh1ason, Division Maintenance Engineer of the Alabama Department of Transportation, Ninth Division, Office of the Division Engineer, in Mobile, Alabama, was able to provide records c inspection and maintenance work on the Tensaw River Lift Bridge from to (Table 7). Unless noted below, all inspection and maintenance work was performed by the State of Alabama Highway Department. Records prior to are no longer extant. Table 7: Repair Work and Maintenance on Tensaw River Lift Bridge, Year Type of Work Inspection. ;. Underwater inspection. Inspection. Removed lift towers to reduce dead load. Inspection. Underwater inspection. Added cover plates to bottom chord truss members. Structure painted - contract. Inspection. Inspection. Inspection. Inspection. Inspection.

Repaired cracked welds in bottom chord cover plates. Posted structure for ten tons. Inspection. Inspection. 187 Record Group 6, 11 July, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 61 Inspection by A. G. Lichtenstein and Associates, Inc. Modified two (2) rocker bearings. Repaired deck joints. Inspection. Cleaned deck drains. Inspection. Inspection of cover plate weld cracks by Maintenance Bureau. Repaired deck joints. Structure closed to all traffic. The ADOT also reports that the Average Daily Traffic (ADT) for the bridge in was and that three (3) accidents had occurred on the structure since Current Tensaw River Lift Bridge Operation As of this writing, the Tensaw River Lift Bridge is closed to automobile traffic.

_The only operating components of the bridge are the eler,tnc warning lights on the south side of the span. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER#AL-104 Page 62 References Cited Anthony, Judith The Way It Was: A Maritime History of Mobile Bay. Video documentary in four parts, Public Television Services, Mobile, Alabama. American Association of State Highway Officials 193 5 Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges. American Association of State Highway Officials, Washington, American Bridge, Division of United States Steel Corporation American Bridge, Division of United States Steel Corporation: History and Organization Unpublished manuscript on file at United States Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. f' American Institute of Steel Construction, Inc.

Facts and Figures about Structural American Institute of Steel Construction, Inc., New York. Code of Standard Practice for Stee I Buildings and Bridges. American Institute of Steel Construction, Inc., New York. Burns, J. A (editor) Recording Historic Structures: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record. American Institute of Architects Press, Washington, D.C . ., Carnegie Steel Company Pocket Companion for Engineers, Architects and Builders. Carnegie Steel Comp.any, Pittsburgh. Casson, H. B. The Romance of Steel: The Story of a Thousand Millionaires. A. S. Barnes & Company, New.York. Chamberlain, W. P. Historic Bridges-Criteria for Decision Making. Transportation Research Board, Washington, Daugherty, C. R., de Chazeau, M. G. and S. S.

Stratton The Economics of the Iron and Steel Industry, Volume I and IL McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 63 Dencer, C. E. Detailing and Fabricating Structural Steel. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. First National Bank of Mobile Highlights of JOO Years in Mobile. Po~ers Company, Mobile. Fisher, D. A. Steel Serves the Nation, The Fifty Year Story of United States Steel. United States Steel Corporation, New York. Gillette, L. H. The First Sixty Years: The American Institute of Steel Construction, Inc. American Institute of Steel Construction, Inc., Chicago. Harris, C. M. Dictionary of Architecture & Construqion. McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York. Hool, G. A. and W. S. Kinne (editors) Steel and Timber Structures.

McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Hool, G. A. and W. S. Kinne (editors) Movable and Long-Span Steel Bridges. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Hovey, 0. E. Movable Bridges, Volume 1: Superstructure. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. Industrial Works Company Cranes. Industrial Works Company, Bay City, Michigan. Jacoby, H. S. and R. P. Davis Foundations of Bridges and Buildings. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. James, Stephen R. and James A. Duff Historical Assessment Relative to Submerged Cultural Resources: Bridge Replacement on US-90, Tensaw-Spanish River, Mobile and Baldwin Counties. Submitted to the Alabama Department of Transportation, Montgomery, Alabama by Panamerican Consultants, Inc., Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Jones, F. D.

(editor) Engineering Encyclopedia, Volumes I and II. Industrial Press, New York. Kemp, E. L. and T. H. Sande (editors) TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 64 Historic Preservation of Engineering Works: Proceedings of an Engineering Foundation Conference held at Franklin Pierce College, Rindge, New Hampshire, June 25- 30, American Society of Civil Engineers, New York. Kidder, F. E. and H. Parker Kidder-Parker Architects' and Builders.Handbook: Datafor Architects, Structural Engineers, Contractors, and Draughtmen. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. Markowitz, A. L. Historic Preservation: A Guide to Information Sources. Gale Research Company, Detroit. McLaurin, Melton and Michael Thomason Mobile: The life and Times of a Great Southern City, An Illustrated History.

Windsor Publications, Woodland Hills, California. r Merriman, M. and H. S. Jacoby .t: A Text-Book on Roofs and Bridges, Part JV: Higher Structures. Third Edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York. A Text-Book on Roofs and Bridges, Part III: Bridge Design. Fourth Edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York. Mistovich, Tim, H. Blaine Ensor, James A. Duff and Jack Bergstresser, Sr. Historic Survey and Documentation of the Meridian and Bigbee Railroad Bridge, Tombigbee River, Alabama, Submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama by Panamerican Consultants, Inc., Tuscaloosa, Alabama. National Park Service Historic American Engineering Record, Field Instructions. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C.

Historic American Buildings Survey Guidelines for Preparing Written Historical and Descriptive Data. National Park Service, Southeast Region, Atlanta. Historic American Engineering Record Guidelines for Preparing Written Historical and Descriptive Data. National Park Service, Southeast Region, Atlanta. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-I 04 Page 65 Photographic Specifications: Historic American Buildings Survey and Historic American Engineering Record. National Park Service, Southeast Region, Atlanta. HABSIHAER Standards. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Records: Preparing Documentation for Transmittal to the Library of Congress. National Park Service, Southeast Region, Atlanta.

Thayer, H. R. Structural Design, Volume I: Elements of Structural Design. D. Van Nostrand Company, New York. Thomason, Michael V. R. Trying Times: Alabama Photographs, The University of Alabama Press, University, Alabama. .ir: Transport Research Board Use of Historic Transportation Structures. Transportation Research Board, Washington, Wad dell, J. A. L. De Pontibus: A Pocket-Book for Bridge Engineers. John Wiley & Sons, New York. Weitzman, D. Traces of the Past: A Field Guide to Industrial Archaeology. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 66 APPENDIX A: The Vertical-Lift Bridge Early Vertical-Lift Bridges In the mid- l Jacomb Hood designed and constructed a small vertical lift bridge for the Surrey Canal on the London, Brighton and S.outh Coast Railway. The lift span was 22' 6" long, with a 1O' vertical clearance when open. The following description is taken from Movable Bridges, by Otis Ellis Hovey The lift span is of wrought-iron deck-plate girder construction, and the towers are of cast iron. Plate girders join the opposite tower-tops. Counterweights, at each end and on each side of the structure, are connected to chains passing over sheaves on the towers, thence down to attachments to the four comers of the lifting span.

Longitudinal shafts connecMhe two sheaves on the sides of the - bridge. At diagonally opposite corners;ra large gear is keyed to these shafts and meshes with small pinions driven by man-power by means of rope laid around large grooved sheaves on the pinion shafts, thence down to the level of the bridge floor. Two men are required to operate the bridge. The cast-iron towers are notched along one edge and engage pawls at the four corners of the span. The lifting span is held securely at any height. The pawls are disengaged when lowering the bridge. 188 In basic concept, this system presages the designs for J. A. L. Wadell's vertical lift bridges of the early twentieth century. The first large vertical lift bridge span, 54' rise) was designed in by Captain W.

Morson (an Englishman) to cross the Rhine River at Cologne, Germany. The submittal of Morson's construction plans was part of a design contest, won by a competitor, and the bridge was never built. In Oscar Roper of Hamburg designed a vertical lift bridge with a lift- span for the passage of ocean vessels. This bridge was also never constructed. 189 In the United States, Squire Whipple began designing, patenting and building small vertical lift bridges for New York state canal crossings (between and While these bridges were operated by an new and imaginative double-counterweight system, and were considered successful in their day, their size was limited by the cast iron elements and construction technique at Whipple's disposal.

Whipple is best remembered for his pioneering analysis of the effects of dynamic loads on bridge trusses. 190 188 Movable Bridges, Vol. I - Superstrocture, p. 189 Movable and Long-Span Steel Bridges, edited by George A. Hool and W. S. Kinne, second edition, McGraw- Hill Publishers, New Yorlc, New York, 1 ~ovey, TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 67 The Wadell Vertical Lift-Bridge In John Alexander Low Waddell proposed a span with a vertical lift of to bridge the Duluth ship canal, but objections by the War Department prevented the bridge from being built. An almost identical version ofWaddell's Duluth lift span was completed in to cross the Chicago River on South Halstead Street. The span was long and carried a 34' roadway and two 7' sidewalks.

The lift span allowed an overhead clearance of when fully open. By the mid-1920s, Waddell & Harrington of Kansas City, :Missouri, simplified and improved the basic design of large vertical lift bridges, but as this excerpt from Hovey makes clear, the design of the sheaves and up-haul/down-haul rope systems still presented engineers with a challenge: The operating machinery and the operat~r's house are at the middle of the lift span, and move with it. The counterweights must be increased to balance their weight, and this required weight augme~ts the trunnion fiiction and adds to the power required for operation. Ordinary gear trains connect the motors with a transverse shaft, geared to the drums in, or near, the planes of the main trusses.

Each drum is spirally grooved and has two operating ropes. These ropes are anchored to the drums and extend to the comers of the span, over and under idler sheaves, and the ends of one set are anchored to the top and those of the other set to the bottom of the vertical front legs of the towers. Each rope is provided with an adjusting device near its anchorage. Rotation of the drums in one direction winds the up-haul ropes pays out the down-haul ropes, lifting the span; reversal of the direction of rotation of _ the drums pulls the span down. This arrangement of operating ropes causes the span to move parallel to its closed position throughout its movement. The counterweights are usually of ordinary concrete.

In rare cases, concrete loaded with scrap iron or steel punchings may be needed when the clearances are small. Wire ropes connect the counterweights to the span, and pass over large grooved sheaves on the towers. When the counterweights are heavy, the design of these sheaves, their bearings, and their supports is a real engineering problem. The size and number of ropes require sheaves of large diameter and considerable length, and in some cases it has not been feasible to cast such sheaves as single pieces. Various designs of sheaves built up from structural steel with cast rim segments, and sometimes with cast hubs, have been used, and they have not always been satisfactory. Special attention should be directed to this detail, which is one of the most important in this type of structure.

TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 68 The counterweight ropes do not always stretch uniformly under load and movement, and therefore equalizers should be used at one end of the ropes. Triangular plates with top pin attachments for two ropes, and with a single pin attachment at the bottom apex of the triangle, have been quite generally used. While these pieces can rotate when the length of the two ropes differs, they do not equalize the loads on the ropes, for any rotation about the lower pin increases the lever arm of the longer rope and diminishes that of the shorter. The counterweight ropes should not all be carried by a single sheave at each corner.

When, for any reason, repairs or renewals of the sheaves, trunnions, or bearings become necessary, it is a difficult and expensive operation to make the changes and maintain the bridge in service. Two, three, or more sheaves can be used at each corner, the ropes passing over them in small groups. When properly designed, any single sheave with its trunnions, bearings , and ropes may be - removed and repaired or replaced withdut stopping the operation of the bridge. The remaining parts would be temporarily over-stressed, but the unit stresses used in proportioning most structures are so .~mall that the over-stress would not be serious.

Another advantage secured by the use of multiple sheaves is the reduced diameter and length of the trunnion bearings, with the resulting reduction of power required to turn them. 191 The Strauss Vertical-Lift Bridge In Strauss patented a design for a movable bridge for situations when the required vertical lift is small. Strauss' design used no sheaves or ropes, but made great use of pin joints to move two large counterbalancing devices connected to each end of a movable span. Duplicate hoist machinery at each end of the span caused the main counterweights to rise and fall in a vertical plane, while the counterweight link pivoted, bringing the main pivot on the span up in a like vertical plain. Examples of this bridge were built by the Strauss Bascule Bridge Company across the Louisville.

and Portland Canal in Louisville, Kentucky for the United States Government ( and across the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Canada Details ofthis counterbalancing method are described in Hovey (I 192 The Strobel Vertical-Lift Bridge The Strobel vertical-lift is similar in design to the Strauss system, avoiding the use of the somewhat problematic sheave/rope construction. Where the Strauss system utilizes pin joint 191 Ibid., pp. 192 Ibid., p. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 69 counterweight links to maintain a strictly vertical motion of the lift-span, the Strobel bridge uses a rolling trunnion on the upper surface of the lift tower to compensate for horizontal movement of the counterweight-span structure.

A good example of this bridge was constructed for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad over the Illinois River at La Salle, Illinois. 193 Patents for vertical-lift bridges are listed in Tabl~ 8. 194 Table 8 Patents for Vertical Lift Bridges Date Patent# Name Description S. Whipple Lift Draw Bridge L. Soulerin Lowering Bridge A.J. Post Lift Bridge - E.B. Whitmore r Lifting Bridge Alden Lift Bridge . , J.A.L. Waddell Lift Bridge A. Rutherberg Lift Bridge J.A.L. Waddell and Harrington Lift Bridge J.A.L. Waddell and Harrington Lift Bridge J.A.L. Waddell and Harrington Lift Bridge Strauss Bridge ,. Harrington Lift Bridge Harrington Lift Bridge J.A.L. Waddell and Harrington Lift Bridge I. G. Hedrick and Cochrane Counterweight C.E. Paine Bridge Strauss Bridge T.

Rall Vertical-Lift Bridge Strauss Bridge Shoemaker Operating Mechanism E. E. Howard and L. R. Ash Guide for Counterweight 193 Ibid., p. 19 4Ibid., adapted from Table 5B, p. TENSAW RIVER LIFT BRIDGE HAER #AL-104 Page 70 Strauss Suspension Lift Bridge J. L. Harrington Lift Bridge P. Joosting Lift Bridge