No one was
witness of the fall, and the noise was perceived only by the occupants of
the mill located below the viaduct.
The workmen of the enterprise, who lived about 325 feet above this mill
and about 650 feet from the south abutment, heard nothing of it, the wind
having carried the noise in an opposite direction. It was not until
morning that they learned of the destruction of their work and the extent
of the disaster.
One hundred and sixty-nine feet of the superstructure, weighing 450 tons,
had been precipitated from a height of nearly 200 feet and been broken up
on the rock at 45 feet from the axis of the pier. The breakage had
occurred upon the abutment, and the part 195 feet in length that remained
in position in the cutting was strongly wedged between walls of rock,
which had kept this portion in place and prevented its following the other
into the ravine.
Upon the pier there remained a few broken pieces and a portion of the
apparatus used in swinging the superstructure into place.
Below, in the debris of the superstructure, the up-stream girder lay upon
the down-stream one. The annexed engraving shows the state of things after
the disaster.
Several opinions have been expressed in regard to the cause of the fall.
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