Out on the river swift work was going on. Steam from every available
boiler was carried across the ice in feed-pipes, the night shift had
been roused from sleep, and every available man was busied in relieving
the pressure. Pile-drivers hammered long timbers into the river-bed
above the threatened point, hydraulic jacks were put in place, and
steel cables were run to drum and pulley. The men worked sometimes
knee-deep in ice-water; but they did not walk, they ran. In an
incredibly short time the preparations were completed, a strain was put
upon the tackle, and when night came the massive false-work had been
pulled back into line and the traveler was once more swinging steel
into place. It was a magnificent feat, yet not one of those concerned
in it could feel confident that the work had not been done in vain; for
the time was growing terribly short, and, although the ice seemed
solid, it was rotting fast.
After the southern half of the span had been completed the warmth
increased rapidly, therefore the steel crew lengthened its hours. The
men worked from seven o'clock in the morning until eleven o'clock at
night.
On the 13th, without warning of any sort, Garfield Glacier began moving
forward. It had lain inactive even during the midwinter thaw which had
started its smaller brother, but that warm spell had evidently had its
effect upon the giant, for now he shook off his lethargy and awoke. He
stirred, gradually at first and without sound, as if bent upon
surprising the interlopers; then his speed increased. As the glacier
advanced it thrust the nine-foot blanket of lake ice ahead of it, and
this in turn crowded the river ice down upon the bridge. The movement
at the camp site on the first day was only two inches, but that was
sufficiently serious.
The onset of Garfield at this time was, of course, unexpected; for no
forward motion had ever been reported prior to the spring break-up. The
action of the ice heretofore had been alarming; but now consternation
spread, a panic swept the ranks of the builders, for this was no
short-lived phenomenon, this was the annual march of the glacier itself
which promised to continue indefinitely. A tremendous cutting-edge,
nine feet in thickness, like the blade of a carpenter's plane, was
being driven against the bridge by an irresistible force.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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