The Florida Keys
The winds howled and a waves crashed up against the bridges as the workers hurry to finish the bridge before the hurricane arrives. In 1909 a category 5 hurricane hit land in the keys, the winds reached speeds of up to 185 mph. The hurricane destroyed much of Henry Flagler’s near completed railroad, however his workers continued building the bridge. “There has never been anything worth obtaining without grief, or suffering, and disappointment” - Henry Flagler. The hurricanes of 1909 and 1910 washed away most of the railroad tracks. Henrys men worked worked diligently for many years after. There were many challenges to overcome during that time, the united states were in a great depression and it was no time to be building expensive bridges. The building of the bridge supplied hundreds …show more content…
The Florida keys railroad bridges are one of the greatest achievements in bridge building in the United States.
Flagler’s dream of building a railroad to key west changed the once isolated town into a booming city. However the bridges became much more costly then he had expected. The railroad from Miami to Key West ended up costing over 50 million dollars, which would be worth over 1,000,000,000 dollars today. Most of the bridges Were arched and had sand or gravel filling the center. The sand inside of the bridge helped absorb the shock the train produced preventing the bridge from cracking. The arches worked great on the shallow parts of the keys however, in the deeper sections they had to use a different style of bridge. For a portion of the railroad they built long strips of land to shorten up the length of the bridges however, they could only build a certain amount that
The winds howled and a waves crashed up against the bridges as the workers hurry to finish the bridge before the hurricane arrives. In 1909 a category 5 hurricane hit land in the keys, the winds reached speeds of up to 185 mph. The hurricane destroyed much of Henry Flagler’s near completed railroad, however his workers continued building the bridge. “There has never been anything worth obtaining without grief, or suffering, and disappointment” - Henry Flagler. The hurricanes of 1909 and 1910 washed away most of the railroad tracks. Henrys men worked worked diligently for many years after. There were many challenges to overcome during that time, the united states were in a great depression and it was no time to be building expensive bridges. The building of the bridge supplied hundreds …show more content…
The Florida keys railroad bridges are one of the greatest achievements in bridge building in the United States.
Flagler’s dream of building a railroad to key west changed the once isolated town into a booming city. However the bridges became much more costly then he had expected. The railroad from Miami to Key West ended up costing over 50 million dollars, which would be worth over 1,000,000,000 dollars today. Most of the bridges Were arched and had sand or gravel filling the center. The sand inside of the bridge helped absorb the shock the train produced preventing the bridge from cracking. The arches worked great on the shallow parts of the keys however, in the deeper sections they had to use a different style of bridge. For a portion of the railroad they built long strips of land to shorten up the length of the bridges however, they could only build a certain amount that