17 First St.  Mar 20, '89
Rensselaer Polytech Institute. 
Troy, N.Y.

Theodore Cooper, C.E.
35 Broadway, New York
Dear Sir:
I have yours of 19th inst.  Of course I should be glad to get prints of old bridges
referred to but I don't want to put you to any trouble in the matter at all.  I can't
make head or tail out of some of the dates given for those old Mahawk bridges.  There's
a history of Albany and Schenectady Counties here which enumerates the bridges built around
Schenectady for about 200 years or so and it has the following about the Mohawk bridges
"Bridge at from of State St. over the Wohawk - begun 1797 - arched or elliptic - 
upset by wind when nearly
completed - the winter following taken down and rebuilt on piers in 1803 - 
Original Mohawk bridge erected in 1808."
By original bridge they mean Burr's Suspension of course.
The History above referred to is not the one I referred to in a previous
letter - that was the History of Schenectady.
Yours truly,
Palmer C. Ricketts