THE KANSAS CITY BRIDGE. 39

the shore to the south-west corner of the caisson, and on this were laid two
tracks of wooden railway, A. floating derrick, the larger of the two used, was
anchored on the south side of the caisson, just below the bridge ; two small cars
pushed by hand brought the stones within the range of this derrick, by which
they were placed at the desired spot within the caisson. The first stone was set
on the 16th day of October ; a belt of masonry was first laid around the caisson
wall; this was then backed up and the masonry above built up in regular
courses; the space between the face of the stone and the planking of the
caisson was filled with beton, As a precaution against the accidents which
needless delay might involve, the work, during the first week, was driven both
night and day. The leaks were soon found to be so slight that the use of the
steam pump was unnecessary, and after the first few courses had been laid the
water was kept down by two common log pumps worked by hand. The work
upon this and subsequent piers (with the exception of No. 4) were directed by
Mr. W. K. McComas, superintendent of foundations.

PIER No. 2.

With a view to avoiding any delays which might arise from unforeseen diffi-
culties attending work in the main channel, where the dangers of accident were
thought to be greatest, as well as to secure the greatest possible time for raising
the draw, the preparations for the building of this pier were among the first
taken in hand. The principal difficulties lay in securing staging to work from
at the pier site ; piles could not have been used, as the rock was frequently
swept almost bare of sand ; anchored posts, such as had been used at Pier No.
1, might have been destroyed at any moment by an accidental blow from a
descending steamboat ; while long and wide cribs, such as have been used on
the Mississippi, would have been unmanageable, and have taken up too much
water-way in the narrow channel of the Missouri. Small detached cribs and
caissons were finally used, it being hoped that the current would remove most
of the sand from beneath them, if they were held floating in position while a
scour took place below ; much difficulty was experienced even in handling these
small bodies, and the scour took place so irregularly that some of the intermediate