Points of Interest -- Bloody Island, Eads Bridge, Municipal Bridge, and National Stockyards

POINTS OF INTEREST

1. BLOODY ISLAND and the EADS BRIDGE

Broadway and Front Streets,. (To the left from this point on the river front, the Municipal Bridge may be viewed.)

The site of Bloody Island which, arising as a small sandbar in the river opposite St. Louis in 1800, was subsequently joined to East St. Louis by the engineering genius of Robert E. Lee in 1838, begins at approximately the eastern tip of the approach of the Bade Bridge and extends a half mile north and south.

This tract, now occupied by railroad tracks and freight houses, was once an island, densely screened by thick underbrush and groves of cotton-wood trees. Within its secluded shores, duels, cock-fights, and illegal boxing bouts regularly took place during the first quarter of the 19th-Century. Dueling pistols barked frequently on the island, and among the prominent St. Louisians slain were Charles Lucas, Josua Barton, U.S. District Attorney, Major Thomas Biddle, and Hon. Spencer Pettis.

The duel fought by the last two named, occurred on August 27, 1830, and exceeded all others in ferocity. Spencer Pettis, while electioneering during the senatorial canvass of 1830, attacked the president of the U.S. Bank, Nicholas Biddle, in a campaign speech'. His remarks were immediately taken up by Major Thomas Biddle, paymaster in the U.S. Amy and brother to Nicholas, who went to the hotel of the Congressman and cow-hided Pettis as he lay sick in bed. Subsequently, Pettis, having been reelected to Congress by a large majority, issued a challenge which the Major promptly accepted. Major Biddle, having the choice of distance by being the challenged person, fixed it at five paces because of his short-sightedness. At dawn, the man met on Bloody Island, their pistols almost touching, so near they stood--and both were struck at the first exchange. Spencer Pettis died three days later.

After passing through the cobble-stoned street before the freight houses, it is suggested that the tourist After passing through the cobble-stoned street turn left on reaching Front Street, and travel approximately seventy-five yards to an underpass, paralleling Front St. (R), that leads to the levee. Watch out for trains: The underpass emerges on a cobble-stoned wharf where once the ferry boats landed. An excellent view of the river and the St. Louis skyline in presented at this point. To the right is the massive Eads Bridge, named for the famous engineer, James Eads. Started in 1869 and completed in 1874, the Eads Bridge was the first to be built of steel, and spanded bracing. Referred to by the Encyclopedia Britannica as "the finest example of a metal arch yet erected," the bridge -was the wonder of its days.

To the engineers of 1869, the depth, strength, and width of the Mississippi at St. Louis presented engineering problems for which there was no precedent. A truss bridge was at first proposed but Eads maintained that the weight of the super structure and the immense burden on the piers would be impractical, and the plans for a truss-bridge were discarded. Eads insisted that steel arches of the same length as the proposed trusses would be much lighter and cheaper. His plan was finally adopted and construction of the bridge went underway.

The great piers were sunk to bed-rock by means of metal caissions, one of which, the deepest submarine work ever attempted at that date, was sunk one hundred feet below the surface of the river. In the dense atmosphere of the caissions, a candle snuffed out would immediately relight because of the air heavily charged with oxygen. Of the 352 "sandhogs" working in the air chambers, twelve were killed in the course of construction. Two abutment piers were built on which were set three arches, 502, 502 and 530 feet in length. When the bridge was almost finished, it was discovered that, through a misjudgment of the contractors, the central tubes supposed to close the middle arch, were two and one-half inches too long. Ead's assistants labored frantically for hours trying to shrink the tubing by ice applications even though it was the middle of summer* The problem was finally solved by Eads. Following his instructions, the tubes were out in half and rejoining by a plug -with right and left screws, and at last inserted. On July 4, 1870 the bridge was formally opened. It has been in constant use up to the present times.

2. MUNICIPAL BRIDGE, 10th and Piggott. (Tolls 10 cents for private cars, 15 cents for commercial cars.)

Although not so picturesque as the neighboring Eads Bridge, the hugh steel framework of the Municipal Bridge bears approximately seventy per-cent of the traffic traveling between St. Louis and East St. Louis. Throughout the day and well into the night, an apparently endless queue of trucks and automobiles rumbles across its asphalt-covered decks. The bridge is the largest spanning the Mississippi and "one of the largest double deck, steel, span bridges in the world."

The economic causes which resulted in the construction of the Municipal Bridge were an outgrowth of the commercial combats which, historically, had been waged for control of the transportational facilities which linked St. Louis with the east. Pitched battles had been fought in each era for control of ferries railroads, and more recently, the bridges* By 1905 a group of fourteen railroads known as the Terminal Railroad Association dominated the field with ownership of the two bridges entering St. Louis: the Merchants Bridge and the Eads Bridge. On the Illinois side of the river lay rich coal beds which were essential to the industrial production of St. Louis. But on each ton of coal entering St. Louis by the Merchants or the Eads Bridge, the Terminal Railroad Association levied a toll of twenty cents. To avoid the toll, incoming manufacturers spurned locations in St. Louis and choose sites on the Illinois side of the river. Indeed, several of the smaller towns near East St. Louis can ascribe their development to the toll on coal. It soon became evident to the city of St. Louis that its economic growth would be stunted unless passage across the river could be wrested from the hands of private owners. (World Book Encyclopedia, W.F. Quarrie & Co. Chicago, Illinois 1935)

The simplest way to break the grip of the Terminal Railroad Association was to erect another bridge. Thus, on June 25, 1906, a bill providing for the construction of a Municipal Bridge at St. Louis was passed by Congress. A year later work on the western approach of the proposed structure began, and the final plans, approved by the War Department, were submitted on May 20, 1909.

When it became certain that a municipal bridge was to be erected, the Terminal Railroad Association offered to lease the highway deck of the Eads Bridge to St. Louis. The city refused to compromise, however, and construction work, save for delays caused by financial problems, steadily progressed. Whereupon, in complete rout, the Terminal Railroad Association adjusted rates so that freight originating more than one hundred miles away could enter St. Louis without paying an additional charge.

On June 20, 1917, the highway deck of the now bridge was opened to the public. As part of the ceremonies, a truck drove across the bridge, carrying the first ton coal to enter St. Louis toll free in twenty-five years. Despite its official name, Municipal Bridge, the structure was instantly renamed "the Free Bridge" by local residents.

The bridge, almost two miles long and constructed of 61,000 tons of steel, cost. the city of St. Louis slightly wore than six million dollars* The main span is 668 feet long and 219 feet above the low-water mark of the Mississippi.

In comparing the Eads and the Municipal Bridge it will be seen that use value and aesthetic value are pleasantly counter-balanced in the one, while in the other use value outweighs secondary consideration. The Eads is a graceful membrance; the Municipal is a grim skeleton. The Eads soars lightly across from shore to shore, while the Municipal plods and lumbers on the water. in fairness to the engineers, it should be noted that the Municipal Bridge was built to conform with a physical environment far more complex than that which existed when the Eads Bridge was constructed. The Eads Bridge linked the east and the west; the Municipal Bridge linked Illinois and Missouri. Reference-. St. Louis Globe-Democrat, January 20, 1917.

3. NATIONAL STOCKYARDS, First and St. Clair.

To the casual visitor, the yards are a nightmare of sounds, ranging from angry bellows, mournful lowings, and the contralto squeals of condemned pigs. Above the tumult rises the sharp cries of cattle-drivers as they shunt the droves into run-ways and chutes. The air is heavy with dust and charged with the earthy odor of the barnyard. It is at once remindful of the farm, the cowboy, and the far west.

When opened in 1874, the stockyards was heralded as the largest in the country. It has since been surpassed by other yards, but today it still ranks as the largest horse and mule market in the United States. The stockyards has a daily capacity for 5,000 horses and mules, 25,000 sheep, 25,000 cattle, 50,000 pigs. Hundreds of cattle churn in the endless rows and of pens, waiting to be shipped to eastern markets, or to be slaughtered at one of the several large packing companies nearby.

Two of the largest packing companies* Swift'& Co. and Armour & Co., employ special guides to conduct tourists through the plants. Swift and Co. hours: 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., lz30 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. Armour and Co. hours-. 9:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m.

The tour conducted by Swift and Co. approximating that of Amour and Co. begins in the beef-boning department and then moves on to the beef-cooling department where some 5,OOO sides of beef are suspended at a room temperature of 45 . Next, mounting two flights of stairs, the visitor is conducted across the roof of the refrigeration room to the "killing floor", where the cattle are dispatched by a blow of a five pound sledge, decapitated, disembowled, and partially skinned. Passing from the "killing floor", the tour is concluded after and inspection of the sheep-cleaning department, the wrapping departments the bacon department, the smoke houses and the loading dock. The tour lasts one hour.