Buchanan County, Missouri - Chapter 14: The Great Iron Bridge and Union Depot, 1881

Chapter 14: The Great Iron Bridge and Union Depot

HISTORY OF THE BRIDGE - DESCRIPTION - CELEBRATION IN HONOR OF ITS COMPLETION - RAILROAD TRAFFIC OVER IT - FOOT AND VaGON TRAFFIC - UNION DEPOT-, DESCRIPTION-ITS NECESSITY - IMPORTANCE TO ST. JOSEPH.

The necessity of a permanent and reliable means of crossing the "uncontrollable and treacherous" stream that flows by the fair City of St. Joseph had long suggested itself to the people of that section of thestate, and several organizations had been perfected with a view to consummating this project ; much time, talk and money had been expended, but nothing done.

Dispairing of the success of any of the measures on foot, a number of practical men subscribed stock, organized a company, to be styled the "St. Joseph Bridge Building Company," prepared their articles of association, and were incorporated.

At the first meeting of the incorporators, who were W. P. Hall, J, M. Hawley, J. H. R. Cundiff, J. B. Hinman, John L. Bittinger, James A, Matney, O. M. Smith, I. G. Kappner, John Pinger, J. D. McNeely, Wm, Z. Ransom, Mordecai Oliver and I. C. Parker, they proceeded to the election of officers, to hold their respective terms for one year, with the follow ing result: W. P. Hall, President; W. Z. Ransom, Vice President j I. G. Kappner, Treasurer; John Pinger, Auditor; J. M. Hawley, Secretary. The Finance Committee included Willard P. Hall, I. G. Kappner and James A. Matney.

On the 25th of January, 1871, there was submitted to the vote of the people of St. Joseph an ordinance authorizing a subscription of five thousand shares to the capital stock of the " St. Joseph Bridge Building Company," amounting to $500,000, the bonds payable at the National Bank of Commerce, in the City of New York, twenty years after their date, bearing interest at the rate of ten per cent, per annum. The vote resulted in a unanimous majority - only nineteen votes being cast against the ordinance.

By the 6th of February, H. H. Kelley, Col. Mason's first assistant, arrived in the city and commenced the preliminary- survey, which extended from the rock bluffs near Belmont to a point seven miles below the city. The fall in the low water channel for that distance was found to be 82-100 of a foot to the mile.

The annual rain fall in the basin, drained by the river at St. Joseph, averages nineteen and a half inches, while that of the basin below is twenty-six inches; so, but three-fourths of the water flowing out of the Missouri River at its mouth passes the city. ,

As might have been expected, considerable difference of opinion existed as to the proper location of the bridge which, finally, however, was wisely left to the judgrnent of the engineer. Col. Mason.

The original ordinance subscribing $500,000 required an expenditure of $100,000 by the company before $50,000 of the city bonds could be touched, and $100,000 more in order that the second $50,000 could be secured, and so on. Although every effort of the Directors of the Bridge Company was made to raise, by private subscription $100,000, the sum necessary to commence the work, only $18,000 was raised.

The Council met on the 2d of May to revise and modify the ordinance of the former subscription so as to authorize the payment of fifty per cent, of the city's subscription in bonds on calls.

At the election on the 23d of the same month, the amendment was carried by an overwhelming majority - a manifest evidence that the people of St. Joseph were fully alive to the vast importance of spanning the river between the Missouri and Kansas shores, with a bridge at this point, at the earliest possible moment.

June 10, 1871, the day appointed for opening the sealed proposals for constructing a railroad, wagon and foot bridge across the Missouri River at St. Joseph, according to the specifications of the Chief Engineer, Colonel E. D. Mason, showed the following bids from six great companies, which were as follows : '

Keystone Bridge Company (for the superstructure alone) .... 260,000 Phoenixville Bridge Cpmpany (for the superstructure alone) . . 317,000 Detroit Bridge and Iron Works 710,000

Resolved, That, whereas, the Detroit Bridge and Iron Works Company has shown its capacity for bridge building, by building bridges at Burlington,- Quincy and Hannibal, and now has boats and all necessary machinery, etc., for the prosecution of the work ; therefore this company

On July 25, 1871, the first material arrived. This was in the shape of a train load of stone, on the St. Joseph and Denver City Road, from White's Camp, Kansas. The first stone was laid September 26th, in the presence of a large assemblage of people.

January 15, 1872, the second Board of Directors were designated, and consisted of W. P. Hall, W. Z. Ransom, J. D. McNeely, Peter G. Conlisk, G. H. Koch, Dr. Robert Gunn, Jeff, Chandler, John Pinger, J. L. Bittinger, Fred. W. Smith, T. B. Weakly, R. H. Jordan and S. P. Hyde.

The caisson for pier four was accidentally launched January 21, 1872. While the workmen were busily engaged in " blocking down " the immense caisson, weighing four or five hundred tons, and just as they had got from under it, for the purpose of getting more materials, the blocking gave way, and, with a lurch, the heavy mass of timber went down through the ice upon the sandy bed of the river, a distance of about eight feet, and there rested, as luck would have it, exactly in the position it was designed to occupy. During the sinking of this pier (4) the ice broke up in the river, but resulted in no material damage to the work.

Pier four was landed on bed rock March 8, 1872. While the work was thus steadily progressing, a proposition to transfer the bridge to the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, according to the proposition of Mr. B. F. Carver, was presented at a meeting of the Manufacturers' Aid Association, held March 20, 1872. The proposition, as maybe supposed, caused a great deal of excitement among the people.

Mr. Carver's proposition was to furnish the money to complete the bridge under the present direction, as fast as Chief Engineer Mason would estimate for the required funds ; that he would take and extend the St. Joseph & Topeka Railroad to Atchison, Kansas, and connect it with the various roads at that town ; that he would remove the machine shops, car works and general offices of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, now located at Hannibal, to St. Joseph ; that he would fix the tariff of highway travel on the bridge at rates one-half lower than those of any similar structure on the Missouri or Mississippi Rivers, desiring, for example, that it may bring him from this source not more than $12,500 per annum, whereas the business of the ferry, for similar work, pays over

$50,000 ; and that he would make the ta:riffs to railroads equal as between his and all others, and that rates guarded and liberal be assured to all.

In consideration of his doing these things, he asked that the citytransfer to him its entire stock of $500,000, and that the machine and car shops should be exempted from taxation, as they were in Hannibal, for twenty years.

There was much debate and a great variety of opinions delivered. Some wanted the bridge made absolutely free for highway travel, while others thought it was better to allow the owners of it to collect a low rate of tariff and return to the city a portion of the bonds voted to the work. All appeared to favor the proposition in one form or other, and adopted a resolution, unanimously, that it was the sense of the meeting that the city's stock ought to be sold whenever judicious terms could be made. The council submitted the transfer to the vote of the people, but before the election day had arrived the ordinance was withdrawn.

The next and last pier sunk was pier one. After launching her into the water from the east bank, she was put in position and the air pumps started February 5, 1873. This pier landed in bed rock March 5th, and was completed March 25th. These piers, constituting the sub-structure of the bridge, contain 1,457,000 feet of timber, board "measure ; 16,038 cubic feet of concrete, and 172,071 cubic feet of masonry. The base of the largest pier is 45x45 feet the top 35 feet diameter.

Work on the superstructure immediately began. The first span was swung January 18, 1873. The last span was swung May 4, 1873, all the superstructure suspending its own weight.

The superstructure consists of three fixed spans of the quadrangular Pratt truss, each 300 feet long, one fixed span at east approach, 80 feet, and a draw span 365 feet, making the entire length of the bridge 1,345 feet. The weight of the iron in the superstructure is 2,850,000 pounds ; of the road-bed and track, 382,000 pounds. The draw span alone weighs 900,000 pounds, and is so perfectly adjusted as to be easily opened and shut by one man. The capacity of the bridge as estimated, is six times as great as the largest and heaviest train of cars that can be placed upon it. The approaches over bottom lands contain 2,025,000 cubic feet of earth and broken rock.

This board met on the 14th, and elected the following ofificers : W. P. Hall President ; Jeff. Chandler, Vice President ; Robert Gunn, Secretary ; G. H. Koch, Treasurer ; Edward D. Mason, Chief Engineer and Superintendent, and John L. Bittinger, Auditor.

Rather an amusing incident occurred during the election. R. L. McDonald acted as teller, and announced Governor Hall elected tmanimously. "I know better," said the Governor quickly," I didn't vote for myself!" Mr. McDonald again looked over the ballots, and as he vainly endeavored to decipher the hieroglyphics on one, the Governor said, nervously, " That's mine ; I voted for Mr. McCord."

"I will leave it to any member of the board to decide whether that does not look as much like Willard P. HaH as James McCord," said Mr. McDonald, good-naturedly exhibiting the ballot. The joke was on the Governor, and no one appreciated it more than he.

On the 20th of May, 1873, the first locomotive crossed the bridge. This was engine No. 6, of the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad. It was in charge of E. Sleppy, Master Mechanic of the shops of that road, and the man who ran the first passenger train out of St. Joseph on the opening of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Road more than fourteen years before. Charles Stine performed the duties of firemen on this engine. There were on board besides, several bridge and railroad officials, together with several prominent citizens of St. Joseph and Kansas, among whom were the following : Colonel Edward E. Mason, Superintendent and Engineer ; Governor Williard P. Hall, President, and Dr. Robert Gunn, Secretary of the St. Joseph Bridge Building Company ; J. F. Barnard, of the K. C, St. J. & C. B. R.R.; R. J.Wells, General Agent of the H. & St. J. R. R. Co., Hon. Isaac C. Parker, Jeff; Chandler, General G. H. Hall, P. Arnholt, Captain C. Mast, Harry Carter, J. G. Wood, G. H. Koch, Judge J. P. Grubb and J. A. Finer, managed to secure positions on the pilot of the engine, while H. W. Musson, General Agent of the St. L., K. C. & N. R. R.; E. H. Saville, Secretary of the St. Joseph & Denver City R. R.; " Uncle Joseph Beaumont," and about thirty others secured sitting room on the tender.

As soon as the engine arrived on Missouri's soil, three cheers were given for the St. Joseph Bridge. In a few ininutes after, the engine again appeared ready for its return trip for a second crossing.

Conspicuous among those perched upon the pilot, on the return trip, was Miss Hettie Mason, daughter of Col. E. D. Mason, Chief Engineer, who thus enjoyed the distinction of being the first lady to cross the bridge on wheels. On the same day, crossed the first regular train, ten car loads of freight.

On Saturday, May 31, 1873, occurred the grand celebration of the completion of the bridge. This was, beyond doubt, the most magnificent pageant ever displayed in the city. Not only was every civic association and benevolent society represented in the vast procession, but the German citizens of the Northwest had selected St. Joseph as the place for holding their annual Saengerfest, and May 31 was selected as the time. The procession which traversed the streets of St. Joseph on that day was never equaled west of the Mississippi. Every trade was represented. .The cooper was hooping barrels in his improvised shop on wheels, the shoemaker was pegging at his last, the axhandle manufacturers were using their drawing-knives and turning out handles with the same celerity that marked their labors at home ; lathes, looms, steam engines, collar factories, trunk establishments, and an endless variety of other trades and appliances of merchanical labor were in full blast in the vast stream of human industry that moved along the streets to the enlivening music of six or eight brass bands. The procession on this occasion was fully six miles in length, and both in the novelty of its character and immensity of its magnitude, astonished even the people of the city in whose midst existed the industries represented.

The morning papers stated that there were, on that day, 25,000 strangers in the city, and 50,000 people on the streets. As the procession passed the bridge, the splendid structure presented, with its gay array of bunting, such a picture as few in the vast throng had ever before gazed upon.

Ex-Governor W. P. Hall, President of the St. Joseph Bridge Building Company, made the opening speech. He was followed by Rev. and Hon. I. S. Kalloch, of Leavenworth, in an oration of powerful eloquence, which was listened to by the vast audience with the most absorbing interest. Hon. Joseph Brown, Mayor of St. Louis, was then introduced and addressed the audience. General James Craig, Hon. I. C. Parker, Captain James B. Eads, and Hon. Jeff. Chandler, all spoke in turn.

At 3 P. M., a sumptuous banquet was served in Tootle & McLaughlin's Hall, to which about five hundred invited guests sat down. During the feast, the Fifth Infantry Band, from Fort Leavenworth, under command of Lieutenant Lewis, took seats in the balcony and discoursed appropriate music during the entertainment.

Numerous toasts were given and eloquent responses made. The last of these was "Joseph Robidoux, the founder of St. Joseph," which was drunk in silence by all standing. Thus closed the festivities of the grandest public demonstration ever witnessed in St. Joseph.

On the 4th of July, 1873, at 6:30 P. M.,the steamer Mountaineer broke from her moorings, and, floating down, struck the bridge, occasioning damage to the amount of $16,000, which occupied twelve days in repairing.

Dr. Robert Gunn, who served as Secretary of the Company from the beginning of the second year of its organization, and is now (1881) superintendent of the bridge, has filled the latter position uninterruptedly, ever since the completion of the work.

The Union Depot

Since the printing of the article on the Union Depot, under head of " Railroads," page 595, other and important data have come to our knowledge, which we offer, by way of explanation, for the appearance of this second article on the same subject.

A. A. Talmage, General Manager of the Missouri Pacific ; John B. Carson, General Manager of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad ; J. F. Barnard, General Superintendent of the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad ; Thomas McKissock, General Superintendent of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad ; L. D. Tuthill, General Superintendent of the St. Joseph and Western Railroad, are the Directors. All these gentlemen have done their utmost to forward the great enterprise in every possible manner.

The architects are Messrs. Eckel & Mann, two young men of this city, who have already taken a position among the first architects of the country. The plan furnished by these gentlemen shows the handsomest railway building in the West, and, when it is completed, St. Joseph will indeed have good cause to feel proud of the grand edifice. It will certainly be a superb building and will stand as a monument to the genius, taste and wonderful skill of its accomplished architects.

Outside of the carriage drive will be an ornamental park, set in grass and shrubbery, and adorned with statues, urns and a fountain, all of which will not only greatly add to the appearance of the depot, but will show the aesthetic taste of the builder. We see no reason why a railroad depot should not be made as cheerful and inviting as a public park, or any other place of public resort. Here will congregate at all hours of the day and night, weary travelers and commercial men, fatigued women and tired children. The nice new depot, with its conveniences and accommodations, its small, handsome park, with its blooming flowers and sparkling fountain, will certainly do much to lighten the tedium of their waiting moments.

To fully appreciate this magnificent structure it must be seen. No description of ours would convey to the reader an adequate idea of its . great beauty. It is both ornamental and durable, and St. Joseph will be justly proud of it, as one of her crowning architectural glories.

As a public improvement, it ranks next in importance to the great iron bridge that spans the Missouri River, a few blocks northwest of it. The stranger coming to St. Joseph from the east, gets his first glimpse ot the depot building as he approaches the city from the south. He will see distinctly its huge proportions, and white-crested tower, glittering in the morning sunlight, but not until he halts within the shadow of its immense awnings, will he realize the fact, that he is gazing upon one of the finest, one of the largest, and one of the most symmetrically constructed edifices of the kind to be found anywhere in the country.

The depot is the outgrowth of a necessity long since felt by not only those who are connected with the railroads, but by our business men generally.

The conveniences of a depot centrally located, where all the trains arrive and whence they all depart, are numerous. The passenger business, which has been scattered between the different depots, will now be confined to one point. Besides this, the railroad ticket ofifices will be here, and the express offices. These conveniences will save time and expense, and facilitate business, travel, and every interest connected with commerce and railroad transit.

St. Joseph has now a population of forty thousand, and being the converging point of several railroads, it is only in keeping with that spirit of enterprise ever manifested on the part of her citizens, and which has brought her present material prosperity, that she should have a first class Union depot - worthy of her growth and commercial importance.

To form something like a correct idea for the present emergency for a Union depot, we need only to niention the fact that forty-eight daily passenger trains arrive and depart from St. Joseph, saying nothing of the freight trains, which number many more.

At a congratulatory meeting held in Boston, in September, 185 1, Mr. Winthrop was pleased to say that the number of passenger trains which daily arrived and departed from Boston was one hundred. Boston was then the fifth city in population in the Union, and it was with great pride that the distinguished orator dwelt upon the fact so creditable to the sagacity and energy of that people.

At that time St. Joseph was but a hamlet, struggling into existence. To-day, however, with about one-fifth the number of inhabitants that Boston then contained, St; Joseph has half the number of passenger and freight trains which Boston then boasted.

Western pluck and western energy have achieved, in a few short years, railroad facilities which older cities in the eastern states have not accomplished in half a century. The character of these improvements is not ephemeral, built merely to gratify the demand of the day, and to subserve a temporary purpose, but are substantial, and will be as durable, we hope, as the everlasting hills that surround our city. No other town in the wide Union, in proportion to population, presents a more thrifty or business Jike appearance than St. Joseph.

Stand at the foot of Felix, Francis, Edmond or any of her business streets, on any day of the week, and glance eastward and there can be seen thoroughfares crowded with teams, wagons, carriages, men, women and children from morning till night. All over the city are seen the unmistakable evidences of that resistless, pushing spirit of enterprise which has made the town and given it an impetus which cannot be checked. The evidences of this spirit are seen in the immense packing houses,, founderies, manufactories, planing and flour mills, street rail- - roads, waterworks. Union depot, and all the other public improvements which have been inaugurated and pushed to completion, and lastly, in our rapid increase in population, which has more than doubled since 1870.

St. Joseph has struggled with a few difficulties in the past, yet with an unfaltering courage, and with an abiding faith in her own capabilities, like the stripling of Israel with his sling and stone, she has overcome them all, and now occupies a vantage ground from which she cannot recede.

Behind her, are the broad, rolling prairies,, with a soil as prolific as was ever turned by the plowshare to the sunlight of heaven ; a soil upon which Ceres pours out the fullness of her horn in such plenteousness as will supply the granaries of half a continent. Toward the rising sun live the great bulk of the people of this country, who, in the course of time, will come in millions and pitch their tents upon our vast plains and verdant valleys, and find in St. Joseph a ready market and an outlet for their surplus and their increase.

It will be seen, by glancing at a map, that Northwestern Missouri occupies about the central position of the American Union, and this being the fact, there must be, somewhere in the Valley of the Missouri, a grand pivotal point, about which may be eventually amassed the elements of trade, power and influence, thence to be disseminated throughout the entire country. What town or city in this valley offers so many inducements for the location of this common center as St. Joseph I All acknowledge the advantages of her geographical position, her salubrious climate, and the unsurpassed fertility of her soil ; then, where would the stranger and the merchant, the mechanic, the tradesman, and sagacious business man,, look, if not to. St. Joseph, to find this ultimate common center?