dry-goods firm. It was dissolved in 1859, and Mr. Wiggins,
withdrew entirely from active business life. During the period
of his commercial career and afterwards he occupied various
important positions in business circles. He was a director in
the Southern Bank, in the Pacific Insurance Company, and
for fifteen years in the Citizens' Insurance Company. For
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1073
Adam L. Mills, Lewis V. Bogy, and Napoleon B.
Mulliken.
The company, although it enjoyed for many years
a practical monopoly of the ferriage business, appears,
on the whole, to have pursued a liberal policy. The ;
entire river-front of East St. Louis, for a distance of j
four miles, was owned by it, and in 1875 its property !
was estimated to be worth several millions of dollars. |
The company contributed greatly to the development j
and growth of East St. Louis, and co-operated with
the railroad companies in providing additional traveling
facilities for St. Louis by granting suitable grounds
for tracks, depots, warehouses, yards, and machine-
shops. For eighteen years Hon. Lewis V. Bogy,
afterwards United States > senator from Missouri, was i
president of the company, and Capt. John Trendley, 1
after whom also one of the ferry-boats was named,
served the company continuously from the 7th of May,
1825, for a period of more than half a century.
In 1865 the average number of passengers carried
daily by the ferry fleet to and from St. Louis was j
from 1000 to 1500; bushels of coal, 10,000 to 15,000;
transfer-wagons, 500 to 600 ; farmers' and market-
wagons, 100 to 150 ; omnibuses, 30 to 40. The ag-
gregate receipts for 1865 were very little less than
$300,000, while in 1873 the aggregate receipts were
largely over $500,000. At this time (1873) there
were 10,000 shares, representing nominally a million
of dollars, " but," remarked a newspaper writer, " if
any one desires to know how much they are worth at
a marketable or selling price over the par value of
8100, he can do so by wanting to purchase." In
addition to the eight ferry-boats and three transfer-
boats which the company then owned, the East St.
Louis real estate and wharf franchises were very
valuable. Much the largest amount of stock was
held by the Christys, which had been sub-divided, and
was then represented by perhaps twenty-five heirs.
The sales of real estate subsequent to 1865 and up
to 1873, none being sold prior to 1865, and all of it
having been purchased by Capt. Samuel Wiggins at
several years he was president of the Wiggins Ferry Company, I
in which he was a large stockholder. He died on the 24th of j
July, 1868.
1 A newspaper writer, describing the ferry at an early period,
eays, "There was no levee at that time, and the boat was landed !
under the cliffs and rocks. A road led down from the village ;
(St. Louis) to the ferry landing. Capt. Trendley used fre-
quently to run in under the cliffs to get out of a shower. The
ferry landing at that early time on the Illinois shore was at the
old brick tavern then kept by Dr. Tiffin (which has since been
swept away), and about two hundred yards west of the Illinois
and Terre Haute round-house. The fare at that time was a
' long bit' for a footman, a market-wagon seventy-five cents,
and for a two-horse wagon one dollar."
the government price of one dollar and twenty-five
cents per acre, amounted to almost one million dollars,
and what was left was considered in 1873 to be
worth more than the whole estimated value of 1865.
In 1875 the officers of the company were N. Mul-
liken, president ; F. M. Christy, vice-president ; S.
C. Clubb, general superintendent ; Henry Sackman,
assistant superintendent ; John Trendley, agent ;
first grade directors, N. Mulliken, F. M. Christy, S.
C. Clubb, J. H. Beach, Ernest Pegnet. In 1882,
Samuel C. Clubb, president; F. L. Ridgely, vice-
president ; Henry L. Clark, secretary and treasurer ;
E. C. Newkirk, assistant secretary ; directors, Sam-
uel C. Clubb, F. L. Ridgely, Charles Shaw, Ernest
Pegnet, and Charles Wiggins, Jr.
The St. Charles ferry was established by Marshall
Brotherton 2 and John L. Ferguson.
The South St. Louis and Cahokia ferry was estab-
lished in 1870, and opened to travel on the 19th of
June of that year. The following account of the
inauguration of the ferry was printed in a St. Louis
newspaper of the 20th :
" The tow-boat ' Florence/ Henry Kuter, captain, left the
foot of Anna Street yesterday afternoon for Cahokia with a
large excursion party on board. The occasion was the celebra-
tion of the opening of a ferry between South St. Louis and
z Marshall Brotherton was born in Erie County, Pa., Jan. 6,
1811, and when an infant was brought out into the wilds of
St. Louis County by his parents. The family located upon a
piece of ground not far from St. Louis, and Mr. Brotherton,
the elder, lived there as a thrifty farmer up to the time of his
death. James Brotherton, a brother of Marshall, was elected
sheriff of St. Louis County, and Marshall, then a young man,
removed to St. Louis and worked in the office of his brother as
deputy. When James died, Marshall, who had made a very
efficient officer, was elected sheriff, and occupied that office for
several terms. He then engaged in mercantile pursuits in St.
Louis, his business being mainly that of a lumber dealer. He
was also interested in other matters, notable among them being
a partnership with John L. Ferguson in the ownership of the
St. Charles ferry. At various periods he held the offices of
sheriff, county judge, fund commissioner, and president of the
board of managers of the House of Refuge. About 1854 or
1855 he was put forward as a candidate for the mayoralty, but
was not elected. He was uniformly successful in business,
owing to his sound judgment, active habits, and great popular-
ity. At the time of his death, which occurred in the latter
part of November, 1875, his ferry interest and the North Mis-
souri Planing-Mill, situated on the river-bank, at the foot of
Bremen Avenue, were the only active operations which he still
controlled. He was, however, president of the Bremen Savings-
Bank, which position he had held ever since that institution
was organized.
In early manhood Mr. Brotherton married Miss Ferguson, a
sister of his partner, John L. Ferguson. His wife died a few
years after they were married, and in 1840 or 1841 he married
Miss Herndon, a daughter of Rev. John C. Herndon, by whom
he had two daughters, afterwards Mrs. Oscar Reed and Mrs..
Stephen M. Yeaman.
1074
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
Cahokia. The South St. Louis and Cahokia Ferry Company
was established in March last, with a nominal capital of two
hundred thousand dollars, divided into shares of fifty dol-
lars; each share to receive the benefit of one lot twenty by
one hundred and forty feet in what is denominated Southeast
St. Louis, to wit : a sand-bar, a portion of Cahokia commons,
and so much of the Mississippi River as may be recovered by a
contemplated dike from the main shore to Cobb Island ' by
accretion.' The lease of these lands has been obtained by the
ferry company for ninety-nine years. About seven hundred
acres of land is comprised in this lease, for which the company is
to pay twenty-five dollars per acre per annum, and the present
inhabitants of Cahokia to pass over free during their lives. This
privilege does not extend to their offspring, and it accordingly
behooves the beneficiaries to live on to a good old age. The
lease was made also on condition that one thousand dollars be
expended by the company for improvements within eight
months, and that at least one ferry-boat be put in operation
within fifteen months.
" The officers of the company are Robert J. Rombauer, presi-
dent; Henry Saenger, secretary and treasurer, with the follow-
ing directors : George Bayha, E. W. Decker, George Rathwaite,
Antoine Faller, John D. Abry, of East St. Louis; E. H. Illin-
ski, of Cahokia ; Francis Mohrhardt. The bargain on the part
of the Cahokians was signed by Francis Lavallee, supervisor,
and George Labenhoffer and John Palmer, trustees."
The officers of the Cahokia and St. Louis Ferry
Company in 1882 were Julius Pitzman, president,
and W. S. Hopkins, secretary. 1
In addition to the foregoing, the following ferry
companies have offices in St. Louis :
Madison County ferry, landing foot of North
Market Street; boats ply between St. Louis and
Venice, 111. ; president in 1882, John J. Mitchell.
St. Louis and Illinois Railroad ferry, from foot of
Chouteau Avenue to the coal dike, East St. Louis.
1 In 1864 Arsenal Island, containing about one hundred and
twenty acres of ground, was allotted by the Secretary of the
Interior and the commissioners of the general land office to the
St. Louis public schools, and in 1866 the school board sold it to
the city for thirty-three thousand dollars. It was occupied for
hospital purposes by the city until 1869, when the hospitals
were removed to Quarantine. In 1874, Benjamin Segar settled
on the island, and put part of it in cultivation, and continued
to live there under a lease granted him by the city. The island
for a number of years had been moving down stream, and finally
fronted on a parcel of ground in the Cahokia commons on the
Illinois shore, owned by Judge Rombauer, as trustee for the
Cahokia Ferry Company. When the island had reached a point
in front of the ground mentioned, the ferry company claimed the
right to extend their north and south lines across it to the
water's edge on the western side thereof, and to take possession
of so much of the island as was contained within those lines,
and they entered on the island and built a wire fence on their
north line. This fence was torn down as soon as its existence
came to the knowledge of the city authorities, and sign -boards
were erected warning all persons from trespassing there. Sub-
sequently an action was instituted in the Circuit Court at Belle-
ville by Judge Rombauer, as trustee, against M. Segar, the
tenant of the city, to recover the possession of the fifty acres
of ground embraced within the lines spoken of.
The St. Louis and Illinois Coal Company and
Ferry was originally chartered in 1841 under the
style of the " St. Clair Railroad Company," and
under that name continued until 1865, when the
present company was organized, and became the pur-
chasers of the franchises of the St. Clair Railroad
Company. The incorporators were William C. An-
derson and John D. Whitesides. The company does
a general coal transportation and ferry business.
Joseph W. Branch was elected president in 1865, and
has ever since continued to hold that position. The
present capital stock is one million five hundred thou-
sand dollars. The board of directors consists of
the following : Joseph W. Branch, Adolphus Meier,
C. S. Greeley, W. A. Hargadine, N. Campbell, John
D. Perry, George Knapp. The officers are Joseph
W. Branch, president; Adolphus Meier, vice-presi-
dent ; P. T. Burke, secretary and treasurer.
Waterloo Turnpike Road and Ferry Company, W.
H. Grapevine, superintendent ; ferry landing, foot of
David Street ; transfer, foot of Franklin Street, Car-
ondelet.
The Great St. Louis Steel Bridge across the Mis-
sissippi River. 2 The first proposition for the erection
of a bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis
was made by Charles Ellet, Jr., in 1839. 3 Mr. Ellet
proposed a suspension bridge having a central span of
twelve hundred feet, and two side spans of nine hun-
dred feet each ; but the city fathers stood aghast at
the enormous estimate of the cost, seven hundred and
thirty-seven thousand six hundred dollars, for a high-
way bridge alone. Mr. Ellet revived his project in
September, 1848, but nothing was accomplished. In
January, 1853, it was stated in one of the St. Louis
newspapers * that u some years ago Mr. Charles Col-
lins obtained the passage of a law authorizing the
building of a suspension bridge across the Mississippi
at St. Louis, and if he had lived there is every
reason to believe that he would have accomplished it ;
but with him died all the enterprise of the northern
part of the city, and nothing has been heard of it
since." 5
1 For the history of the construction of the great bridge, the
author is mainly indebted to Professor C. M. Woodward, of
Washington University.
* The first bridge to span the Mississippi River was a wire
suspension bridge at Minneapolis, Minn., built in 1854 by
Thomas M. Griffith, at a cost of nearly fifty thousand dollars.
< Republican, Jan. 13, 1853.
6 " Yesterday," said the same paper of March 17, 1854, "we
examined the drawing and profile of a bridge for the Mississippi
River, drawn by B. Andreas, engineer, corner of Second and
Chestnut Streets, over Ellis & Hutton's. He has located it across
the river at or near the shot-tower above Carondelet, and has
(Ml
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1075
In 1855, 1 Josiah Dent organized a company, with
Maj. J. W. Bissell as engineer, and a second plan
for a suspension railway bridge was proposed. The
cost was estimated at one million five hundred thou-
sand dollars. For the want of financial support the
scheme was soon abandoned. The incorporators of
the company, which was known as the St. Louis and
Illinois Bridge Company, were : St. Louis, John
How, J. H. Lucas, John O'Fallon, Samuel Gaty, An-
drew Christy, Josiah Dent, S. J. Smith, D. A. Janu-
ary, William M. Morrison ; Illinois, J. A. Matter-
son, Curtis Blakeman, J. D. Morrison, S. B. Chand-
ler, William C. Kinney, Gustavus Koerner, William
S. Wait, Vital Jarrot, William N. Wickliffe, John M.
Palmer, John D. Arnold, Joseph Gillespie.
In 1867 the time seemed to have arrived for com-
mencing operations in earnest. Strangely enough,
after nearly thirty years of inactivity, two rival com-
panies appeared in the field ; one was regularly organ-
ized (in April, 1867) under the laws of Missouri,
and included among its managers several prominent
citizens of St. Louis ; the other claimed an exclusive
right under a charter granted by the State of Illinois,
and was controlled by a well-known bridge-builder of
Chicago. James B. Eads was the chief engineer of
the St. Louis company (known as the St. Louis and
Illinois Bridge Company) ; L. B. Boomer was mana-
ger of the Illinois company, which was known as the
Illinois and St. Louis Bridge Company.
The Illinois company was incorporated Feb. 21,
1867, the incorporators being Joseph Gillespie, John
M. Palmer, Jesse K. Dubois, William Shepard, John
Williams, William R. Morrison, L. A. Parks, Levi
Davis, T. B. Blackstone, H. C. Moore, Peter H. Wil-
lard, R. P. Tansey, Gustavus A. Koerner, C. P. Hea-
ton, L. B. Boomer, Fred. T. Krafft, L. B. Parsons,
John Baker, and A. H. Lee.
The officers were L. B. Boomer, president ; R. P.
Tansey, secretary; directors, L. B. Boomer, R. P.
made his drawings to correspond. AVe understand that his
plan is made with strict regard to the measurement of the river
at that point in width and the elevations on either side. He
proposes to cross the river by five spans, each three hundred and
fifty feet, the base of the carriage-way to be sixty feet above the
high water of 1844, or one hundred and twenty feet above ordi-
nary low water, the bridge to rest on piers of rock or cast iron.
The superstructure is to be of lattice-work of wrought iron, well
secured together, with two ways in breadth and two for use, one
placed above the other, the low ways for railroad tracks and the
upper for the ordinary travel of horses, carriages, wagons, etc."
1 " Last winter," said the Republican of July 11, 1855, "the
legislatures of Missouri and Illinois, anticipating the necessity
which might exist for bridging the Mississippi at this point be-
fore the time for reassembling should again come round, passed
the requisite legal provisions for such n purpose."
Tansey, George Judd, William R. Morrison, and C.
Beckwith. The location selected by the Missouri
Company was at the foot of Washington Avenue,
where the width of the river at ordinary stages is but
little over fifteen hundred feet, and the plan consisted
of three steel arches, supported by two masonry piers
in the river and an abutment on each shore. All the
foundations were to be sunk to the rock, which was
known to be nearly ninety feet below low-water at the
site of the east pier. The Illinois company, on the
other hand, had selected a location about half a mile
above, and proposed to build an iron truss-bridge, the
longest spans of which should be three hundred and
fifty feet, supported by piers formed of cast-iron col-
umns, those nearest the Missouri shore to be sunk to
the rock,, and those on the east side bedded in the
sand fifty or sixty feet below low water. For a time
the contest between these two companies was very
sharp, though confined principally to the newspapers
and the courts. In March, 1863, the controversy
was terminated by the nominal consolidation of the
two companies, and the actual absorption of the Illi-
nois company by its rival, to which the former had
sold out, the new corporation taking the name of the
Illinois and St. Louis Bridge Company. The officers
of the old St. Louis company retained their positions
in the new organization, and Capt. James B. Eads
continued as chief engineer and a principal stock-
holder.
From the first Capt. Eads was the leading spirit in
the enterprise. As chief engineer during the entire
period of seven years (from 1867 to 1874) occupied
by the building of the bridge, he was responsible for
every novelty, both of design and execution, and his
personal genius impressed itself upon every detail of
the structure.
Col. Henry Flad* was Capt. Eads' first assistant
2 Henry Flad, one of the most distinguished engineers of the
West, was a graduate of the University of Munich, and his first
professional engagement was in connection with hydraulic
works on the Rhine. He came to America at the time of the
German revolution of 1848, and for a period of eleven years
was connected with some of the most important railroads in the
country. In 1854 he removed to Missouri, and was employed
as resident engineer of the Iron Mountain road, a considerable
portion of which was constructed by him. He also made sur-
veys for several other roads in Missouri.
In connection with Mr. Kirkwood, he made plans for the
water-works of Compton Hill and Bissell's Point, and a large
measure of the success of that great improvement is due to his
skill. After the completion of this work he filled the office of
commissioner of water-works for eight years. At the outbreak
of the war he entered the army as a private, but his skill as an
engineer soon brought him into prominence, and he rose rapidly
to the rank of colonel of engineers.
Col. Flad's name will always be associated with that of Capt.
1076
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
throughout, and brought to the work great practical
experience, a ready power of analysis, and mechanical
ingenuity of a high order. He was ably seconded by
Walter Katte. The theory of the structure was the
joint product of Charles Pfeifer and Professor William
Chauvenet, of Washington University.
The presidents of the bridge company in order
were Charles K. Dickson, William M. McPherson,
and Gerard B. Allen. J. C. Cabot was the first sec-
retary, J. H. Britton the first treasurer. Dr. William
Taussig held the position of chairman of the execu-
tive committee through all the administrations. 1
All the great foundations of the bridge, two abut-
ments and two river piers, stand on the solid rock
which underlies the ordinary river-bed. The con-
struction of these foundations was the most difficult
part of the work. To interfere as little as possible
with the navigation of the river, and to diminish the
cost of the foundations, the arches were designed
with long spans, and the two channel piers were given
great stability. The contract for the whole of the
masonry work on the bridge was awarded in August,
1867, to James Andrews, of Allegheny, Pa.
The first stone in the western abutment pier was
laid on the bed-rock Feb. 25, 1868 ; the first stone
was laid on the caisson of the east channel pier Oct.
25. 1869, and the first stone on the caisson of the
west channel pier was laid the 15th of January, 1870.
During the first half of the year 1868 the minutest
details of the work were critically examined by the
board of engineers. The mathematical calculations
and investigations were conducted by Col. Flad and
Mr. Pfeifer, and then submitted to Capt. Bads,
and by him referred to the analysis and examination
of Professor W. Chauvenet, LL.D., chancellor of
Washington University. In this way the most won-
derful mathematical exactness was secured. By the
middle of the year the drawings and all the de-
tails of the bridge had been gone through with by
the engineers, and the mighty structure was complete
in the mind of the chief engineer and his assistants.
Eads in connection with the St. Louis bridge and tunnel. He
had charge of all the details of their construction, and it is a
matter of history that on every occasion Capt. Eads insisted
upon a division of the honors of their united success in this
great undertaking. Among other works of Col. Flad may be
mentioned the lowering of the track of the Missouri Pacific Rail-
road through the city, and the concentration of tracks at the
Union Depot.
1 A "History of the St. Louis Bridge, containing a full ac-
count of every step in its construction and erection, and in-
cluding the theory of the ribbed arch and the tests of mate-
rials," written by Professor C. M. Woodward, was published in
1882, by G. I. Jones & Co., of St. Louis.
The foundation of the west abutment was laid in
a coffer-dam at a depth of fifty-five feet below extreme
high water. The other great piers were "sunk " to
much greater depths by the aid of compressed air.
The west pier stands on the rock ninety-one feet below
high water ; the foundation of the east pier is one
hundred and twenty-seven feet below high-water
mark, and the east abutment extends one hundred
and thirty-five feet below the surface of extreme high
water. The sinking of these piers was a great feat
of engineering and full of interest. The sinking of
the east pier is thus described :
The caisson of the east pier was built of iron, and
was eighty-two feet long, sixty feet wide, and nine
feet deep.
The roof and sides were made of thick iron plates
riveted air-tight and strengthened by girders and
brackets. A temporary wooden bottom was used
until the admission of compressed air from powerful
air-pumps kept the interior free from water down to
the " cutting edge" of the caisson. The masonry of
the pier was laid upon the roof of the caisson, which
it completely covered. The weight of the masonry
soon caused the caisson to sink deep in the river, ren-
dering an increased air-pressure necessary to keep
the caisson free of water and to support the load
above. On the roof of the caisson a coffer-dam was
constructed to exclude the river. The caisson was
furnished with bearing-timbers along its walls and
under its roof, and when it reached the river bottom
they rested evenly upon the sand and gave sufficient
support to allow the masonry to be built above the
surface of the river. At this point the guides and
suspension rods which had been used to control the
motion of the caisson were removed, and the further
progress of the pier was effected by undermining the
bearing-timbers and letting the whole mass go down
as additional masonry was laid in the open air above.
The space within the caisson was known as the
" air-chamber," and it is evident that workmen were
needed inside, and that there must be ready means
for passing in and out.
Entrance to and exit from the air-chamber was
through " air-locks," seven in number. These air-
locks were in form vertical cylinders, made of one-
half inch plate-iron. The central lock, which was
six feet in diameter and six feet high, was wholly
within the air-chamber. In fact, the roof of the
caisson formed its upper base. Adjoining this lock
was a second iron cylinder five feet in diameter and
five feet deep, sunk through the roof of the cais-
son and entirely open at the top. The air-lock had
two strong, tight- fitting doors, one communicating
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
1077
Extreme High Water.
City Directrix.
A, Air Looks.
B, Air Chamber.
C, Timber Girdo
D, Discharge i
Sand Pump.