UEffSHBR
RAINY,CLOUDY &
CHIT INA, ALASKA AUGUST 21,1932.
BIG TWO-PAGE OP NEWS EDITION,TODAY.
CHITINA R.R.BRIDGE GOES OUT AGAIN!
5/^copy, 20p'mo.
5 0& 3 mo, § 1.6mo
25£for'postage
CHI TINA BRIDGE GOES OUT AT QUEER TINE j
It usually goes out every spring with [
the ice'at the break-up.It is high watj
ter now, higher'than ever before,^ it
took the 13 bents of piling out on te
afternoon of Aug.16,only a few hours
after the train of excursionists went
across on itiOnce it went but in the
summer of 1912 w« are told,& once in
the winter of'1920 the day after Tha
nKsgiving.The Interior here in Alaska
almost always has a very.dry climate,
hut this is one of the few times when
it^ went ojii^for too much rain.Tuesdays
the?,excursionists riding over *it could’
feel it wiggle,& coming back at^lOibO
A.M.it shook 5c moaned & swayed ^ groa»
ed.The biggest crew that was ever on
was working trying to,divert the de
bris,'-hi le 12 of them were out with
the derrick on the bridge,one man came
up to' John Gravdahl 5c -the bridge
looked, funny frravdahl went under 5c
that hardly anyof the underpin
ning was left.He. hurried to climb up
to tell the others & they all felt it
moving undrneath them 5c hiked for the
shore as fast as they could.lt was on
ly a matter of seconds that they saved
themselves .With hardly anything to ho
ld it,the bridge started to tip over,
So the-man that was running the derri
ck stuck by,5c swung the boom around 5c
evened up the weight,then got off the
bridge as fast as he could leg it 5c he
?ot on solid ground just in t ime to
urn round 5c see the bridge floating
down the Copper Biver.13 bents went'
out first which is more than before,
and now there are 60 bents out. There
are 170 bents in the whole structure
5c it is a quarter Mile long.The curre
nt is .f 1 qw-ihg-so swift’ now that a fpr,.
ry''cannofti-be used.It was so strong it
knocked the pile driver flat on the,
ground.But it fell on a small island a
little way underneath the water so it
wasn’t carried away.Usually when the
bridge goes out they suspect it ahead
& everybody up in Kennecott has stockt
up ahead on lots Of grub & other stuff
& mining supplies,but they were sur
prised this time 8c don't have anything
ahead now.So probably theyll have to
get their food by Gillom Airways. The
R .R. usually has bridge equipment all
ready to begin driving again at ince,
but this is too unexpected & they have
to wire to Seattle for somO piling &
all .It Will cost ma^be,- $60, 000,00 or e
ven £65,000.00 to get it built in a
gair;.Just the interest on the money a
steel bridge of a permanent king,would
be more than this tho.There were about
160 piling that had never been used &
that were washed away,at a cost of 30^
a ft .Railroading is expensive business.
8c anyway they can't begin to drive pil
ing till the water goes down & it is
still rising now, so it will be quite aj
while, maybe a month before this end of]
( CONTINUED) on 3mo,4C)^on 6.
the Copper R .& NiWcste'rn R.R.is in
pjihape.lt will be a long time befo
re Kennecott can get her mail by
rail. 6 ft & 2 inches above normal
is the highest water mark on the
gauge up to this summer,but r/ednes
it went to 7 ft 5 -J- inches 1 Then
it went down to 6ft 9 in,& now it *
is up to 6 ft 10-J- & still going up
big McCarthy excursion goes haywie
36 joyful Cordova tourists started
at .-9. A->M*MPh• .1 with thp. intention ,_v? ,
of making a round trip ♦from
i end,Everything was hunkydory until
I they started'toward Long Lake the
!next morning,They got news that the
| Lakina Bridge(RR) was OUT.There ms
| condiderahle nashing of teeth and
extracting of hair as the furious
tourists turned the train ba,ck to
Chitinn,As they re crossed the Chit**
inn. Bridge it was groaning & strai
ning like it was angry at the way
it was being treated;if they could,
jhave known how near disaster those
! 36 passengers 8c crew were,surely
I many hearts would have stopped be
jating.The train left at 12:30 with
j out staying overnight,& itfs a. lu
! cky thing they did,for at Tiekel,
| the tracks were in such bad condi
; tion that Mr .Storey couldnft ever.
| take his bride down to Cordova in
| the speeder,8c little bridges out.
S.Ennis Reed,Jr. 13 years old.
i ■ _
I
I THE COPPER B ♦ & Nf’.R.R. IS GETTING
! TO BE A COFPLETE vrASH-OUT. Rains
| have-' taken out quite a hit of the
| trackaib .oyer 500 ft. in; one place
! is under 3* f.f of wat'er’VAs a rule^'
| the Chi tina River Glacier L&kfes Sc
j the Kotsina R Glacier Lakes break
r away from too much Sc too long sun
; shine melting the snow & ice .and
• raising the water to cause these
(washouts.But this year it is the
I unprecedented rains .For the first
f time in about 20 years this strange
■ reason has happened.The first to go
; was the Lakina,then Chitina,& then
Tickel under' water for a week.And.
I when the high water got dov/n round
I File 55{Abercrombie Canyon} & at
| the Glaciers(49)it did a lot of o
i ther damage..*But with my Bad fill
ing the engines with oil & keeping !
them in fine shape,this end of tk ;
R.R.should be running soon & alri
ght for trains to go over in a lit
tle while. Ronald Kigginson(14)
THE G0V8T R.R. AFTER’*’BEING CLOSED
, for a couple of weeks due to SLIDE
-opened yesterday.Col.Ohlson is a
fast v/orker,& his men of the Gov’t
R vR, erew did a speedy job* This is
the Seward to Fairbanks railway.