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Pierre Weekly Dakotan
January 31, 1907
Steel Work Begun
The legislature has
so much attracted the attention of every one, and the work upon
the big bridge across the Missouri river has gone on so
systematically and quietly that few of our people are aware that
last Tuesday..
....the approach from the east built upon piling
had been completed to the first stone pier, and from that point
false work is erected resting upon piling set through the ice
into the bed of the river....caissons three and four have been
sunk to bed rock and sealed and the pier at caisson three is
completed and that at four is about done.
The big octagonal
caisson for the center pier, upon which the turntable will
revolve, is down fifteen feet and very little difficulty is
being experienced in sinking it. The caisson for the two
remaining bridge piers will be ready for the air by the first of
February and it is the expectation to have them all completed
before the ice breaks in March. After the bridge piers are
completed there is one more caisson to sink for the ice breaker
to protect the turntable....
The steel will all be
handled from this end. By the time the first span, for
which the piers are now ready, is completed the draw span may be
taken up and there is likely to be nothing to interfere with the
progress of the steel work from this time forward. The
steel contract is separate from that for the piers, the latter
begin done by W. W. McDonald & Co., but the steel work is in the
hands of the L.M. Bernhisel Construction Co.
While the extremely cold
weather is severe upon the men above ground it does not all
interfere with the “sandhogs” as the men who work below are
called by their fellows, and the unusually strong ice bridge
greatly facilitates the entire procedure.
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