From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for April 18, 1916:

• “The lowering of the cofferdam for pier No. 2 of the new bridge has caused the diver of the bridge company to play a return engagement in Lawrence. This morning he made an examination of the setting of the dam on the rock bed…. The flood of 1903 is in a degree responsible for the difficulty being experienced in sinking the north abutment caisson. Stones and old pieces of wood are being encountered making the digging difficult. These stones are in such shape that they must be removed without the aid of dynamite. It is necessary to remove the old rubbish and rocks from the caisson by means of buckets lifted by hoisting engines, causing this part of the work to proceed slowly.”
• “The hauling of freight by the interurban along Massachusetts street will be avoided if a plan now being considered by the interurban officials goes through. This was the news brought by Commissioner Holyfield to the city commission meeting today. Commissioner Cleland brought up the subject, declaring there would be great objection if freight was hauled on Massachusetts street. The understanding is, of course, that freight on the interurban will be hauled only at night, but Mr. Cleland anticipated trouble just the same if it were hauled on Massachusetts street. Mr. Holyfield said he had had a talk with interurban officials who told him they were working on a plan that would make it possible for them to keep all freight off Massachusetts street.”
• “The city engineer of Lawrence may also be the superintendent of the Lawrence water works system. This was among the suggestions made to the meeting of the advisory water board in a session held last night in the commissioners rooms…. It was thought by the board that while the plant is being improved and extended the office of city engineer and superintendent of the water system should be at least closely related if not actually held by the same man. By giving this officer competent help to aid in carrying out the details of the work, it was thought that the greatest efficiency as well as the greatest degree of economy could be reached.”
• “Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Pine and their 2-year-old daughter left Lawrence yesterday for New York to begin a voyage to Portuguese Africa, where they will be missionaries. They expect to be gone five years in charge of a mission of the Free Methodist church. After leaving New York they will be on the sea thirty-eight days, the regular time required to complete the voyage to the African port. Rev. Gilbert Pine is a son of Theodore Pine. He is now 27 years old and was born and grew up in Douglas county. His wife was Miss Virginia Parsons of Vinland, and she and Mr. Pine studied together at the college maintained at Chicago by the Free Methodist church for the training of missionaries and ministers.”
• “A variety of important manufacturing plants around Chicago will be visited by a party of ten chemical engineering students who left last night with Prof. W. A. Whitaker on a week’s inspection trip. ‘The purpose of these trips is to give the men an opportunity to inspect and get a practical knowledge of the work done in large manufacturing industries,’ said Professor Whitaker…. ‘They get a chance to see what they have learned in the laboratory worked out in a practical way.'”