|
At the close of the Civil War, one important economic activity in Texas was
driving cattle to the railheads in Kansas and Nebraska. In November of 1866, the
Texas legislature granted a charter for a toll bridge in Waco, Texas, where the
Chisholm cattle trail forded the Brazos River. By May of 1868, the Waco Bridge
Company had raised capital and elected to send a representative, company
president Col. John T. Flint, to New York City to consult on a bridge type.
Flint visited the offices of Roebling and Son in Trenton, New Jersey, but
eventually retained Thomas M. Griffith as chief engineer to prepare plans and
supervise construction.
In November of 1866, Waco business men secured a charter from
the state legislature for a toll bridge at the crossing. Thomas M. Griffith, an
engineer based in New York City, was hired in 1868 to build the Waco Bridge. The
new bridge was opened for traffic in 1870.
A Pictorial History of Waco
Historic photographs of the original bridge exhibit the inclined cable stays
and masonry towers characteristic of the original construction. The bridge
proved to be both durable and commercially successful, although a major
reconstruction of the bridge by the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company in
1913-14 changed many of the characteristic features. The Waco Suspension Bridge
still stands today. It was taken out of vehicular service in 1971 and restored
for pedestrian use in 1976.
As a prominent symbol of progress on the Texas frontier, the Waco bridge was
probably the inspiration for the eventual proliferation of vernacular wire
bridges in the state, the earliest known example of which is the footbridge
constructed at Salado College in 1869.
Salado College trustees had sold land fronting Salado Creek for milling
operations to a John T. Flint in 1863. (Possibly, the same John T. Flint became
president of the Waco Bridge Company in 1868.) After a mill dam built in 1866
for a wool-carding operation inundated the existing log bridge, the village of
Salado incorporated (December 1868) in order to issue bonds for the materials to
construct a cable bridge on masonry piers. The Salado footbridge was swept away
in flooding in 1913.
The Story of Bell County
In August of 1883, Thomas M. Griffith patented a suspension bridge that
employed framed metal towers in contrast with the brick masonry he used at Waco.
It is conceivable that Griffith was responding to a need for construction in
remote rural locations such as he could have observed during his stay in Texas.
It is not known whether Griffith ever built any bridges utilizing his patent.
However, the concept foretells developments in Texas some 20 years after the
construction of the Waco bridge.
In 1883, Thomas M. Griffith patented a suspension bridge composed of small
pieces that could be transported by pack mule and assembled at a remote site.
Although Griffith never built any bridges of this type in Texas, his patent may
have been inspired by his experience in Texas. His system presages the tubular
components of later Texas bridge builders such as William Flinn.
|
