The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-05-19 00:00:00

THE REVENUE RETURNS.

The receipts on account of Revenue from the Ist of
April, 1883, when there was a balance of £6,972,730,
to May 12, 1883, were 210,708.387, against £9,827,942
in the corresponding period of the preceding financial
year, which began with a balance of £5,976,585.

The net expenditure was £11,439,897, against
£11,122,681 to the same date in the previous.year.
The Treasury balances on May 12 amounted to
£5,618,042, and at the same date in 1882 to £4,330,662,

UNOCCUPIED LANDS IN THE UNITED
STATES.

By the census of 1880 the unsettled area of the
United States amounted to 1,400,000 square miles,
being nearly one•half the entire area of the country.
The unsettled area east of the Appalachian range of
mountains has been reduced to 10,000 square miles
only, and in the original 13 States there are less than
15,000 square miles unoccupied.

Wisconsin and Michigan show 20,500 square miles
as still unsettled, while Texas has no less than 137,000
square miles of vacant land.
In the territory weAt of the MissisAppi, including
AlinneB6", Dakota. Kan..as, Nebra‘ka, lowa, Mici•
Arkar,sas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado,
Mt;ntana, Hahn, and the Pacific States, 1,200,00)
square miles are either uiloccupied or inhabited only
by Indians. There is thus room for an enormous in-
crease of population.

JUDICIAL RENTS IN IRELAND.—The official return
for January ehow e that in that month in 1,632 cases
jndicial rents were fixed. The total acr ewe amounted
t ) 43,833 acres; the tenement valuation, £27.084; the
ful u.4,L rent, £36,369, and the Judicial rent £29,037.

THE GREAT EAST RIVER BRIDGE,

The Philadelphia Correspondent of The Times gives
a description of the new bridge connecting New York
and Brooklyn, from which we make the following ex-
tracts :

The Queen's Birthday, May 24, has been fixed as
the day for formally opening the Great East Rive/-
bridge connecting the cities of New York and
Brooklyn, the most stupendous work of the kind
yet constructed in this country. This bridge,
which has been thirteen years in building, has cost
about 15,000,000 dole. It is a suspension.bridge sup-
p rted by two towers standing up in East River
274 ft. high and 1,595ift. apart. The length of
toe bridge between the anchLrages of the cables is
3,500 ft., and between the termini 5,989 ft. There are
four cables, each having a solid sectiNi of nearly 145
square inches, and containing 1,732,0861 b. of wite,
with an estimated strength of 170,0001 b to the square
inch, so that the four cables azgregate 6,928,3461 b. of
wire and 98,437,1201 b of strength. The aggregate
weight of the bri3ge and its transitory load is esti-
mated at 34,000 tons. It is 85ft, wide and 135 ft. clear
above the water in the centre of the span.

William C. Kingsley and Henry C. Murphy, of
Brooklyn, were the original projectors of this great
bridge, which was regarded as a matter of importance
to that city, especially in times of ice blockade, to
secure a close and easy method of transit to New
York. Mr. Kingsley conceived the project as early as
1865, selected the site, and hired an engineer to make a
plan and estimates. Mr. Murphy was the President
of the Bridge Trustees until last year, when be died,
and Mr. Kingsley succeeded him. In 1867 the Bridge
Company was chartered with 5,000,000 dols, nominal
capital, 500,000 dols. being subscribed by prominent
people, who organized the company and governed it
until 1875, when the bridge was made a public
work, and given in charge to the Board of Trustees.
John A. Roebling was the engineer, and in 1867
made his plan and estimates, wherein the cost of
the bridge proper was given at 7,000,000 dols, and
the approaches 3,800,000 dole. He then thought
the work could be completed in five years. Of
this reported plan a board of the leading bridge
engineers of the country made a critical examination,
and unanimously approved it. Congress passed
an Act authorizing the bridge in 1869, and the
Secretary of War, in June of that year, gave it his
approval as not impending navigation, and the work
was then ready to begin. The War Department,
however, required five feet additional elevation for
the bridge over that originally planned, making the
clearance under it 135 feet, and A was also widened
from 80 feet in the first plan to 85 feet. This added
alsiout eight per cent to the estimated cost. Other
changes, in the construction of the approaches,
which are of massive masonry instead of light iron
trusses, as originally projected, and the foundations
of the towers, which it was found could not be built
on piles, as at first intended, swelled the cost to the
present figure. The approaches are Tnagnificent via-
ducts, their supporting archways being constructed
for utilization as storehouses, 400,000 dais, being set
apart for putting fronts and floors in them. Another
500,000 dole. has been devoted to carrying the elevated
railways over the brie and providing stations.
The foundations of the towers were laid by the aid
of huge caissons, the New York tower being built up
from the bedrock 80ft. below the service of the water,
and the Brooklyn Tower from the clay 45 ft. below
the surface. The Brooklyn caisson was got ready in
May, 1870, and the work completed in March, 1871,
a fire which necessitated flooding the caisson delaying
operations for two months. The New York caisson was
towed into place in October, 1871, and sunk in position
in May, 1872. . . . Then the towers began slowly to
rise, as the masonry was piled on the caissons. At 118 ft.
above high-water mark each tower is divided into
three sub-towers by two avenues each 31ift. wide.
These rise 120ift. further, above which the full towers
are elevated 30ft., with the saddle resting upon them
that supports the bridge cables. In May, 1875, the
Brooklyn tower was finished, and in July, 1876, the
New York tower. The bridge floor is 118 ft. above
high-water mark at the towers and 135 ft. in the centre
of the span. The anchorages of the cables are 930 ft.
from the towers on each side of the river—huge con-
structions of masonry weighing 60,000 tons each and
covering a surface 119 ft. by 132 ft. The cables are
composed of 5,000 wires each (Fn. wire). They are
arranged in ropes, each containing 278 single wires,
and 19 of these ropes in each cable, so that when
bunched together the cable is about 16in. in diameter.
These wires were carried back and forward batween
the anchorages and over the tower, the work of
stringing the wires beginning in June, 1877, and being
completed in October, 1878. Once a bundle broke
from the anchorage, darted across the tower, and fell
into the river.

The bridge is divided into five parallel avenues, the
outer two, each 19ft, wide, being for vehicles, and the
central one, an elevated road 15ift. wide, for
pedestrians. The other two avenues are for the
surface cars for passengers, which will be moved
across by means of an endless chain. It is the intent.
thin to permit foot passengers to cross free, to
charge tolls to vehicles, and to hold the passenger
car franchise for the benefit of the bridge at a charge
of five cents apiece. The ceremonial upon May 24 will
be u)nducted in the presence of President Arthur and
Cabinet and the Governors of the States, with the
mayors and officials of New York and Brooklyn, Mr.
Kingsley handing the bridge over to the two cities
and William M. Evarts speaking for New York and
the Rev. Dr. Storrs for Brooklyn. On the next day
the great bridge will be thrown open to the public.