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t was early in railroad development in this River for the James River country when the Richmond & Petersburg and Kanawha Canal. In Historic Railroad was proposed and chartered in 1822, he visited the Erie 1836. It ran from just north of Petersburg Canal, which was under Ion the north side of the Appomattox River to construction, and became structures just south of Richmond on the James River. The convinced that railroads in charter stated the line could be extended into both most cases were, as John Richmond and Petersburg upon the approval Stevens said in 1812, supe- significant structures of the past of the Common Council of each city. The line rior to canals. He was one as proposed was only 22 miles long. The B&O of the first Americans to Moncure Robinson. Railroad had just reached the Potomac River visit France to study civil across from Harper’s Ferry, and the railroad and engineering and survey the public works of Europe. Lewis Wernwag built a wooden deck bridge across He arrived in Paris in April 1825 and studied civil the Monocacy River. The Mohawk and Hudson engineering at the Sorbonne, founded in 1257. Railroad opened in New York State, connecting While it primarily stressed the Arts, it was strong Albany and Schenectady, in 1831. The Allegheny in math and science® education and was offered Portage Railroad was 36-miles in length, con- free to American students. Why he did not attend necting the Hollidaysburg Canal Basin with the the nearby École Polytechnique or the École des basin at Johnstown on the Little Juniata River. It Ponts et Chaussées, the finest engineering schools was designed by Moncure Robinson and opened in the world, is not known. Between 1825 and March 18, 1834. Robinson was also working 1827, he also spent a great deal of his time in duringCopyright this time on the con- England meeting George Stephenson, who had struction of the Petersburg just finished the Stockton & Darlington Railway and Roanoke Railroad. and was beginning work on the Liverpool & James River Bridge at That line was 59 miles long Manchester Railway while improving on his steam Richmond, Virginia and ran from Petersburg locomotives. Returning to the United States in the to Blakely on the Roanoke latter part of 1827, Robinson soon became one of River. It opened in 1833 and the leading railroad engineers in the country. He Mighty Colossus, has also been called the first railroad in Virginia. was first retained by the Canal Commissioners It was no surprise that Robinson was also selected of Pennsylvania to make the survey for a railroad Bestriding the to design the railroad and the high level bridge connecting Northumberland on the Susquehanna Ancient Powhatan connecting it with downtown Richmond. He is River with Pottsville on the Schuylkill River, later another of themagazine early giants in civil engineering of called the Danville-Pottsville Railway. It was a S Tthe 19thR century thatU is little knownC in theT present Umeans toR haul anthracite E coal from the coal fields to By Frank Griggs, Jr., Dist. day. At the age of thirteen, he entered William and Philadelphia via the Schuylkill Navigation. M. ASCE, D. Eng., P.E., P.L.S. Mary College graduating with an A.M. degree in He also designed the Winchester and Potomac 1818. Being interested in Civil engineering, he Railroad that ran from Winchester, Virginia was a member of a party sent out by the board along the west bank of the Shenandoah River to of public works of Virginia to run a line of levels Harper’s Ferry. It was completed in 1836. It was Dr. Griggs specializes in the across the entire state from Richmond to the Ohio connected with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad restoration of historic bridges, by a railroad bridge built in 1837 by Wernwag having restored many 19th Century across the Potomac River at Harper’s Ferry. cast and wrought iron bridges. He In 1834, Moncure began work on what was formerly Director of Historic many called the greatest work of his career, the Bridge Programs for Clough, Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. This line was Harbour & Associates LLP in built on the west bank of the river parallel to the Albany, NY, and is now an Schuylkill Navigation, which reached Reading independent Consulting Engineer. in 1825. It was a twin track line built originally Dr. Griggs can be reached at to carry coal from the anthracite fields north of [email protected]. Reading to Philadelphia. His design included three tunnels (Black Rock, Flat Rock and Pulpit Rock) and nine bridges across the river. The wooden bridges he built were all Town Lattice Truss bridges. Town had patented his truss in 1820 and updated it in 1835. It was commonly built for roadways, but Robinson was one of the first to use it for railroad purposes even though the Rensselaer & Saratoga Railroad built several across the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers near Troy, New York. Wernwag’s Town Lattice Truss, Philadelphia and Reading Railroad B&O Bridge across the Monocacy relied on a Bridge, by Moncure Robinson from David Stevenson. trussed arch, and his bridge across the Potomac 12 October 2014 STRUCTURE magazine at Harpers Ferry (STRUCTURE, July 2014), The Richmond Whig in an article entitled designed with Benjamin Latrobe, was a varia- The Railroad Bridge Across James River wrote tion of a Grubenmann design from the later in the flowery language of the time, 18th Century. What is there yet to be done upon the face The laying out of the railroad was straight of the earth that cannot be effected by the forward, but the bridge across the James River powers of the human mind, connected with was not. The James River carved out a deep the ingenuity of the human hand? The great channel over time, and the City of Richmond elementary principles of nature have long was about 60 feet above the river, with a simi- ago been mastered by the skill of man, and lar difference of elevation on the south side. rendered subservient to his wants and hap- The river channel was of rock and was tidal James River Bridge looking towards Richmond. piness. The bowels of the earth and the up to the falls at Richmond. A portion of fathomless ocean, have alike been made to the James River & Kanawha Canal was built superstructure was lattice, chiefly composed pour forth their treasures at his bidding. by Charles Ellet, Jr. and ran along the north of two-inch pine plank, and contained only He has navigated the sea and the air, and side of the river. A low level wooden wagon 1,500 pounds of iron. Its cost was $117,200, made the inanimate objects of nature per- bridge had crossed the river for some time, or $41 per foot lineal, including masonry – a ® form the labor that would have otherwise but the railroad needed a high level bridge. limit Mr. Robinson found to be necessary to devolved upon his own hands. He has even, Robinson patterned his bridge on the ten suit the means of the company. The low cost by his inventions, condemned the drudgery span bridge he built on the Philadelphia of such a structure for railroad use was com- of personal locomotion, and caused himself and Reading Railroad. David Stevenson in mented on by foreign engineers, to whom to be carried, from point to point, upon his Sketch of the Civil Engineering of North it was little short of an enigma. It was Mr. the face of the earth and the waters, by America gave plans of this bridge, showing not Robinson’s forteCopyright to “cut his coat according inanimate agents, ‘with the rapidity of the only the truss pattern but the deck framing. to his cloth,” and he acquired an enviable wind; while he, luxuriously reclining, as Stevenson noted that he observed this bridge, reputation for his ability to adapt his expen- though quiescent, drinks in new draughts with total length of 1,100 feet, during and ditures to the means at his command…Had of knowledge from the great fountain’ and after construction. the Richmond & Petersburg Company been all nature, as though daily more sensible The structure Robinson designed “was able to supply their engineer with means to of the conquest, is progressively making less 2,844 feet in length, 60 feet above the water, build this bridge of iron, it would be doing and less resistance to his dominion. and composed of nineteen spans, varying duty today.” (Illustrated American, December continue on next page from 140 to 153 feet in the clear.” The 5, 1891) S T RADVERTISEMENT–Formagazine U Advertiser Information,C visit www.STRUCTUREmag.orgT U R E STRUCTURE magazine13 October 2014 The great bridge across James River at the public a short, but imperfect account of The entire length of the span of the bridge is Richmond, for the accommodation of the this gigantic, and in every point of view, 2,900 feet, and the span between the piers Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, may interesting and splendid structure. 160 feet. The entire width of the floor is 22½ justly be considered as one of the great- feet, (wide enough for a double railroad The location of the bridge is across the falls est works of its kind in this country, or track,) being wider than, and projecting over of the James River, a few hundred yards perhaps in the world. There are longer the lattice frame, 2½ feet on each side; the above tide water, where the velocity of the bridges of less altitude, and higher bridges frame work is, therefore 17 feet wide, on the current is exceedingly great.

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