Connecticut western news., 1873-05-09
The Great East River Bridge.
The Structure Towering Above Sur-
 rounding ObJscts-.ForeigmE Engineers, 3 TalinE an Interest in the Esr rOrlx. ss F2

D0luS puSu0u IOrWaTQ W1Gn renewed vigor, and the working force has been doubled on both sides of the river. The tower on the Brooklyn side is completed to a height of about 15O feet, and the men are working on the three towers | which rise from the main body on level with the roadway of the structure. These towers are now twenty five feet above the level of the roadway, and are being added to at the rate of foot @ day. Nearly all the work is being done by steam. A steam derrick hoists vast block of stone from the pier to the top of the tower. It is then placed on a car, which moves on what is termed a travelling crane, in other words track l fixed on a movable road bed, and from this position it moves by means of a balance derrick, also worked by steam, to it's appropriate place on the tower. The outer upper towers on the Brook lyn side are AS by A feet at the base, and as they ascend there are what en- gineers term "sloping offsets"-that is to say, the tower as it hears completion becomes narrower, but without assum- ing the shape of 8 cone or an Egyptian pyramid. This the engineer in charge MT. Q. o. Martini says gives a relief to l for wherever there is an "offset" the stone is smooth-cut, instead of being left in rough jaggedness. This is also the case with the main tower, whose dark outlines are much relieved by oc- casional narrow streaks of cut stone, contrasting strinkingly with the rough work. By graduating the structure in | thioa xT a 6nr,aoof sP eof Snoforio1 ia effected, while the strength of the towers remains about the same as though they were built in solid form. TheEeentre tower .iasL is 48 by 153 feet at the base.
 As the Brooklyn tower makes it's slow but sure ascent, it is wonderful how it dwarfs the buildings in it's neighbor- hood. Once the four-mill at Fulton ferry loomed up as an immense struc- ture, but now it shrinks' into compar- ative insignificant beside it's more lofty neighbor. The new ferry house, when it was built, had an imposing appear ance as to the height of it's towers, but now even thego1den ball which tips it's flagstaff is far below the bridge tower. As for the stores and dwellings, on Full ton street, they have sunk below notice. Compared to the tower they look as in sigpicant as though they were old-fash- toned watch boxes placed beside the new Court House, or East river oyster sloops ranged alongside the Great Eastern. Looking from the street at the men at work on the tower, they ap- pear like dwafs, while on them the pass ers-by below have the appearance of lilliputians. s4~ 4
 The Brooklyn tower now employs only 30 men, including carpenters, masons, blacksm iths, and engineers, but 70.hate been engaged for some time past in the exeavatiens for the anchorage tower, which is to be erected in James street, above Front, near the old market. The excavation will be. 129 by 119 feet, and 25 feet deep. So far the work has been easy and rapid, the soil being light sand, well suited for building purposes. MT. Martin says that this is worth $1. 25 per, cubic yard, and as he expects to take at1east F, ,OOO yards from the ex1 cavation, worth $15,0OC, the building sand will pay all the working expenses. In this work, also, steam is employed wherever practicable. The sand is shovelled by men into box holding two cubic yards and steam engine hoists the box and dumps it's contents into a cart. The foundation for the anchorage will be timber platform, and it will contain B, ,000 yards of masonry. Its height will be 89 feet above the level of the river. The excavation will be com pleted early in May, and the masons will probably begin wsrk on the anchor age tower in June.
 On the New, York side the force, in- cluding masons, carpenters, and black smiths, is fifty men. Col. Payne, the engineer in charge, says that the pro- gross made is equal to two feet in three days. The tower is sixty feet high, and it is expected that by the end of the season it will be raised to the height of the roadway-l19 feet. The premises belonging to the Bridge Company are those formerly occupied by the Will iamsburg ferry. The yard contains carpenter, machine and blacksmith shops, storehouses, machinery for mix ing cement, and four engines for hoist ing purposes. Little tramways inter- sect it at various points, and all mater ial is conveyed to the works in small cars. 1ye-sgs-! @-= .sts
 Late in. the fall or early next season the excavationgof the site for the New York anchorage tower will be begun. This tower will be of the same dimensions as that on the Brooklyn side. It will be situated few feet west of Water street, and north of Dover street. The ap- brooches to the New York terminus of the bridge will begin at Chatham street, and by an easy grade ascend to the height of the tower, being supported at conven- tent distances by iron girders and trus- ses, together with small piers of mason ry or iron columns built within the blocks of building which will be cross ed and occupied.sass sr+ Y-.zs5 -s:sf -f
 Col. Payne says that of all the visitors who have inspected the caissons, which are regarded as the most successful of the kind in the world, small per cent age only were from this city. But French, English, German, and Austrian engineers have visited and thoroughly inspected the works, which have been honored also by the presence of several delegations of Chinese and Japanese magnates, who have expressed unbound ed admiration and surprise at the ease with which vast masses of granite are raised from the ground and placed in position. =@:G %erss &
 To give correct idea of the immense amount of material used in the caissons and towersit need only be said that each of the former contains 4,200,O ,O0O feet of timber-most of it heavy yellow pine, 380 tons of iron in bolts and sheathing. and 30, 900 tons of masonry-the weight of the wholestructure being 900 tons. Add to this 0,oo0 tons of masonry which form the tower, and the grand total is 1000 tons. IN. y. 4Saaa.
 A Lot of Holidays. ~.... For young nation, the United States are accommodating very neat little stock of anniversaries. The 17th of June, proximo, for instance, will be the two hnndredth anniyersarv of the discoveru