A friend brought my attention to the following paragraphs in the introduction to a paper in the ASCE journal

Wibur J Watson Trans ASCE, 1906 Paper No 1034

The writer has in mind an interurban line which was built upon a highway and crossed many bridges. The engineer in charge, who was not a bridge engineer, reviewed the stresses caused by the new loading, and condemned every structure in which they exceeded those recommended by a certain standard specification for highway bridges. On the other hand, lines have been built over old highway bridges without any investigation whatever being made as to the strength of the bridges. It is hardly necessary to state that such lines were built by promoters, without the aid of competent engineers.
One promoter, desiring to show his contempt for engineers in general, told the writer that he had built an interurban line, ten miles in length, and that his total expense for engineering services amounted to $75. The writer having ridden over this line, sees no reason to doubt the promoter’s statement.