Mr.Thomson and myself, however, escaped loss, although there was little margin left.
[Footnote 29: It was an iron bridge 2300 feet in length with a 380-foot span.] The superstructure for this bridge was built at our Keystone Works in Pittsburgh.

The undertaking required me to visit Keokuk occasionally, and there I made the acquaintance of clever and delightful people, among them General and Mrs.Reid, and Mr.and Mrs.Leighton.

Visiting Keokuk with some English friends at a later date, the impression they received of society in the Far West, on what to them seemed the very outskirts of civilization, was surprising.

A reception given to us one evening by General Reid brought together an assembly creditable to any town in Britain.

More than one of the guests had distinguished himself during the war and had risen to prominence in the national councils.
The reputation obtained in the building of the Keokuk bridge led to my being applied to by those who were in charge of the scheme for bridging the Mississippi at St.Louis, to which I have already referred.