CHAPTER I.

HISTORY OF THE PROJECT.

THE Missouri River has long been known as so turbulent and unstable a stream, that it was considered by many of those best acquainted with its character, as almost incapable of being bridged. The successful completion of the first bridge across this river, and the novelty of some of the methods adopted for putting down its foundations, especially that introduced at Pier No. 4, which is believed to be capable of considerable extension in similar works, have therefore excited such general attention and inquiry, as to make it seem desirable that some record should be published of its construction.

It is admitted that many of the plans were very different from those which, in the light of present experience, it would be wished to adopt; but it is believed that a narrative of the difficulties and temporary failures on this pioneer work, may prove more interesting and instructive than would be the account of the more matured plans of a second undertaking.

The movement which led ultimately to the building of the Kansas City bridge, dates from the incorporation of the "Kansas City, Galveston, and Lake Superior Railroad" by the State of Missouri, in 1857. This high-sounding title, and the extent of the enterprise, which contemplated some 1,500 miles of railroad, occasioned a great deal of merriment in the Legislature, especially as but 129 miles of the scheme lay in Missouri, within the jurisdiction of the body granting the charter, and it was also understood that the projectors would, for the present, be satisfied with the building of 52 miles of the line, as a branch of another railroad.

But the enterprising citizens of the then infant City of Kansas, which perhaps contained at that time some 2,000 inhabitants, proved wiser than those who laughed at their plans, and they now have the satisfaction of seeing sub

stantially the same road in the course of rapid execution from the Gulf to the great lakes.

In 1860 a contract was let for building that portion of the road extending from the town of Cameron, on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, to the Missouri River, opposite Kansas City.

Although one provision of this charter, extracts from which will be found in Appendix A, authorized the bridging of all navigable streams within the State (the Missouri being the only river to which this clause could possibly apply on the line above mentioned), yet it was considered so formidable an undertaking, that no steps whatever were taken towards building a bridge, and the line was located parallel with the north bank of the river, through Harlem, a village opposite Kansas City, thence extending in a north-easterly direction. A good deal of work was done, and some $200,000 expended; but the breaking out of the civil war put an end to all active operations in the spring of 1861, and for the next five years the project slumbered forgotten in the strife which desolated the border between Missouri and Kansas.

In the year 1865 a charter was obtained from the Legislature of Missouri, for a carriage and railroad bridge at Kansas City, a copy of which will be found in Appendix B. This movement, however, was mainly speculative, and the corporators, having failed to interest the necessary capital, never organized under it, and merely held the charter as a ready means of benefiting the town by giving it to any parties willing to undertake the construction of the bridge, should circumstances ever render such an undertaking probable.

In the following year, the Kansas City, Galveston, and Lake Superior Railroad, which had now been revived, and whose name was at about the same time changed to the "Kansas City and Cameron Railroad," had its charter amended so as to invest it with like privileges as to bridging the Missouri, to those belonging to the Kansas City Bridge Company.

A general Act of Congress was approved on the 25th day of July, 1866, authorizing the construction of bridges across the Mississippi River at Quincy, Burlington, Hannibal, Prairie du Chien, Keokuk, Winona, Dubuque, and St. Louis, which by a special clause was made to apply to the Missouri River at Kansas City.

The restrictions and conditions of the bridges becoming post routes (except for the St. Louis bridge), and the clause applying to the Missouri, were as follows:

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, that any bridge built under the provisions of this Act, may, at the option of the company building the same, be built as a drawbridge, with a pivot or other form of draw, or with unbroken or continuous spans ; provided, that if the said bridge shall be made with unbroken and continuous spans, it shall not be of less elevation, in any case, than 50 feet above extreme high-water mark, as understood at the point of location, to the bottom chord of the bridge; nor shall the spans of said bridge be less than 250 feet in length, and the piers of said bridge shall be parallel with the current of the river; and the main span shall be over the main channel of the river, and not less than 300 feet in length; and provided also, that if any bridge built under this Act, shall be constructed as a drawbridge, the same shall be constructed as a pivot drawbridge, with a draw over the main channel of the river at an accessible and navigable point, and with spans of not less than 160 feet in length in the clear on each side of the central or pivot pier of the draw, and the next adjoining spans to the draw shall not be less than 250 feet; and said spans shall not be less than 30 feet above low-water mark, and not less than 10 above extreme high-water mark, measuring to the bottom chord of the bridge, and the piers of said bridge shall be parallel with the current of the river; and provided also, that said draw shall be opened promptly, upon reasonable signal, for the passage of boats whose construction shall not be such as to admit of their passage under the permanent spans of said bridge, except when trains are passing over the same; but in no case shall unnecessary delay occur in opening the said draw, during or after the passage of trains.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, that any bridge constructed under this Act, and according to its limitations, shall be a lawful structure, and shall be recognized and known as a post route; upon which, also, no higher charge shall be made for the transmission over the same, of the mails, the troops, and the munitions of war of the United States, than the rate per mile paid for their

transportation over the railroads or public highways leading to the said bridge.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, that any company authorized by the Legislature of Missouri, may construct a bridge across the Missouri River, at the City of Kansas, upon the same terms and conditions provided for in this Act.

It was early decided, that the alternative clause authorizing the construction of a pivot drawbridge, would be the proper one to adopt for Kansas City. The topography of the river and its banks is such as to confine the choice of a point of crossing opposite the town within narrow limits; while just above, between the Bluffs and the Kansas River, spreads out a flat bottom land, the natural point of connection and exchange between all the railroads centring at this city, occupied by them at an early day. A high bridge crossing would have made it impossible to reach depot grounds, or connect with the other roads on this bottom, without the use of gradients of 90 or 100 feet per mile, and a drawbridge, requiring an elevation of only 10 feet above high-water mark, was accordingly selected.

The provisions of the Act of Congress, concerning drawbridges, were mainly framed to apply to the Mississippi River, and when extended to the Missouri, some of them could seldom be safely complied with to the letter. Thus the requirement that the spans adjoining the draw should be 250 feet each, designed to accommodate the immense rafts which float down the comparatively tranquil current of the Mississippi, becomes useless in the Missouri, whose turbulent torrent forbids the handling of any rafts, save those composed of a few cotton-wood logs, run down along the shore a few miles to the nearest sawmill. Besides, as at almost every point where a bridge would be likely to be attempted, the channel of the Missouri lies close to one of its shores, the attempt to place spans of 250 feet on each side of the draw would result either in locating one leg of the draw beyond the main channel, or in building one of the 250 feet spans partly over dry land.

This alternative was presented at Kansas City, and it was deemed that the placing of the draw in the best possible location over the main navigable chan

nel, was the chief requirement, and the adjoining spans were arranged, as hereafter stated, to conform to the local circumstances.

The length of the spans of the draw, which was fixed by the Act, was also intended to meet the requirements of the large tows, composed of steamboats and barges, which ply on the Mississippi. But on the Missouri River there are no tows, the rapidity of the current, and the many snags to be found in the stream, rendering the towing of barges hazardous, and having thus far caused the failure of every attempt to introduce them, so that a narrower draw might have answered the requirements of the boats navigating this stream, which are moreover smaller than those running on the Mississippi; yet in view of the extreme swiftness of the current during floods, and of the difficulty of holding a boat at such time perfectly true to her course, this requirement of the law may be deemed a prudent one, and the spans of the draw of the Kansas City bridge were accordingly made each a little over 160 feet in length in the clear.

In 1866, the Kansas City and Cameron Railroad being fully reorganized, with Mr. C. E. Kearney, of Kansas City, as president, obtained additional subscriptions and set about to seek aid and a connection with the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. A curious accident, which occurred in connection with this road, showed on how slender a thread sometimes hangs the fate of infant projects and communities. Even before the war, a strong rivalry existed between Kansas City and Leavenworth, the latter city being located on the same bank some 25 miles up the river. Both had begun railroads to Cameron, both had temporarily abandoned their enterprise during the war, and both sought the aid of the Eastern capitalists controlling the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, to revive them. Leavenworth, which had enjoyed a large and prosperous trade during the war, in consequence of being near an important military post and fort, was earliest in the field, and when Kansas City heard of it, had all but closed a contract for the necessary aid with the Eastern capitalists. A very few days more and it would have been too late; every thing would have been arranged, and the road and bridge built to Leavenworth, which city would probably have been enabled completely to crush her rival. Immediate personal appeals and propositions brought about a suspension of a final judgment, until the claims and merits of the two schemes could be investigated.