POUGHKEEPSIE POWDERLY. 



243 



dries, machine-shops, saw- and planing-mills. lu 1SSO 

 it had 13.253 inhabitants. 



POUGHKEEPSIE or POKEEPSIE, a city of New 

 York, the seat of Duchess co. . is on the E. bank of 

 the Hudson River, 81 miles N. of New York city, 

 and 70 miles S. of Albany. It is on the New York 

 Central and Hudson River Railroad, and a ferry con 

 m-<-ts it with Highland Station on the West Shore 

 Railroad. The New York and Massachusetts Railroad 

 also runs from Poughkeepsie 42 miles to Boston Cor- 

 ners where it connects with other roads. Ponghkeepsie 

 lias the county buildings and offices, city library, 

 the U. S. Government building, an opera-house. Vas- 

 sar Institute, Vassar Home for Aged Men, Home 

 for the Friendless, St. Barnabas Hospital, Old Ladies' 

 Home, and Kastman Business College. Just beyond 

 the eastern city limit is VASSAR COLLEGE (^. .), a 

 noted institution for women. It was founded in 1805 

 arid liberally endowed by Matthew Vassar, to whose 

 generosity the city owes also other institutions. Two 

 miles north of the city is the Hudson River State 

 Hospital for the Insane, erected in 1871, and costing 

 $750.000. Poughkeepsie has 6 national bank.", 1 sav- 

 ings-bank, 3 large hotels. 18 churches, 12 public school 

 buildings, 3 daily and 4 weekly newspapers, besides 

 several periodicals. It has a blast-furnace, rolling-mill, 

 and several breweries. The manufactures comprise 

 silk, boots and shoes, clothing, carriages, iron-ware, 

 etc. The town was settled by the Dutch about 10SO. 

 In 1778 the State Legislature met here, and in 1788 

 the New York Convention here ratified the Federal 

 Constitution. Poughkeepsie was incorporated as a 

 city in 1854. It is on a plateau about 200 feet above 

 the river and is sheltered on the cast by high hills. 

 It is laid out with wide streets crossing at right angles. 

 Main >tivct, which extends eastward from the river, is 

 about two miles long. The population in 1880 was 

 20. '.'(IT. 



The Poughkeepsie Railroad bridge was commenced 

 in 1,S~;;, by a company which had obtained from the 

 Legislature a charter, which permitted it to place four 

 piers in the channel of the river. The work was in- 

 terrupted and remained iu a very incomplete state 

 until 1.S86, when it was resumed and pushed forward that 

 the bridge might be opened for traffic in 188 ( J. The 

 bridge is30'J4 feet in length from anchorage to anchor- 

 age, and the approaches consist of a viaduct of about 

 3000 feet in length on the east side and about 1 000 

 feet on the west, making the whole about 7100 feet. 

 The bridge proper rests on 6 piers, 1 on either 

 shore and 4 in the channel. The river piers are car- 

 ried down to depths of from 125 to 135 feet below the 

 surface. In order to secure a solid foundation open 

 caissons of timber were built 60 feet wide by 100 long, 

 weighted by " pockets " filled with concrete, and sunk 

 by dredging through the open spaces, 12 in number in 

 each caisson. This method, never before used on a 

 large scale, proved entirely successful, the caissons 

 having been sunk by pneumatic caissons, such as were 

 used in the St. Louis and Brooklyn bridges, and with 

 much less danger and expense. As the caissons were 

 sunk they were built up by additions to the top, so that 

 the lower edges rest upon the solid stratum underlying 

 tin: mud ami silt at the bottom of the river. The tops 

 ot the caissons are about 20 feet below the surface. 

 The open spaces were then filled with concrete, the 

 top levelled and a solid platform of timber placed upon 

 ii. and the masonry built on this. The masonry piers, 

 which are all that show above the water, are 80 feet 

 long each by 25 wide, the length being in the direction 

 of the current, and they are built up to a height of 30 

 feet above the surface. Upon the piers are < 

 steel towers 100 feet high making the height from 

 the water to the under side of the trusses Kin feet. 

 There are 2 rectangular steel tni>s spans, each of 525 

 feet and 80 feet high. The 3 other spans arc canti- 

 levers, the cantilever arms being l(jo feet each and the 

 connecting trusses 212 feet ; the height of the connect- ! 



ing trusses is 162 feet from the water surface, and the 

 height of the rail on the top 212 feet. The cantilevers 

 extending from the river piers are counterbalanced by 

 ; the rectangular trusses, and those on the shore piers 

 ! by inshore arms, each 200 feet long, attached to the 

 anchorages. About 15,000 tons of steel and over COOO 

 tons of iron were used. The bridge is calculated to 

 hold with entire safety 2 continuous trains of 85-ton 

 locomotives, covering the whole length of both tracks, 

 the ultimate strength of materials being equal to 5 

 times this strain. The bridge is intended to furnish 

 a short route between the anthracite coal regions of 

 Fenn>ylvania and the manufactories of New England. 



(F. G. M.) 



POUJOULAT, JEAN JOSEPH FRANCOIS (1800- 

 1880) French historian, was born at Fare, Jan. 26, 1800. 

 He was educated at Aix and went to Paris in 1826. 

 where he joined Michaud in preparing the History of 

 the Crusade*. Together they visited the East and 

 explored especially Syria. These travels were reported 

 in their C<irriy/nidance d Orient (7 vols. , 183335), 

 to which Poujoulat added a romance, La Bedoulne (2 

 vols., 1835), which was crowned by the Academy. The 

 two historians published also a valuable collection of 

 documents relating to French history from the thirteenth 

 to the end of the eighteenth century (32 vols. , 1836-38). 

 A joint visit to Italy gave opportunity for another 

 volume of correspondence, Tuscans et Rome (I83'J). 

 After the death of Miehaud, Poujoulat issued a new 

 edition of his History with a preliminary sketch of his 

 life (6 vols., 1840-48). For the remaining half of his 

 life Foujoulat labored alone but with undiminished 

 activity. Among his works are Hi&ttnre de Jerusalem 

 (J vols., 1841H2) ; Histuire de Saint Aiiffustin (3 vols., 

 1844), which also was crowned by the Academy; Voj/ni/e 

 eit Alfftrlc (2 vols., 184(5); Histuire de la. Resolution 

 fraiiyuuie (2 vols., 1847); Hint/lire df, France depuix 

 1814(4vols., 1865-67) ; biographies of Cardinal Maury, 

 Archbishop Sibour, Father Ravignan, and various col- 

 lections of essavs, literary and political. In 1848 

 Poujoulat was elected to the Constituent Assembly, 

 and afterwards to the Legislative Assembly, in 

 which he took part with the Right, or conservative 

 iiarty. Under the Empire he was engaged only in 

 literary work, though he published some pamphlets 

 on the clerical side of controverted questions. One of 

 his latest publications was Leg Folies de ce temps en 

 matiere de relit/ion (1877). He died at Paris, Jan. 5, 



ForLTRY. See Fowr, 



I'l M U TALKS, Louis FRANCOIS DE, COUNT (1833- 

 1880), naturalist, was born at Neufchatel, Switzerland, 

 March 4, 1833. He was educated as a civil-engineer 

 and followed Prof. Ix>uis Agassiz to America. He 

 served in the U. S. Coast Survey and obtained a high 

 reputation by his papers on the physical geography of 

 the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf Stream. He was also 

 associated with Agassiz in the study of natural history, 

 and in 1873 succeeded him as keeper of the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Mass. He 

 died at Beverly, Mass., July 20, 1880. 



PO WDEHLY, TERENCE VINCENT, labor-organizer, 

 was born at Carbondale, Pa., Jan. 22, 1849. His 

 parents were Irish Catholic immigrants and had nine 

 children. After attending school six years, Terence 

 at the age of 1 3 bcpfan to work on a railroad : at 1 7 he 

 entered a machine-shop and at 19 removed to Scranton. 

 where he became a member of the Machinists' and 

 Blacksmiths' Union. He was soon made secretary of 

 the union and so remained till 1880. In 1873, being 

 discharged on account of his connection with this 

 union, he sought employment in Ohio and at Oil City. 

 He was delegate to the International Union at Louis- 

 ville in September. IS74. and organized assemblies of 

 the Industrial Brotherhood near Fittsburg. Return- 

 ing to Scranton be joined the Knights of Labor, and 

 was made secretary of the District Assembly. He was 

 theu foreman in locomotive works. The Greenback- 



