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A commercial building has a sign that reads "A.M. Miller & Co." Several men stand in front of the store at the left. The entrance to the bridge is at the left, behind the building. An overhead sign reads "20 Dollar Fine / For Trotting [on the?] Draw." Another commercial building or warehouse is at the far left. A factory with a smokestack and part of a boat or barge are in the right background. The left wheel of a cart or wagon is in the right foreground.

Original drawing of a state police officer looking down a collapsed bridge to observe a truck driver sitting on top of a truck.

Original drawing of a bridge, above it is a gigantic salt shaker labeled "Road Salt."

Photo shows a bridge that was bombed in the middle.

Picture of a river with men working on a bridge in the distance.

The model for this portrait has been tentatively identified as Giovanna degli Abruzzi (1468-1488). The orange blossoms in her hand are a traditional adornment of brides, suggesting that this is a marraige portrait. If the sitter is Giovanna degli Abruzzi, then this portrait would have been painted for her 1486 wedding to Lorenzo Tornabuoni.

The "View now" link directs to the finding aid only. Please email wvrhcref@mail.wvu.edu or call 304-293-3536 for more information about accessing collection A&M 0939 Charles McCamic (1874-1956) Papers, 1919-1956. The office files of Charles McCamic of the law firm of McCamic and Clarke, Wheeling, West Virginia. McCamic was president of the Interstate Bridge Company; president and director of the Northeast Mississippi Oil Company; director of the Sehon-Stevenson Company; president and director of the American Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Company; and a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1905. The files contain correspondence, case papers, and business reports of clients; also papers of the companies with which McCamic was associated. The papers of the War Effort Committee of the West Virginia Bar Association, including correspondence from servicemen in World War II, are also in the collection.

The "View now" link directs to the finding aid only. Please email wvrhcref@mail.wvu.edu or call 304-293-3536 for more information about accessing collection A&M 0683 Window Glass Workers' Unions, Records, 1886-1920. Union materials collected by William J. Jones of Morgantown, West Virginia, including bylaws, constitutions, convention proceedings, and letters.

The "View now" link directs to the finding aid only. Please email wvrhcref@mail.wvu.edu or call 304-293-3536 for more information about accessing collection A&M 3860 Charles A. Julian, Collector, Historical Postcards of Wheeling, 1905-1965. Historical postcards and other material documenting the city of Wheeling, West Virginia. Includes ca. 600 postcards in two notebooks (each in its own box) of mostly photographic postcards recording views of Wheeling. Topics include Baltimore and Ohio Railroad depot, bridges, businesses, churches, flood of 1907, homes, hotels, ice skating, parks (Oglebay and Wheeling), roads, schools, steamships, street scenes (with automobiles, pedestrians, and trolleys), theaters, and wharf, among others. There are also two postcard booklets, seven historical photographs of downtown Wheeling (8 in. x 10 in.), two commemorative ceramic tiles for the Wheeling Hill Tunnels (1965, 1966), and two oversize prints of drawings by Loeschen of Wheeling (1995, 2009).

Vague figures of people are on a bridge that crosses a river. Buildings, including the steeple of the Center Congregational Church, are visible through trees in the background.

A monumental brownstone arch with twin towers and a frieze is at the left. An arched bridge is at the right, with a river flowing under it, between embankments. The dome of the Connecticut State Capitol is in the distance at the right.

An arched stone bridge spans a narrow river. A tenement building with balconies is at the left. Trees are at the right. The dome of the Connecticut State Capitol is in the background.

"The town of Chateau-Thierry lies on both banks of the Marne. This view, taken from the south side of the river, looks toward the city hall and the heights beyond. The bridge is in part a temporary structure with ruins of masonry at one end. The temporary structure replaces part of the bridge blown out to hinder the advance of the Germans. This was the famous iron bridge, where American troops first met the enemy at Chateau-Thierry. Many of the American soldiers engaged here had been called from quiet sectors, and although this was their first experience at real fighting, they proved superior to the veteran Germans who opposed them. On May 30, 1918, the Germans reached the Marne, east of Chateau-Thierry, and advanced along its north bank on the city. Pouring through a gap in the Allied lines to the left of the town, they advanced down its streets intending to establish themselves on the south side of the Marne. The American machine gunners, who were 100 kilometers to the rear, were ordered into motor-trucks and after travelling all night reached the south bank of the Marne at Chateau-Thierry early in the morning of June 1, in time to place their guns and to prevent the Germans from crossing. When the Germans under the protection of smoke from smoke-bombs, did attempt to cross this bridge, the Americans were equal to the emergency, part of the bridge was blown out and the enemy was held to the north bank of the Marne until the great American and French drive in July, 1918, swept them far back in rapid retreat."--Taken from back of resource

"We are looking here upon a fine example of a very necessary device of warfare- the pontoon bridge. On rivers and streams where no permanent bridges exist or where they have been destroyed, pontoon bridges are usually the only means for crossing an army, and every well-equipped army carries with it a large train of pontoon boats, together with the planks and timbers for making the roadway. In teh hands of men trained to the work a pontoon bridge can be laid in a surprisingly short time, even under fire, and such bridges of boats have been used since very ancient times. Improved types of pontoon bridges, like the one before us, played a very important part in the World War. The Russians, the Germans and the Austrians all used them extensively in crossing the large river of Poland and Galicia during the many advances and retreats on the Eastern front. At the battle of Mons ... Belgium, in August, 1914, the British artillery wrecked several pontoon bridges by which the Germans sought to cross the Mons-Conde Canal, inflicting heavy losses and greatly delaying their advance. Many such bridges were laid by both sides during the first battle of the Marne, aiding the armies to cross that difficult stream where the permanent bridges had been blown up. During October and November, 1918, American engineer troops showed the utmost gallantry in throwing pontoon bridges and foot bridges across the Meuse River under terrific German fire, thus enabling the American divisions to reach the east side of the stream in pursuit of the retiring Germans."--Taken from back of resource

"For generations Verdun ... will be to the French nation a synonym for the most heroic courage, the most devoted patriotism. for five months, under a deluge of shot and shell, poison gas and liquid fire, impossible of adequate description by pen or tongue, French soldiers held at bay and finally defeated the elite of the German army under the personal command of the Crown Prince. The great battle began on February 21, 1916. Germany began her preparations months beforehand. Unheard of masses of heavy artillery were assembled; macadam roads were built; strategic railway spurs were constructed between the hills; 300,000 of Germany's choicest troops rehearsed for weeks the method of attack. When the storm broke on this February day, the first line trenches of the French army were wiped out of existence, the very tops of the hills were blown off. But the French 'poilu' held fast. Buried under crumbling trenches, choked by poisonous gases, burned to cinders by liquid fire, he still held fast. 'They shall not pass, ' he said-and they did not. Verdun is in the northeastern part of France, directly opposite the frontier of German Lorraine. The two crenelated towers which guard the entrance to the city were built in the 15th century. The fortifications of Verdun are built, not in the city itself, but on the summits of sixteen surrounding hills. At the time of the German attack there were eighteen principal forts of modern type and as many redoubts and batteries crowning every hill in the neighborhood of the city. These fortifications were thirty miles lay a score of pretty villages and suburbs, now all in ruins."--Taken from back of resource

The second battle of the Aisne ... cost the Germans 100,000 men in killed, wounded and missing, 20,000 prisoners and 100 cannon, many of them large guns. They lost twenty considerable strongholds over as many miles of front and were able to retake none of them, notwithstanding prodigious efforts. The morale of their troops was badly shaken by this battle; the common soldier began to lose confidence in the superior genius of his officers, and they shrank more and more from the ferocity with which the French attacked. Although they fought bitterly, it was no longer with the proud confidence of victory which animated them in the earlier years of the war. The time had come when they began to question whether victory was to be theirs after all. With characteristic thoroughness they destroyed in their retreat every possible avenue of approach over which their pursuers could travel. All that is left of the bridge which once spanned this river is the stone and concrete of the piers. High explosives shattered the balance of it beyond repair. In the scene before us divers search the bottom of the river for cables and other parts of the bridge that must be removed before new piers can be constructed. The raft in midstream was used as a basis of operations. It supports a derrick and windlass, which were used to bring parts of the bridge to the surface after the diver had fastened chains to them.

"After the Germans were defeated on the Marne in 1914 they did everything consistent with a hasty retreat, to hamper the pursuing French. In this case they have wrecked a railway bridge to cut what would otherwise be the route of the supply trains for the French army. The fact that the Red Cross train was on the bridge was not considered of any consequence. The 'Nord' one sees on the engine is the French word for 'North, ' and alludes to the railway system to which it belongs, the Chemin de Fer du Nord. There are only six great railway companies in France and the systems of the Northern and Eastern companies are the ones whose lines cover the country which was devastated by war. Bu without them neither the Allies nor the Germans could have carried on the war or supplied their vast armies as they did. After gaining possession of large portions of these systems, the Germans repaired them and kept them in a high state of efficiency. It was a combination of some of the double track main lines of the Chemin de Fer du Nord and the Chemin de Fer du l'est running from Metz to Lille which connected the whole central and northern sections of the German battle front and enabled them to shift their troops rapidly from one place to another as they might be needed. When the first American Army attacked in the Meuse-Argonne in 1918, it struck at the portion of this line lying between Metz and Sedan, and before the armistice came it had forced its way to Sedan and broken the line there, literally splitting the German armies in two."--Taken from back of resource

A battleship being escorted down river by other smaller ships, including tug. A cloud of black smoke from stack partially obscuring bridge beyond.

An image of the 112 U.S. Engineers constructing a bridge over the Escaut river in Belgium.