National Republican., 1883-05-24
The Mighty Span Which Unites the Cities Of
Brooklyn and New York.
The Man Who Designed twas Killed
in Locating Its Foundations,
And His Son Has Since Carried Forward the Work
Though Confined TO His Room BY Ill Health.
II VIII he Opened TO the Public To-day
with Great Ceremony.

very greatest engineering achievements re-
corded in human annals. The event has
been long anticipated but so often post
poned by repeated and unexpected delays
that the public finds it difficult to believe
that the end has at last come. 1t is now
eighteen years since the project of bridging
the East river was conceived in the fertile
mind of William c. Kingsley, a prominent
Brooklyn citizen, who as president of the
Bridge company, fitly presides over the COM
pletion Of the project. In the year 1865 Mr..
Kingsley hired an engineer to draw plan
and make estimates for such a structure, aud
when convinced of its feasibility organized
number of wealthy citizens to push the
scheme Two years after the first suggestion
had been put before the public charter was
granted by the legislature, with flexible
capital of $4,000, ,000 $3,000,000 of which was
TO be subscribed by Brooklyn, 81 100000 by
New York, and 100000 by private parties.
All the capital was subscribed, and the SUBJ
scribers of the 100000 elected the trustees,
who served until the act Of 1875, when the
bridge was made a public work, and this
money was of course paid back. The mayors
of New York and Brooklyn then named the
trustees and have done so ever since.
John A. Roebling was engaged as engineer
in May, 1867 and in the following September
presented his report, in which he estimated
the cost Of the structure at $1OOO,OOO, and
the expenses for land approaches and so on at
3.S0O,0OO more, while he believed that the
work could be completed within five years.
These estimates have proved sadly made
uuate nearlysixteen years have since elapsed,
while the cost of the enterprise has amounted
to nearly $15,000,000 Part of the great in
crease in expense has been due to unforeseen
4 ,., otr ntt ri
of the width originally selected and other
changes of structure, but much more to politi-
cal jobbery and mismanagement.
The total length of the bridge is 59S9 feet,
of which the central span between the towers
is 1886 feet @ inches, the Gland spans" from
the towers to the anchorages each 95O feet,
the approach on the New York side 1852 feet
inches, and on the sleeper Brookly side 81
feet. These Dimensions do not make this the
longest bridge in the world. But there is no
single span which approaches the central span
over the East river. 1t is half as long again
as Roebling's Cincinnati bridge Il ,057 feet be-
tween towers), and nearly twice as long as
the same engineers Niagara bridge (Se1 feet).
The span of the ill-fated bridge over the
Ohio at Wheeling, which was built in 1913
and blown down in 1854, was l,OlO feet
Noteworthy suspension bridges in Europe
are Telford's, over the Menai straits (5S9 feet),
finished in 1926 Chaley's bridge at Fribourg
Clark's bridge, over the Danube ut Pesth (67O
feet), finished in 1545. The longest spans
bridged otherwise than by roadway hung
from cables are the central spans of Stephen
sons Britannia (box girder) bridge (459 feet),
and of Ead's st. Louis bridge of steel arches
(520 feet). The largest span of an arch OF
masonry known to have been built in bridge
(251 feet) was in that built in the fourteenth
century, and destroyed by Carmagnola in the
fifteenth, which crossedst the AIDA at Trezzo.
The largest now standing is that OF the Gros-
venor bridge at Chester 600 feet), and the
next the central arch of London bridge (l2o
feet)
The most difficult feature of the work was
the erection of the hugo stone towers. To
secure solid foundation it was necessary to
reach depth of over As feet below the sur
face of the water on the Brooklyn side and
nearly so feet on the New York side OF the
river. This work was done by means OF a
caisson, n hugo wooden diving bell, on which
were laid the solid walls of masonry. The
caisson top was 102 feet by 172 feet and %
feet thick, of tough southern pine, fastened
by bolts and joints, aggregating 25O tons in
weight. The sides at tho top were 3 feet, and
tapered down to 8 inches thick. On this
caisson the huge foundation was built by n
scientific laying of massive stones, and little
by little its own weight sank it to the level
carefully prepared by men inside the box or
caisson, who, aided by prepared machinery,
hauled up the stone and dirt at the bottom,
so that the final rest was exatly as 1t should
be. The sinking of the caisson on the Brook
lyn side was completed in March, 1871, and
that on the New York side in May, 1872. The
next step was the erection of the towers,
which are 2762 feet high At the height of
1ls feet above high water mark each tower is
divided into three subtowers by two avenues
3l1 feet wide. These rise to height Of 1901
feet, above which the full towers rise 80 feet
higher TO a point where huge iron plates rest
as kind of saddle for the play of the cables
supporting the bridge and running back to
the anchorages on either side. The Brooklyn
tower was finished in May, 1875, and the New
York tower in July, 1876.
1t was necessary TO establish an anchorage
TO hold the wires on each side of the river,
which are located $50 feet inland, and are
vast aggregations OF stone, ll9 feet by l32 ieet
at the base 80 feet above high water mark,
and weighing 10000 tons each. At the bot
tom are four huge cast iron plates, one for
each cable, l6A feet by ia feet in size, "a feet
thick, and weighing 10000 pounds each. In
this cast iron anchor plate are fastened par
allel iron bars, which run up through the
solid masonry, and through the face of the
anchorage walls some 25 feet where they meet
the ends of the cable. The bridge is held VI
by cables-four huge punches of wires, laid
parallel, and bound together by an unbr0ken
wrapping, also of wire. Each wire is an eighth
of an inch thick, and there are 1900 of them
in each cable, making bunch or bundle
about sixteen inches thick. The work oi
stretching these cables across the stream was
begun in June, 1877 and finished in October
1873, and the completion of the structure has
consumed the long period since the latter
date.
The length of the main span of the bridge
is 1886 feet and six inches, and the length ol
each land span $50 feet. The New York ap.
proach from Chatham street is ,562 feet and
six inches in length, and the Brooklyn ap'
proach from the corner of Sands and Wash
ington streets, 971 feet which makes the
total length between termini -6,0s9 feet, ol
about a mile and an eighth. The height Of
the roadway at the tower is ll9 feet, and al
the center of the bridge l35 feet and six
inches, Each cable contains ], 1872 OS6 pounds
of wire, and the strength of the four cables
estimated at 10000 pounds per square inch
is 9S,4S7, 100 pounds. The weight of the cen
tral span is 6,7i0 tons, and the estimated
weight of a crowded bridge, carts, people, and
ALL Is / $3.50 TONS There are five parallel av'
enues, about sixteen feet wide, the outer two
nineteen feet wide, being devoted to vehicles
while the central road, fifteen and half feel
wide, is reserved for pedestrians. On either
side Of this elevated footpath is an avenue fol
the use of surface cars, one line going tC
Brooklyn, the other coming TO New York
So great a work has necessarily had III
record of fatality. The original engineer
John A. Roebling, was the first victim In
rather remarkable list, having died will
lockjaw, which resulted from n crushing o
his foot in the summer of 1869 while super
intending the works His son and partner
Washington A. ROeblinp who succeeded him