Stephen D. Peet
speaker
928 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Aug 2026
last heard 5 Aug
Stephen D. Peet’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.
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its height twenty feet its length one hundred and sixty-five feet in a single span when it was first erected it was discovered that the braces were placed wrong so that they came upon the sides rather than upon the edges
the structure settled as the edges were removed about six inches and necessitated the change of the process this error was remedied by the cutting away of iron so that the braces could be turned and this change occupied nearly a year
it was watched with interest by the citizens and was regarded by the builders themselves as a doubtful experiment in its erection mr tomlinson the engineer differed with the president so much that he resigned his position and even mr charles collins never acknowledged that it was a work of his inventing
or a bridge receiving his approval before the committee appointed by the legislature of ohio he acknowledged that it was an experiment and even when it was in process of erection he gave no orders but rather left the responsibility with the president
the deficiencies of the bridge as acknowledged by mr tomlinson who made the draughts were that the braces were smaller than was intended and the weight was very great its dead weight was three thousand pounds to the square foot making an aggregate mass of iron of many tons
the rods or braces had buckled or bent at the first trial and there was danger that it would fall by its own weight into the creek as it was changed however and the braces sprang back by the elasticity of the iron heavier braces were put into it and in this shape it stood for eleven years in constant service
End of chapter 2
chapter three of the ashtabula disaster by stephen pete the night and the storm the night was portentous all nature conspired to make it prophetic of some direful event
the sympathy of the natural with the historic event was known and felt ominous of evil a furious storm had set in it was one of the periodical snow-storms for which the season had been remarkable
every saturday throughout the month it had returned the same fearful blast and fall of snow as if in warning it had come three or four times during the season and now with redoubled force appeared
the snow had fallen all day long and was at the dusk of night still falling with blinding fury the powers of nature had seized it again and were hurling it down as if in very vengeance against the abodes of men
everything was covered with a weight of snow the wreaths and fancy drapery which during the first storm had engaged the attention of children and pleased the fancy with their forms of beauty and delicate tracery
had now increased until they were heavy blankets and burdensome loads the feathery flakes which at first were beds of down had become solid banks everything was buried in the increasing drifts
even trees and houses and fences stood with muffled forms and burdened with a snowy mantle the streets were covered with drifts which were piled high and wide
no attempt had been made to break the roads the citizens had for the third time confined themselves to their houses and had not even opened the paths from the doors to the gates
it was in fact one of those blinding burying storms which occasionally come upon northern homes the greatest comfort was in being at home and having the consciousness of the home feeling even the cares of the world were shut out
and many had remained indoors refusing to be called from the loved circle and comfortable fire those who were well housed felt a pleasure in their own security
and often looked out grateful for the shelter of their homes but to the traveller it was a fearful storm the same clouds which filled the sky with their fleecy masses became portentous to his gaze
as the dusk of night settled down with more fury in the storm a fearful foreboding filled his heart there were many who were impressed with this indefinable sense of danger
it was not because they felt the discomfort of the journey nor because they unconsciously acknowledged the difficulty of the way but a strange presentiment continually haunted them and filled them with indefinable fear
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