Hudson Highland Bridge as proposed by Serrell 1868, Harper’s Weekly.
was not funded at the time, and it finally died when the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge was opened just upstream in 1889. He was appointed chief engineer of the New Haven, Middletown and Willimantic Railroad in 1870, on which the well known Rapallo and Lyman Viaducts were built. He apparently had trouble with the designs and approached Clarke and Reeves & Company, under T. C. Clarke, to submit a design for the wrought iron viaduct. The plans were completed in 1872. Serrell still did not trust the design and authorized traffic on only one track rather than the called for twin track line. After leaving the line, he wrote a letter to the governor of Connecticut
expressing his concern about safety of the bridge. James Laurie, former president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), was then called in to report on the viaducts. He determined they were both well designed and able to carry the load specified by Clarke. In 1888, Serrell became president of the Washington County Railroad (now Vermont Rail System) running 56 miles from Greenwich, New York to Rutland, Vermont. He then returned to his interest in an isthmian canal. He talked with President McKinley in September 1901 about his project and wrote that McKinley seemed to be agreeable to his proposed route, but that McKinley stated, “this must be
harmonized, see if you can arrange a plan to harmonize.” McKinley was assassinated a few days later on September 6, 1901. In 1902, at the age of 76, Serrell was still promoting his Darien (San Blas) route for the isthmus canal and on January 18 made a presentation to the Isthmian Canal Commission for the American Isthmian Ship Canal Company. He sent a letter to the editor of the New York Times on the project on December 14, 1903, after a treaty was signed with Panama, and was critical of the Panama Route. In supporting his route he stated, “By it not only will the United States and the whole world get a canal adequate to do the business to be done, instead of, as at Panama, having a rain-water canal with locks, having less than one-tenth of the business ability of the Darien, but by the method provided by the Pugsley bill the Government will save the entire cost of construction of the canal, and expenditures variously estimated at from $180,000,000 to $250,000,000, and several years of time, because the Darien-Mandingo route can be built much quicker than any other.” His plan was for a sea level canal with a huge tunnel. In 1904, he wrote a 16 page pamphlet, The American Isthmian canals: The Darien Mandingo canal, in support of his proposal. His route was not accepted. He wrote again about his attempts at a flying machine during the Civil War in article entitled A Flying Machine in the Army on June 24, 1904 in Science. This was after the Wright Brothers first flight but before public flights in 1908. In it he described experiments with a helicopter-type machine made (unsuccessfully) by officers of the Northern Army during the Civil War. Serrell died on April 25, 1906, at Rossville, New York and is buried in St. Luke’s Cemetery. One source noted, “He is a young man who may be considered a good example of what patient, enduring, energetic, determined action will accomplish. Without fortune or family influences, he has, by his own unaided industry and natural talents, won his way to his present high position in an honorable and useful profession.” He, along with Charles Ellet and John A. Roebling, developed the use of the wire cable suspension bridge in the United States.▪ Dr. Griggs specializes in the restoration of historic bridges, having restored many 19 th Century cast and wrought iron bridges. He was formerly Director of Historic Bridge Programs for Clough, Harbour & Associates LLP in Albany, NY, and is now an independent Consulting Engineer. Dr. Griggs can be reached at fgriggs@nycap.rr.com.
STRUCTURE magazine
36
February 2012
