The Ashtabula Bridge Disaster
The Ashtabula Bridge was a railroad bridge which was only about 1000 feet from the railroad station in Ashtabula, Ohio. It crossed the Ashtabula River, the tracks about 75 feet above the water. Its designer was Amasa Stone, an industrialist whom in the 1840s built hundreds of bridges in New England, promoting and using the basic design developed by his brother in law, William Howe. The Howe Truss Bridge was used for both roads and railroads throughout New England, nearly all of them of wood. In 1850 Stone moved to Cleveland and began a second career in railroad construction and operation.
As the president and construction supervisor of a small local railroad which merged with the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, Stone both approved the design of the bridge at Ashtabula, which was of his Howe Truss pattern, and supervised its construction. The Howe Truss design had been developed for the wooden bridges of shorter span which were prevalent in New England. The supporting trusses of the Ashtabula Bridge were of iron, anchored to the banks of the river by masonry. The bridge was built to span 165 feet, and the engineer in charge at the railroad, Charles Collins, later said he considered the design to be experimental.
During the afternoon of December 29, 1876 the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway train named the Pacific Princess departed from Erie, Pennsylvania, traveling west towards Ohio. The train consist was 11 cars pulled by a pair of steam locomotives. It arrived at the bridge at about 7.30 that evening, needing to cross the bridge to arrive at the station only 1000 feet away. Accordingly it was slowing as it approached and crossed the bridge. The first locomotive made it across before the bridge collapsed beneath the rest of the train, and the remaining locomotive and the cars plunged to the river below.
The cars were equipped with heating stoves and lamps, fueled with kerosene, and many of the wooden cars were soon in flames. The collapse of the bridge and the noise of the crash brought rescuers to the scene quickly, but they were hampered by the cold of the water and the heat of the flames as they tried to find survivors. Ninety-two of the 159 passengers and crew on the train were killed. Only three escaped without any injury, they were the crew of the first locomotive. Ashtabula had no hospital, so the injured were treated in private homes.
A coroner’s jury investigated and Charles Collins testified that the design and supervision of the construction had been Stone’s responsibilities. The jury found the design of the bridge to be at fault, the construction had been poor and also blamed the railroad for the dangerous manner of providing heat and light which led to the fires. Collins committed suicide after testifying though later evidence suggested he may have been murdered. A state investigation later blamed the design, the use of inferior materials in construction, and a lack of maintenance. Stone was not censured for his role in the building of the bridge nor for the accident itself.