Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-09-20
o Eas5 Liver Bridge.

Ao E-a4s -.lvar Bridge.
NE bridge which IS to wed
Brooklyn to New York is progress
ing slowly but surely. The pier on
tho Brooklyn side is already within
one course Of the road-bcd, or III
feet above the high-wat mark.
The charter by which this bridge
~ being built requires this pier TO
be l83 feet above high water in the
center, from which it viii fall to ll9
feet 1t either end, with a slope Of
two feet to the hundred. The last
course Will be completed BY the end
Of the present week, and then the
building of the towers Will com
mence without any intermlssion.
These towers will be crucitorm as
they stand upon the column. The
outer ones will be IS by "a feet in
their greatest dimensions; the cent
raj one 45 by lS-all sloping slight
ly toward the top. They will rise
perpendicuIarly from the road bed
793 feet and then arch into n con-
tinurus wall; the key-stoncs Of the
two arches thus formed will be lis
feet above. the road-bcd. The
cables will pierce the towers %
fcet above these key-stones. or 259
feet above high water mark.
The total height OF the work in
cludiny the balustrade, which will
be twenty feet above the cables, will
be 27o feet above mean high water
mark. The tower will be solid
masonry, with carefully dressed
facing stone.
The materials for them are all
ready, and some have arrived.
Should The work so on as rapidly as
the builders expect it will, the
towers will be completed as far as
the arches by the beginning of the
winter season. Then should no in
tcrruption, political or otherwise,
occur, the remainder can easily be
completed a year hence. 1t is con-
cluded that Tie New York pier,
which is now twenty feet above
high water mark, and the anchor
pier will be finished by the close OF
The year 1874, when the cables will
bc lai1 Then New York and
Brooklyn will virtually be made
one. The view from the full eleva-
ton must be grand indeed. In fact
from its present height an interest
inc variety OF sea and shore and city
OH either side OF the winding river
strikes the eye. On one side is
Brooklyn, stretching up and down
the shore for miles, and back to
lanGward as far almost is the eye
can reach.
Opposite IS 1Se1 York, winding
Away northward almost to the hori-
zon line; to the west, the New
J rscy shore and city, fianled by
tie Orange mountains; then the
Palisades and other elevations,
mountains, peaks and woods which
encirclc thc city On the north and
northwest. On the south and south
west lies the beautiful broad bay,
guarded bv the wooded heights OF
Staten Island, the forts along the
shore, and the promontories along
tie Narrows. The shipping of the
river in all its extent and diversity
lies immediatly under the eye ofthe
watcher from the East river bridge.
Almost ut his feet send countless
ferry boats, with their fat roofs
which make them look like so many
painting turtles, squirting from shore
to shore; then the gay-looking ex-
cuvsion boats and pleasure crafts,
in lively contrast with the strong,
dark, shapely coasters, the snorting
tug-boat and the lazy three-master
which it pulls along, the shapely
Yacht and the graceless mudscow,
all mingle as democratically on the
highway Of the deep rs do the ditle-
rent classes Of humanity upon the
streets beneath his eyes. 1t is an
endless panorama, with a kaleido-
scopio beauty peculiarly its own,
that will meet the eye Of the watcher
from the East river bridge tower.