dge take much more time, and cost, consequently, much more. A
riveted lattice bridge one hundred and sixty feet in span would require
ten or twelve days for its erection, while one of the Phoenixville
bridges of this size has been erected in eight and a half hours.

The view of the Albany bridge will show the style which is technically
called a "through" bridge, having the track at the level of the lower
chords. This view of the bridge is taken from the west side of the
Hudson, near the Delavan House in Albany. The curved portion crosses the
Albany basin, or outlet of the Erie Canal, and consists of seven spans
of seventy-three feet each, one of sixty-three, and one of one hundred
and ten. That part of the bridge which crosses the river consists of
four spans of one hundred and eighty-five feet each, and a draw two
hundred and seventy-four feet wide. The iron-work in this bridge cost
about three hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

The bridge over the Illinois River at La Salle, on the Illinois Central
Railroad, shows the style of bridge technically called a "deck" bridge,
in which the train is on the top. This bridge consists of eighteen spans
of one hundred and sixty feet each, and cost one hundred and eighty
thousand dollars. The bridge over the Kennebec River, on the line of the
Maine Central Railroad, at Augusta, Maine, is another instance of a
"through" bridge. It cost seventy-five thousand dollars, has five spans
of one hundred and eighty-five feet each, and was built to replace a
wooden deck bridge which was carried away by a freshet.

[Illustration: BRIDGE AT AUGUSTA, MAINE.]

The bridge on the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad which crosses the
Saco River is a very general type of a through railway bridge. It
consists of two spans of one hundred and eighty-five feet each, and cost
twenty thousand dollars. The New River bridge in West Virginia consists
of two spans of two hundred and fifty feet each, and two others of
seventy-five feet each. Its cost was about seventy thousand dollars.

The Lyman Viaduct, on the Connecticut Air-line Railway, at East Hampton,
Connecticut, is one hundred and thirty-five feet high and eleven
thousand feet long.

These specimens will show the general character of the iron bridges
erected in this country. When iron was first used in constructions of
this kind, cast iron was employed, but its brittleness and unreliability
have led to its rejection for the main portions of bridge