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ByLenStohler Inanearlierarticle,Ide- scribed and showed the fa- mous new bridge in France called the Millau Via- duct. This article is about a bridge that our Dutch guests showed Lynn and me as we journeyed to the Millau Viaduct. Today, it appeals to me just as interesting as the new bridge because it was built by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) when he was a productive engineer and architect of bridges all over France and some in other parts of Europe. How- ever, before I describe the Garabit Viaduct bridge, a design you will recognize in the famous tower that dom- inates the skyline of Paris, I want to relate the part he played in designing an en- dearing gift of France to the U.S.A. Eiffel was selected to de- sign and build the interior structure of the Statue of Liberty when Eugene Vio- llet-le-Duc, the selected ar- chitect, suddenly died. Ei- ffel relied on sophisticated mathematical designs re- nowned for their lightness, grace and strength just as he had done in his rail- road bridges. He ultimately changed the initial plans for the interior design in favor of a modern approach. The Statue's new internal structure would not rely on weight to support the cop- per skin but rather a flexi- ble, skeletal system. Eiffel designed a tall, central py- lon (92 feet or 28 meters) to be the primary support structure of the Statue's in- terior. The pylon serves as the central attachment point for a lightweight truss work of complex asymmet- rical girders which forms the Statue's body. It is an interesting story of how the Statue's copper skin was attached to this pylon. Perhaps the most amazing fact is that the flexible suspension, due to its malleability, acted like springs allowing the Statue to adjust and settle into the environment. This elastic- ity of Eiffel's design is im- portant because the Statue has to withstand the winds in New York Harbor, tem- perature changes, and vari- ous weather conditions. Ei- ffel's genius in solving these same architectural prob- lems in bridges certainly showed in the Statue of Lib- erty's pylon construction. Once his plans were ap- proved, Eiffel supervised the Statue's internal con- struction until its comple- tion in late 1883. It was erected in Paris, taken apart and reconstructed at its present site. A few years later, Ei- ffel began his most famous project, the Eiffel Tower, which was completed for the Universal Exposition of 1889, in Paris. Eiffel died on December 27, 1923, in Paris, France. Before I describe the rail- road bridge we visited, I must tell what almost hap- pened to the Peugeot that we were traveling in. Jaap was excited to show us this beautiful sight, but he ne- glected to set the emer- gency brake or leave the car in gear. He was not com- pletely out of the car when the car started to move on the sharp incline we were on. His rapid response saved the car from going down the heavily forested mountainside toward the lake below. I don't know how far it would have gone and how much damage would have occurred, but I am sure we would not have gone on the rest of our two- day adventure in that Peu- geot if it had taken its own journey down the slope. There we were before this beautiful scene (shown in the photo). A few facts about this bridge. The original name was Viaduc de Garabit. It is a railroad bridge that crosses the Truyere River and now a huge lake near Auvergne, France. I was in- formed by Jaap that the ar- chitect was Gustave Eiffel. What a surprise! Having just arrived from Paris, I recognized a similar design. The hot power lines to run the trains are overhead. The design is an arch, but with steel and not concrete. Its length is 565 meters (1,854 feet), height 122 meters (400 feet) with its longest span 165 meters (541 feet). It has 10 spans. In finding out how many feet were in the me- ters listed, I did not have to use a calculator or do sim- ple multiplication. I asked SIRI on my iPad. "She" gave me the answers. The government wanted to have a railroad line over a large cleft or fissure near Loubaresse.. It would be too expensive to build the rail- road route around the river. Eiffel was given the task of constructing the bridge, a big challenge. It was not only a great span across the fissure, but the bridge had to be high for the rail- road to transit at the same level as it approached this area. Also, it was neces- sary to take into consider- ation wind and tempera- ture range. Construction of the bridge started in 1882 and it opened in 1885 and is still used. When the Garabit Viaduct was completed it was the world's tallest bridge. The first train that passed over the bridge had a weight of approximately 400 tons. Eiffel had calcu- lated that the "arch deflec- tion" would be 8 millime- ters and that is exactly what it was. Today, with the lake below, it has a most beauti- ful setting. I wished I could have got- ten closer to the bridge, but we were off to the Millau Viaduct, the modern bridge toward the south of France. Visiting both bridges be- came a very special mem- ory for me. Aboutthecontributor: Leonard (Len) Stohler is a historian by degree. He taught in the local schools from 1969-1995. He served on the Red Bluff Union School Board for 16 years. TRAVELOGUE Eiffel:Bridge,statueandtowerarchitectinspires GarabitViaductbridge Eiffel Tower 8049Hwy99E,LosMolinos,CA 1 Day Meat Bonanza 1 Day Meat Bonanza Pork Spareribs (In The Bag) $ 1.97 lb. Boneless Pork Tri-Tips (In The Bag) $ 1.77 lb. CutItemsPackedinBulkOnly!! Pork Ribletts (10 lb. Box) $ 15.97 ea. 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