Extract from Beale's Report

Lt. Edward F. Beale writes in his Report to Congress on his return from his Second Expedition of 1858-59 on December 15, 1859, from his eastern home in Chester, PA, the following:

“Not having yet received a report of the condition of the work on the bridges now being constructed in Arkansas, I cannot, as I would desire, give you further information than what I have heard by a gentleman lately returned over that portion of the road. He described them as being of the most substantial and durable character, and I hope in a few days to corroborate this intelligence by forwarding to you an official report from the officer in charge.”

Source:

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015030947298&view=1up&seq=15

Commentary:

Once Lt. E. F. Beale left Fort Smith on October 28, 1858, and headed west along the Eastern portion of his future “Beale Wagon Road” in Indian Territory, he never returned to seen the six iron bridges built that he located during the Fall of 1858. He would place his brother-in-law, Henry B. Edwards, in charge of their subsequent contracting and construction during 1859. The evidence shows that Mr. Edwards did a fantastic job in getting the six iron bridges fabricated by Pencoyd Iron Works of Philadelphia and constructed in Indian Territory. The Wanderer (John Russell Young) notes several times of Mr. Edwards presence, actions and accomplishments during late 1859 in building the iron bridges in Indian Territory.

It appears from Beale’s report (above) that Mr. Edwards has returned in early December 1859 to Chester, PA and given Beale a verbal status report of the iron bridges, and promised to soon write a brief report on them. No such report is known to exist, but if one does, it probably would be in U. S. Army files documenting what happened to the $50,000 the Army spent on building them.

My recent analysis reveals that it was the U.S. Army's need for a reliable supply road to the Leased District of the former western section of Indian Territory, and the Army's willingness to provide $50,000 to build as many iron bridges as needed (up to $50,000) to provide "reliable stream crossings" that got the final Eastern Beale Wagon Road funded in the U. S. Congress on June 12, 1858.