Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-03-26
BROOKLYN BRIDGE.
What j. te he Seen from the Dizzy
Hight to which IL Towers Rise
Its Dimensions and Cost.
What If VIII Look Like when It is
Compieted-A Marvel of Engi-
neering Skill.
Wv YORK Eveninc pn.t

=
from the .op Of the toy. er. one Sees how much
actual Work hes bes n accomplished. \ com
r.-'- pam ias b. n cut from the tower 9, The
ois nan IN inclined plane Of stone Whlch
runs from re anchorage to Chatham street
-ooa-a -i"'. 9th. white and ready 10 be lraTe4-d
on .4e roalway OF iron beams between
the anchorage and the tower looks ready Tor
r'augiuy over. ! few glances convince one
that there Is really q bridge between New
York arL BROOKLYN. The view of The -lr-
rounding cities, rivers and bays l. magnit-
cent. When the bridge company fits up |
stronger staircase 10 the top it will be able 70
make money fast by admitting people at the /
rate Of = head. What a site for a SUM
mer hotel, When / reached the top there 1
was a Oue-armed man, apparently sailor, !
seated on a coil Of rope enjoying the pros (
Z pect. He criticised the management OF .
! schooner out in the stream in terms too nas- /
teal for me, and laid down dOuble-bar- |
Z relied telescope as a sign that he was ready /
Tor conversation.
do you know much about the BRIDGE" ! /
! asked MIN, half expecting to see him pull /
out the printed card Of which | already had /
several specimens in my pocket.
well, | should thiHI so. ! have watched /
| IL from the word go. l haven't had much |
10 do 'cept watch II Tor the past ten years. l |
helped sink the caisson. I've been down in |
| it when the pressure was so strong 1t seemed |
a. If 'twould break in your ear-Grunis, and |
you couldn't blow out candle but 'twould !
| light up again. | was there when they filled |
| the Csi--On with thousands Of tons OF cement, |
| and he man got left"
SCOT left where" / said, rather absently,
a- ] made out the Eockaway Beach elephant
| in the distance.
Didn't you never hear that story? Why,
there was eIghty-six men went TO work IN
| the caisson that morning, and OWN 10 some
| mistake in the count they turned on the
| steam and poured thousands Of tons into her
| before they found out that only eighty-tive
/ had come up. 1t would have taken year
! Jo pump it out again, and they charged
| him 10 profit and loss His dinner pail was
! found on the GOck, with his dinner in 1t. He
was the man that got left"
The old fellow seemed serious, but he
turned toward Jersey to hide the twinkle in
! his weather-beaten eye. Perhaps he was one
| OF the "cranks, maniacs or FOOLS" that slip by
| the gatekeeper. There was ne railing around
| the top OF the tower, and the stone coping
shelyed off toward the edge III fascinating
4. amer. But there was plenty OF machinery
70 cling to, and nothing wOul d tempt me 10
20 IL. the edge at his req ue,'t.
No +. 1er view Of New Nyor k is to be had
than iron, the top Of the bridge. The East
and Hudson rivers, the Som beyond Port
Morris Brooslyn and the island as far az
Conev Island, the Narrows, Staten Island,
Jersey Civ. Hoboken, and the Palisades be-
voDG, the whole Of New York, from Castle
Garden To Central Park-a u lies under the
eve like i panorama. The sight-seer IS ex-
aCtly seventy-tiye feet high er than the top
Of Trinity steeple. Every ddy in the bay Is
visible. [ can see the glitte of sails in the
sunlight beyond theline OF Coney Island on
one side and the Orange nrountalns on the
other. the Eavesink highlands to the south
and Washington Heights 70 the north, with
the water tower at High Bridge little to
the east. Altogether the eye roams over
Ty,isl Of tarr Tryr
Looking down into New YORK the absence of
open spaces is noticeable. With the ex-
ception OF a patch Of possible green
at Castle Garden and another where
the tall pole OF the Electric Light
Company marks MON So uare, Uiere are
no trees TO he seen; brick and' SLATE in every
direction, long lines OF shade " msIking the
streets. From the tower New York looks
dirty, disreputable, poverty-s dricl;en in com
parison with Brooklyn and Jer sey City. /
was forcibly reminded Of a suggestion made
to me recently by Prof Chandler of the
Health Board Instead Of To mixing of parks
for the Twenty-fourth ward, where the whole
country is a park, thi,AiS OF parks or breath
ing spaces for the snem' mt districts. Let
the city buy up doz an o.. its worst and con-
seauently cheapest bl oclzs from the Battery
to Fourteenth street, tear down the rock
cries, disnfect the g rounds with oceans of
| carbolic acid and lolant shade trees 1t
/ so arranged that no. person, especially in
| teuement-hOuse neigl IbOrhoods, will be more
| than half a mile iron one.
Half an hours alignment of the view is
! quite sufficient when the breeze is fresh up
| there, as it was on "Wednesday, notwithstand-
! ing the sunshine. rs prepared to face the
| terrors of the descent l asked my solitary
| friend W neither he had ever seen anyone fall
| off the tower.
! NO. he said, rather regretIully, "not ex-
actIy. But l have seen man aa"'e a. near
| TO IL as he wanted to. When they were put
ting on the cornice-stones there was a der
rick up here with which the big. stones
that form the cornice or ewes was
| swung over the edge to the right position,
and then bolted. into place. One day ma
son v as standing at the edge, waiting for the
| men to swing around that big corner stone
! by the head OF the steps there. He was
| standing with his back TO the men when he
| heard a shout. and saw the big stone, weigh
| ing ten tons or so, eight nine feet long,
| moving right on him. He had just time to
/ throw himself on the stone and grasp one of
! the ch aims that held 1t before the stone, with
him on 10 it, was swung out a dozen feet be-
| vond tue edge 1t was not more than a
! minute l,efure it was pulled in again, but the
man was too shaky to do any more work
| that dav. Going down? Well, come up
, come GOOD windy day, and take look at the
water"
| FAMILIAR ty breeds contempt On the way
down. the bolts holding the staircase looked
| firraer and there was no swsying perCeptble.
| Upon looking. over these notes j find that
| have perhaps not given enough figures.
| Some persons who may be interested in
knowing something more definite than that
the Brooklyn bridge is BOW really a bridge,
| and that the end of the work is in view, may
! like copy of one of my cards:
ustruction commenced January ,, 1870.
Size Of New York caisson, 172xlO2 feet.
Size of Brooklyn caisson, 16Sxl02 feet
Tim Der and iron in caisson, 1888 cubic
| yards.
cubic feet.
Weight OF New York caisson, about 1000
WEIGHT Of concrete filling, 5000 tons.
New York tower contains 1896 cubic
yards masonry.
yards masonry.
Length Of each lard span, $50 feet, 1860
Length of Brooklyn approach, 97l feet
Length Of New York approach, 1862 feet
Total length OF bridge, $3.50 feet.
Width Of bridge, IS feet.
Number Of cables, 4.
Diameter OF each cable, 154 inches.
First wire run out May 90, 1877.
CabIe-makiDg really commenced June IL,
1877.
Length Of each single wire in cables, 1878
feet inches.
tons.
Weight of wire, - feet per pound.
Each cable contains 1896 parallel mot
twisted) galvanized steel, oil-coated wires,
closely wrapped to a solid cylinder l54 inches
in diameter.
Depth Of tower found alton below high
water, Brooklyn, 10 feet.
Depth of tower foundation below high
water New York, IS feet.
Size OF towers at high-water line, l40x50
feet.
Size Of towers at roof course, 136x53 feet
Total hight of towers above high water,
27S feet.
Clear hight of bridge in center Of river
span above high water, at 80 degrees F., I35
feet.
Hight OF floors at towers above high
water, l19 feet inches.
Grade Of roadway, 81 feet in 100 feet.
Hight of towers above roadway, 159 feet
Size of auchorages at base, 129xl10 feet.
Size OF auchOrages at top, l11xlO4 feet.
Hight of anchorsges, so feet front, S. feet
rear.
Weight OF each anchor-plate % tons
, Total cost OF bridge, exclusive OF land,
100000.
Bridge Will probably be completed IN 1870.
Engineer, Colonel W. A. ROedling.
: \ bit Of information that is not upon the
: card Is that each OF the wires composing the
! cables can support a weight OF 1000 pounds.
: Also that taking the official estimate OF &c, :
e 600, 600 passengers a year, and allowing that
each one saves ten minutes, thanks to the
q bridge. the total yearly saving of time will
: | equal 137 years.
' 1t may be said that. although the bridge
| at present looks like an unfinished road, the
, pictures Of the finished structure show what
: marble ratings, city lamps, thousands of We
, hicles and passengers moving back and