{"id":2394,"date":"2012-10-19T11:34:02","date_gmt":"2012-10-19T11:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=2394"},"modified":"2015-01-08T16:35:39","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T21:35:39","slug":"remnants-of-the-wabash-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/19\/remnants-of-the-wabash-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Remnants of the Wabash Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Oct. 19, 1903:<\/strong> Next time you\u2019re stuck in traffic at Fort Pitt Blvd. and Stanwix Street, take a glance at the blackened bridge pier that looms nearby in the Monongahela River. The stone pier is part of the sad and tragic history of a bridge that\u2019s long gone. It was called the Wabash Bridge, and death and hard luck were with it from the beginning.<\/p>\n

As the structure neared completion in autumn of 1903, a construction crane atop the bridge collapsed. \u201cThere was an awful crash over our heads,\u201d said Earl Crider, who was on a barge below. \u201cLooking up, I saw beams and girders in the air.\u201d Parts of the bridge extending out over the Mon River began to fall. Crider jumped into the water to keep from being crushed.<\/p>\n

The collapse swept iron workers off the bridge. Some tumbled more than 100 feet. \u201cThey fell through the air like flies,\u201d said John McTighe, who watched from Water Street. \u201cThe men were shrieking and yelling as they fell. Some were clinging to pieces of iron and beams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten workers died. They landed with sickening thuds on the barges or were crushed under tons of falling steel. One of the dead had attached a small American flag to a bridge spire before the accident. The flag remained in place as iron workers throughout Pittsburgh gathered at the site to help with rescue and recovery efforts. The workers \u201ctalked about (the flag) with much sadness as they happened to glance up at it floating there,\u201d reported the Pittsburgh Press.<\/p>\n

(Photo credit: Unknown)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The collapse swept iron workers off the bridge. Some tumbled more than 100 feet. <\/p>\n

Look at the picturesRemnants of the Wabash Bridge<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[948],"tags":[956,1024,972,1060,1040,1046,1048],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mc3i6x80ns1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C909&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2397,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/19\/oct-19-1903-in-an-edition-published-just-hours\/","url_meta":{"origin":2394,"position":0},"title":"Clipping: the Wabash Bridge collapse","date":"October 19, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The Pittsburgh Press devoted most of its front page to the disaster.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mc3i1hxQFA1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C842&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2400,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/19\/the-wabash-bridge\/","url_meta":{"origin":2394,"position":1},"title":"The Wabash Bridge","date":"October 19, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The rail cars were from the Wabash-Pittsburg Terminal Railroad, an ill-fated venture by George Jay Gould to compete with the Pennsylvania Railroad in Pittsburgh.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mc3hybsuae1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C709&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2652,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/08\/09\/circa-1920-the-1877-point-bridge-monangahela\/","url_meta":{"origin":2394,"position":2},"title":"1877 Point Bridge across the Mon","date":"August 9, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Fascinating history of the Point Bridge","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m8gl2rfIwy1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C806&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2141,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/01\/15\/not-a-bad-picture-just-smog\/","url_meta":{"origin":2394,"position":3},"title":"Not a bad picture \u2014 just smog","date":"January 15, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Pittsburgh was once the smog champion.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/tumblr_mgnhstsiWx1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=968%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5861,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/09\/16\/how-did-the-fort-pitt-bridge-get-its-color\/","url_meta":{"origin":2394,"position":4},"title":"How did the Fort Pitt Bridge get its color?","date":"September 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"If the Fort Pitt Bridge doesn't look good it takes away some of Pittsburgh's glamor.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/FortPittBridgePainted-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C822&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1573,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/07\/24\/pittsburghs-bridge-to-nowhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":2394,"position":5},"title":"Pittsburgh’s bridge to nowhere","date":"July 24, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The Fort Duquesne Bridge now serves as a connection between Downtown and the North Side, spanning the Allegheny River. But that wasn\u2019t always the case.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/bridge-to-nowhere-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C863&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2394"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4387,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394\/revisions\/4387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}