Wheeling Times And Advertiser

ing, to this date,	$420 21
And for lumber, in advance,	2,500 00

WHEELING AND BELMONT BRIDGE CO.

GENTLEMEN:

For my own information and better satisfaction, I have endeavored to ascertain, as accurately as possible, the cost and progress of the work on the bridge to this date; and have thought that a communication, embracing the principal results, would be useful, and of interest to the Board.

I do not offer this as a financial statement, which you obtain in form from the proper officers, but as an exhibit of the present condition of each branch of the business, and the cost for which the work is actually executed.

The total disbursements on construction account, up to the 13th of June, was $45,144 74.

But there is a considerable amount of material furnished, and outstanding bills, which, if paid off, would swell this account, at the present date, to about $50,000 00.

The disbursements are distributed, under the following heads, as accurately as the discrimination can be made; but, it is sometimes impossible, without the risk of confusion, to charge each item to its most appropriate account.

I.-MACHINERY AND OUTFIT.

Under this head is included all stock in cattle and horses, flats and steamboats, tools, shantees, fixtures, &c.

The disbursements actually made for these objects, including all bills outstanding, to this date, amount to $8,855 97. This item, I think, is not likely to exceed $11,000, on the completion of the work.

II.-STEAMER "MINER."

The cost of running the steamer "Miner," from the first of December up to this date, after deducting the known and estimated credits for transient work, has amounted to about $600.

For this sum she has towed over 3,500 perches of stone, giving for the actual cost of this item of our expenditures, 17 cents per perch.

There is every reason to believe that this average per perch will be hereafter somewhat diminished, as the effective performance, in the present condition of the quarries and work, will be much greater, while her receipts for other towing are not likely to be less.

Still, to be on the safe side, I prefer to set down the value of this item, for the past and future, at 20 cents a perch.

III.-FLOORING.

There has been expended for labor, on the flooring, $2,920 21.

Making the total outlay on account of flooring, $2,920 21.

The experience up to this time furnishes sufficient assurance that the cost of this item will be fully covered by the estimate.

Nothing is saved on the contract for materials, the price for which comes quite up to the estimate; but by doing the work ourselves, by the day, there will be something saved in the item of ramming and raising.

IV.-CABLES.

There has been delivered to this date, 182,591 pounds of wire, on which there has been paid the sum of $14,000 00.

And on which there is still due $1,575 22.

There has been expended for oil, labor, tools, and fixtures for manufacturing the cables, $2,989 47.

Making a total sum chargeable to this account of $18,564 69.

About 40 per cent. of the whole quantity of wire which will be needed, has been delivered, and nearly one third of the labor of manufacturing the cables has been expended. All the fixtures, and very nearly all the oil, have been provided and paid for.

The result shows satisfactorily enough that the cost of the wire work will not exceed the estimate; there will even be something saved, though the amount cannot reach any material sum.

The price agreed to be paid for the wire was greater than the estimate assumed, but the saving in labor and fixtures will be more than sufficient to cover this excess, if we are not disappointed in receiving a regular and sufficient supply of material to keep our force constantly at work during the summer months.

V.-ANCHOR IRONS.

There has been delivered about 22,000 pounds of links for anchor irons. The contract price for this material is a quarter of a cent a pound above the estimate-a difference caused by adopting forged iron instead of rolled bars, as originally contemplated. This excess amounts on the whole work to $300.

But the estimated quantity of iron was sufficiently above the actual quantity needed, to cover a contingency of this sort, and would leave a slight saving here also if it had not been decided to insert irons for four additional fastenings. The determination to provide for these extra cables will lead to a further expenditure of about $2,000.

VI.—MASONRY.

There stands charged to the item of masonry, at this time, the sum of $12,601 72.

For this sum there has been built 3,400 perches of wall; about 6,000 perches of stone ready for quarrying have been stripped, and I think not less than 1,000 perches, of various sorts of stone fit for, and which will be used in the work, have been quarried and thrown down the hill.

There is also covered by the above sum a considerable amount of excavation and embankment, and other contingencies not always strictly chargeable to the wall, but for convenience thrown upon that item.

If the $12,601 72 actually expended, be divided only upon the wall actually built, without any allowance for the work properly chargeable to the future wall to be built of the stone that has been quarried and removed for this sum, it yields for the average cost per perch, exclusive of towing $3 70.

Adding for towing the amount already obtained, or 20 cents per perch.

20

But to get at the true cost we must add to this result, the depreciation of stock, tools, boats and machinery of all sorts; which depreciation I think it will be safe to estimate at 40 per cent. on the aggregate probable investment in such material. Forty per cent, on $11,000, is $4,400, which sum is to be equally distributed over about 18,000 perches of masonry, and will amount to very nearly 25 cents per perch,

25

The addition of this amount gives for the actual cost for the finished masonry $3 55.

To apply this experience to the future work of the same character on the west side, we must allow for extra lifting, in consequence of the increasing height of the wall, and for additional cutting, say 35

Making the probable cost of the remainder of that abutment and wings, per perch, $3 90.

Now, I think from the caution with which these results are derived from the experience so far obtained, I am entirely safe in assuming that the actual cost of the masonry already laid has not exceeded $3 62½ per perch, and that the probable cost of the balance of the western abutment and wings (exclusive of towers) will not exceed $4 per perch.

My original estimate for the average cost of all the masonry on both sides of the river, including towers and slope wall, was $3 69 per perch. I cannot now, by making use of all our present experience, attempt to offer a closer average.

The quantities of work will vary somewhat from the amounts originally estimated, and will be, in the aggregate, increased.

My confidence in the whole estimate, though I do not even now feel assured that I have allowed enough for contingencies, which always swell up the closing cost, is quite as great as it has ever been.

We started with the plan of coming up to the limit of our means--of producing the best work that the available capital would create--and the original estimate left little room for contingent leeway. My hope is that it will be nearly, if not quite sufficient.

The stone are quarried and delivered for very much less than any offers I could obtain for doing the work, and for less than I offered to pay by contract, when the whole charge was first put in my hands.

Knowing the doubts then entertained by the Board, of the propriety of constructing the bridge by the day, as I deemed it to be my duty to recommend from the beginning, and feeling perhaps too much the responsibility of going in face of a popular prejudice, I was extremely anxious to let the job, or parts of it, to responsible men. But men of responsibility will look for sufficient price to yield not only reasonable profits, but also to cover unreasonable contingencies. Hence such bids are almost always high.

Late in the season, in view of the difficulty of getting the foundation of the abutment laid during the winter, I offered several parties $5 a perch for the first eight feet in height of the western abutment, and $4 all round for the balance of the work on the west side, exclusive of towers, and to pay for all excavation, embankment and pumping in addition.

This offer was refused, yet the price offered and rejected is nearly 20 per cent. higher than the work has actually cost.

I am fully satisfied that the Board are pursuing the right course, though we must hope to improve in detail as we proceed. We are at this moment expending more than is needful, because the quarries can be worked faster than the stone has yet been consumed. This state of things will be speedily changed, and additional exertion will then be required at the quarries to keep pace with the demand below.

The rail-ways for which we are preparing on the west side, will further the work, but will not lead, except in that way, to any appreciable saving of expense.

We have not yet done anything by contract below the estimate-while all the work undertaken by the day, under superintendents, has been done within the estimate. If there is any exception it must be in the masonry, on which our experience is less decisive than in other items.

I have engaged a superintendent in whose skill I have confidence, to take charge, under Mr. Dickinson, of all the masonry on the east side. This part of the work will now be pressed from week to week with greater vigor.

I am daily expecting another superintendent to assist on the west side, whom I have also found to be energetic and competent.

We have now nearly 200 men employed, and are in a condition to increase the number weekly, as fast as we can supply materials to keep them at work.

In conclusion, I feel some hesitation in replying to the question so often prompted by the anxiety of the Board, and the impatience of the community, as to the probable time of completing the structure.

The inclination, in such cases, is almost always to deceive ourselves-to allow our conclusions to be swayed by our wishes.

In the present case I must say, that the bridge will not be entirely finished until some time in the coming Spring; and yet I know of but one serious difficulty in the way of rendering it passable during the present year, viz: the erection of the western abutment.

All other parts of the work-flooring, cables, anchorage, protection walls and eastern tower, may be, and I feel well assured, will be completed, or sufficiently advanced, for the use of the bridge, before the first of December; and my hope is to bring forward the western masonry and finish it along with the other work.

This will require great and unceasing activity; but to accomplish such an object will be a triumph sufficient in itself to stimulate every agent to his utmost exertion. I rely confidently on the capable officers in immediate charge, and also expect, hereafter, to devote much the greater portion of my personal attention to this work.

Great as the enterprise is, it may be accomplished within the year, and if allowed a continuance of health, I will endeavor to bring it to a successful termination.