Delta chief., 1883-06-20

eled splendor at night with its rows of lights
A certain Eastern lecturer said that the query
oftenest put to him in his travels has been,
when viii the Brooklyn bridge be done?"
There were some doubt, no feared that it
would never reach completion, but steadily
month By month, year by year, the mighty
structure has reared its head above the waters
When huge blocks Of ice crowded to its rocky
feet the work WAS perforce sometimes sus-
pended, but labor has continued on the bridge
with but little interruption for thirteen years.
But when the observer stands face 10 face
with the bridge, or upon its roadway, and
notes its mighty cables, complicated beams
and trusses, and ponderous masonry, he no,
longer wonders that il cost so much and was
so long in building. He VIII appreciate then
for the first time that the great cables are as
large around us his body; that the supports
Of the bridge contain enough wire to extend
around the globe and that the stone in each
tower would cover an acre of ground piled
thirty feet high. Ii is the greatest public
work Of modern times-three hundred and
fifty feet longer than the suspension bridge at
Niagara Falls, six hundred feet longer than
tle bfiugs> ut tihtiHfall W HStltI,, anu
the Fribourg and Welsh bridges are thrown
into insignifcance in comparison with it,
1t seems built securely to defy time-an
immortality in stone. Long after the race or
names of its builders may have persisted, it
will tower above the waters and span the level
shores-perhaps ~ inserutible mystery to
the generations of the dim future as the pyra-
mids are TO US.
According to the terms of its charter, The
bridge is public property and free from tolls
Two-thirds is paid for by Brooklyn. and one
third by New York. the actual payments by
the private stockholders having been reim-
bursed, and their title extinguishei The
engineers, etc, as wei as the principle work
ing members of the. j 7ectory, retained their
places as from the first, so that the work is,
after all, uni, from beginning to end.
January 3, 1870. the work of preparing the
site of the foundation of the Brooklyn tower
was begun. John \. Rpehling was then en-
rineer, but never lived to see the first
stone laid in the magnificent structure An
accident with which he met while engaged
upon his work resulted in lockjaw, and his
son, Washington o Roebling, became the eu-
ginccr of the bridge which was his fathers
monument.
Mr. John a. Roebling originally estimated
the cos, of the bridge Al 81 600 900. exclusive
of the land required, which has cost about
81, ,So0,ooo, and the time of building a, about
Eve years. Til. actual cost. Of the bridge, as
completed, will be about si5,5oQ,oo0, is com.
pared with the original estimate of $40, sOo,-
600. shows an increase of nearly 100000.
The two piers 90 down on the New York
side to rs feet below low water mark, and on
the Brooklyn side to .42l feet, both rest ng on
the bed rock. and the great cables that hold
the iron framework are stretched over them
and anchored deep in the stone work at either
end. The question which comes TO the lips
ON first looking at such n work suspended in
mid air is, "Will those four cables hold the
mass of iron hung on themy' The answer to
the inquirer is that each cable will sustain
the weight of 1000 tons, and the four toyeth-
er 10. 200 tons, while the weight of the bridge
is only 6,540 tons, leaving n margin of 4, 900
tons for the transient weights which may he
crowded on in crossing. This weight, it is
estimated, will not exceed $50 tons.
The cables, which are fifteen inches in di-
ameter, are composed of over 5000 strands of
steel wire, laid so close that the brush of the
painter will make them absolutely impcr-
vious to ali moisture: and the estimate of the
is that they will be Just as perfect and just as
strong a thousand years hence as they are to.
day. The distance from the arch or the cen.
ter Of the bridge to the water is a hundred
and thirty.fve feet, and should have been ten
or twenty feet more, as the largest ships can.
not pass under it without lowering their top.
masts. The bridge is divided into four prin-
cpal compartments, and n footway above
thrm all