Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1876-08-17
Our RadiX Letter.
The Brooklyn Bridge-ThrOwing
Over the First Wire-Particu-
lars of the Great Enterprise

Z
By the time this comes befer
your readers a notable step vii
have been taken in the progress
of our big bridge to Brooklyn
Both the enormous piers being a
last completed and the last injunc
ton against the continuance dis
solved, the first of the week viii
witness the spinning of the frs
threads across the stream, from
one dizzy height to the other, ant
from that point the work will g
rapidly forward 10 completion
Some of the grandeur Of this en-
terpriSe may be gathered from
few statistics.
The work was commenced in
Jan, 1870, 50 that the laying Of
the foundation and building the
piers alone has been the work of
over five years. The foundations
rest on the solid rock rs feet he
low high water mark. A descrip'
ton Of the lay ing of these founda
tons would in itself make a very
interesting letter-the launching
and sinking of the great caiSsons
weighing 5000 tons apiece, the
condition of the workmen work
ing away down under the river
in air sufficiently condensed to
hold back the mud and water and
consequently so dense as to al
most intOXicate those who breath
ed it and to make the lamps blaze
with dangerous ferceness--these
and many other details would
possess great interest, but space
fOrbids more than a mention OF
the silent points. The bridge be.
ing a suspension one the strain
comes entirely upon the "anchor-
ages" OH either side, and the two
piers. These anchorages are
great masses OF masonry bolted TO.
gether and to a heavy foundation
with heavy iron bars and clamps
running in every direction. Tc
these will be fastened the ends
of the four main cables which are
to bear the weight Of the bridge
proper. These cables seem 10
me the most stupendous feature
of the whole structure. Each one
will be fifteen and one half inches
in diameter and will be composed
Of $500 small steel wires, twisted
together. Perhaps it may strike
some reader that such a cable will
be pretty heavy. The wire to be
USED weighs one pound for every
fourteen feet in length and as
there are TO b. $500 strands in
each cable, ev fourteen feet
will weigh $500 pounds, or 400
pounds to the foot. ABthe distance
between the anchorages is $500
feet, or more than twice the dis
lance between the piers, a cable
reaching straight across from one
to the other would weigh about
100000 pounds. But as they
have got to be longer to 60 up over
the piers and as there are four OF
them instead of one, the total
weight will he 6,800,O0O pounds
or 3 400 tons. But how are such
masses Of metal going to be put
up over the towers? The ques'
ton, ! confess, would be apt to
bother any one of us if we had
the matter in charge, but the en-
gineer, Mr.. Roebing, obviates this
serious difficulty by arranging to
take the small strands up, one by
one, and make the cables in their
proper places. 1t is as easy
when you know low, as it was to
Columbus friends to make an egg
stand on the end after he had
done it for them; but it isn't every
one who could have suggested the
plan.
The piers, which have thus tar
been the only visible evidence OF
progress, now tower aloft in grand
completeness, looking like the OPP
posing fronts of two mighty cathe-
drals, the double roadway opening
in each standing for Gothic WIN
dows. From the river to topmost
piece of iron work is 275 feet, and
the structures are about 50 by l3O
feet at the base, tapering slightly
toward the top. The railways
will be 135 feet above high water
mark. To stand at the bottom
of one of these giant piles and look
upward will make giddy any but
the steadiest head. From this
position the top seems to pierce
the clouds. The staging upon
which the workmen travel up and
down its endless sides narrow
down to a point in the vast per
spective and the workmen them
selves, when they can be discern
ed at all, look like ants-as.
doubtless we Of the earth appear
to them. On the top of each are
j