MY APPRECIATION FOR EFFORTS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE POSTED INFORMATION HERE.
THE NEW YORK STATE CANAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR WHIPPLE'S PATENT IRON ARCH TRUSS BRIDGE SUPERSTRUCTURES (1871)
PROVIDED FOR BRIDGES OF 55' TO 75' TO HAVE SEVEN PANELS AND 75' TO 100' NINE PANELS. THESE SPECIFICATIONS
MIGHT / MIGHT NOT HAVE APPLIED TO THE ARMY BRIDGES OF 1859 / 1860, BUT I WOULD EXPECT THEY WOULD HAVE
BEEN APPROPRIATE. I THINK THE 100' SPANS HAD NINE PANELS. FOR THE 50' SPANS, IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN SEVEN OR
FIVE, PROVIDING A PANEL LENGTH OF 7.1' OR 10'. (THERE WERE AT LEAST A FEW FIVE PANEL BRIDGES BUILT IN NY STATE.)
THE CANAL SPECIFICATIONS CAN BE FOUND IN THE HAER HISTORY FOR THE NORMANSKILL BRIDGE.
A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN MURPHY IS GIVEN IN THE JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE. I TRIED TO PROVIDE A
LINK IN THE BRIDGE HUNTER ENTRY FOR THE POTEAU RIVER BRIDGE (BEALE ROAD) LE FLORE COUNTY, OK. IT WORKS WITH
A WEE BIT OF FINE TUNING: THERE ARE TWO VOLUMES FOR THE YEAR, JAN-JUN AND JUL-DEC. EACH VOLUME BEGINS AT PAGE 1.
THE MURPHY PIECE STARTS ON PAGE 303 OF THE JUL-DEC. HOWEVER THE SEARCH FOR MURPHY WILL GET YOU THERE USE THE
SEARCH BOX THAT IS ON THE LEFT; ERASE THE PARAMETERS THAT APPEAR AND TYPE IN MURPHY; THEN HIT SEARCH. THIS WAS
ENOUGH "PROOF" FOR ME.