Water Sharp, a well-known American stone bridge builder, wrote in some detail about the process by which Cowley’s stone arch bridges were erected. In the previous post of this series, we quoted Walter Sharp directly from an article he wrote describing the process that led up to Cowley (and Butler) building stone bridges. In this post, we quote an excerpt from a different article by Walter Sharp in which he describes the challenges faced by Cowley when they began to build their stone bridges.
Cowley Begins to Build Bridges
“Cowley stands at the head of the list in counties in Kansas in the matter of permanent bridges. No other county can boast of as many or as good bridges. Our county engineer, Mr. J. M. Bradley, and myself made a calculation on the saving to Cowley county in the matter of repairs by reason of these permanent bridges, and we find that there has been a saving of about $7000 per year in repairs alone, to say nothing of the loss of a bridge occasionally. The stone arch and concrete bridges are the real thing in Cowley county today. But it required a lot of nerve and backbone in the county boards that established them in this county. Arthur Swain, Dan Pierce and Chas. Howard will recall the experiences they had building the first stone arch near Wilmot. How the land owners were going to sue the county for stopping up the stream with a stone bridge, etc., and later on at the letting of the contract for the Dunkard Mill bridge, the steel bridge men under bid me $500 on steel, but the chairman of the board made this explanation to the eight steel bridge companies represented. ‘Gentlemen, we are very glad you came here to make us a bid on this bridge and we think you made us a very good bid; but we have decided to award the contract to Sharp for $500 above your lowest bid and figure that we are getting a better bid for the reason it will take $500 to floor your bridge every five or six years and the Board has figured that your bridge may be cheaper now, but in the long run very much more expensive.’
“Later on as the bridge was under construction, the township board of Pleasant Valley came before the County Board and made a very strong protest against building that stone arch bridge. They said it was a waste of public funds, etc. The County board was then composed of Chas. Howard, Tom Clover and Wm. Huston, and these gentlemen seemed always [to have] their backbone with them. They told the Pleasant Valley Board that they had considered the matter carefully and had decided that stone and concrete were the proper and most economical materials for bridges.
“Mr. Clark, trustee, wound up by wagering a box of cigars with Wm. Huston that the bridge wouldn’t stand up a year. Of course, Mr. Clark was on hand with his box of cigars at the end of the year, and acknowledged that the Dunkard Mill bridge was still standing all right.
“In the building of stone arch and cement bridges Cowley county people get both the bridge and the money. I now have under construction a concrete bridge over Grouse creek near Dexter. The cost for the bridge and wing wall complete is about $2700.00[.] The men employed, team work, crushed stone and everything used in its construction including the contractor is Cowley county production, except cement, steel rods for reinforcing and lumber for forming. These items will run about $600.00, leaving a balance of $2100.00 in the county and put into circulation here. I have built four stone and two cement bridges near Dexter in the past five years and it would be hard indeed to convince the merchants and the business men, laboring men and teamsters about Dexter that these permanent bridges weren’t the real thing. I have issued checks to the amount of $10,000 in that one place in payment of labor and material — not a big thing but a whole lot better than building tin bridges where 98 per cent of the money leaves the country at once.
“In construction just west of Arkansas City I receive $2000.00 for the completion of the Chedister contract, being two roads, one of 2700 feet and one of 1900 feet. Every dollar spent on this road is paid to Cowley county men and teams. The railroads and non residents pay the most of it and they are not complaining. We want Cowley county to stand at the head in the matter of good roads as well as good bridges. I am a taxpayer in Cowley county and am in favor of all the good rock road we can get, not only north and south, but east and west, and I write these lines giving my views for what they are worth having spent a life time in the rock business. I have now concluded to build a home in Winfield, settle down and quit the business.Walter Sharp, excerpted from “Rock Roads,” Winfield Daily Courier, September 16, 1911.
“I recite this bit of history to illustrate the trials of the County Board in establishing stone and concrete bridges in Cowley county, and making a big saving to the county.”
Comments on the Above Account
Walter Sharp never did retire and stop building stone arch bridges until state regulations brought Kansas’s stone arch bridge building era to an end.
The steel bridge companies Walter Sharp mentions had a sort of monopoly in Kansas until stone and concrete bridges came into their own; the stone bridge was largely responsible for the end of this trust, at least in Kansas. Note that in the newspaper account quoted in our previous post, Sharp stated that 10 steel bridge companies were represented at the letting of the Dunkard Mill Bridge; in the above account his number is eight.
It is a possibly relevant fact that several other states besides Kansas, such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Minnesota, also started building numerous stone arch bridges around the same time period that Kansas built stone bridges to avoid paying the steel bridge trusts.
In the next post in this series we quote Walter Sharp again, this time on how the bridges were built.
Stone Arch Bridges 