Rebuilding London Bridge took a great deal of expertise. Even from the sellers.
From the Arizona Daily Star, Sunday December 14, 1969:
Robert Beresford
At Lake Havasu
London Bridge ‘Builder’ Faces A Jigsaw Puzzle
By DICK KLEINER
LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. (NEA) — A tall, blond Englishman is about to embark on what is undoubtedly the world’s biggest — and nuttiest — jigsaw puzzle.
His name is Robert Beresford. He is employed by a venerable English firm of engineers called Mott, Hay and Anderson. They sent him over here to be the resident engineer on one of their projects — putting London Bridge back together.
Beresford’s connection with the bridge goes back to the day he first heard that the old span was sold to some crazy Americans.
“My first reaction was a common one,” he says. “It underscores our image of Americans. The check-shirted, camera-toting, gum chewing tourist. The reaction was more one of amusement than anger. Gradually, we came to think it was, actually, a rather nice touch.”
The engineer in him, however, was pleased from the beginning. Unless somebody had bought the bridge, art was scheduled to be destroyed. The bridge had settled irregularly, from the time it was built in the 1820s, and had “racked to one side,” so it had to be replaced.
“It is a perfect example of 19th-century masonry work,” Beresford says, “so it was nice, from an engineering point of view, that it is being preserved.”
Beresford, who had been working on a secret British defense project in South Africa, was offered the assignment to come to Arizona and put the bridge together.
“I accepted willingly,” he says. “I like to travel and this project is so unique that I wanted to be a part of it. And I’ve always wished to see America from the inside.”
He and his wife enjoy the desert life, although the heat “was a bit of a problem” for Mrs. Beresford at first. Then they both learned to stay inside, in air-conditioned comfort, during the heart of the day. They, apparently, are not the mad dogs and Englishmen who go out in the noonday sun.
The job is a two-year deal. Beresford must first oversee the building of a concrete core, over which the London Bridge’s granite stones will be placed.
“Before we can build the bridge,” he says, “we have to have a hole to put it across. We’ve done that, and now we start to build the concrete bridge core.”
Meanwhile, the granite stones are being removed in London marked according to code numbers, and shipped across to Arizona. Beresford must have them placed in a compound in the desert, according to the numbers, so he can find the ones he needs when he needs them.
“I keep busy,” he says, “cataloguing, identifying and measuring the stones. I want to be sure I know which stone is where, because we’re not quite sure what problems we’re going to meet.”
One thing he knows he’ll need is expert masons. He thinks it will be rough to find the number he needs, when he needs them. He wants old-fashioned workers who know their art.
Although every effort will be made to make the finished bridge look the way it did spanning the Thames, Beresford says it will be considerably sturdier.
“There’s clay under the original in London,” he says. “Clay is treacherous. Here we’re on sand and gravel, which is good. In those days, they didn’t have cement, so they used hydraulic lime. We’ll use cement, of course.”
Beresford has one worry — that he’ll be called home before the big dedication day.
“I hope to stay until it’s open for business,” he says. “I don’t want to miss the party.”
Of course, most of the experts were from our side of the Atlantic.
From the Star Saturday, January 3, 1970:
Former Amphi Star Calling Sundt Signals
London Bridge Job Engineer’s Dream
By RICHARD SALTUS
Star Staff Writer
Although Jim Peel has been in Lake Havasu City about two months, he hasn’t even played the golf course once. He’s been working 12 hours a day making sure that the London Bridge won’t fall down or at least not more than half an inch.
Peel is the project engineer for M. M. Sundt Construction Co. of Tucson, the firm that is building the concrete superstructure over which the granite blocks of the original bridge will be placed. Lake Havasu City’s developer, the McCulloch Corp., bought the bridge from the City of London for $2.5 million about a year and a half ago and the huge stone blocks are now being shipped to the resort city.
“I was tickled to get the job — I was really hoping for it,” said Peel over a New Year’s Even drink on a rare (and short) vacation in Tucson. “I guess I’ve worked on almost every kind of bridge there is — I was with the Highway Department for 10 years and once I was working on 20 bridges at the same time.”
Peel is a square-jawed, Marlboro Country-handsome man of about 35, quick to smile but slow to talk about himself. He was “just a hair embarrassed” when a friend brought out a scrapbook of newspaper clippings showing him 16 years ago as an Amphitheater High School star halfback, holding in various pictures a football, a trophy or an “A” Day queen.
He still admires teamwork, and says the crew at Havasu has plenty of it. Peel has been with Sundt for more than a year and says it is a “real highballing’ outfit.”
What Peel and his men are doing — under project manager George Cavanaugh — is excavating, forming and pouring the concrete footings and superstructure. This includes the arches and core of the bridge which will be hidden from view by the stonework which will cover everything when the project is completed in late 1971.
Because it was built on clay, Peel said, the original bridge sagged even while it was being built, and therefore the arches were not all alike. Since the new location is mostly sand, there should be much less settling and a more symmetrical bridge.
“I’ve allowed half an inch for settling,” said Peel. “You prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
Ever since the plans were announced, newspaper writers found the project a natural story. The lord mayor of London came to lay the cornerstone and Queen Elizabeth is scheduled to dedicate it. Reconstructing the bridge will cost an estimated $8.4 million, but the McCulloch Corp. figures it will attract tourists.
As it is, there are already too many onlookers. Peel said his men had to put up 3,000 feet of fence to keep out the 100 to 150 curious people who gather every day to look down into the excavation.
From the way Peel talks about his job, you know he likes it. He has his finger in several other pies, too, including Pima College construction and the new Community Center, and has to keep in touch with engineers on those jobs.
Once the superstructure is finished, Peel can take things easier and have more time to himself. Maybe then, he says, he’ll get to use the golf clubs he took to Lake Havasu City two months ago and hasn’t touched since.
Whether Beresford was called home before the party is not revealed in the pages of the Arizona Daily Star. Nor is there any news as to whether Peel ever made it to the golf course, but we're betting he got there eventually.
