RIVER AND BRIDGE.

15

it was not a set of beams supported by abutmentsbelow; it was a web of iron netted and braced andbolted, heavy, dark and gloomy in appearance,and proving treacherous as death.

This bridge was erected in the year 1865, byMr. Tomlinson, according to orders and patternsgiven by Mr. Amasa Stone, then president of theroad. It was built after the pattern of the HoweTruss, but containing some elements introducedby the president himself. It was constructed ofwrought iron, with long iron braces from lowercord to upper cord twenty feet in height. Therewere rods stretching from top to bottom and de-tsigned to carry the strain from brace to brace.The panels were eleven feet long, and betweenthese the strength of the cords depended on threeiron beams six inches thick and eight incheswide. The whole width of the bridge was nine-teen and one-half feet; its height twenty feet;its length one hundred and sixty-five feet, in asingle span.

- When it was first erected it was discoveredthat the braces were placed wrong, so that theycame upon the sides rather than upon the edges.