Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-05-25

| them many a time. The trustees appointed
\ by the cilies we're often at loggerheads.
| Politics and individual interests time and
[ Assin crept IN. Dissensions arose. Heated
/ controversies followed serious allegations.
| Official Investigations intervened. Sill the
work went gradually, though very slowly,
! on. Now that all is over no one cares par
| ticulArly 10 recall the marvellous triumpbs
OF science over rock and food, over quick
sand and tide. Lives have been lost, health
sacrificed, fortunes spent, years Of labor done
but they are in the past. The bridge Is in
| the present, it's benefits for the future.
| So far es the public are concerned all that
| is apparent is the structure-two huge stone
towers, behind which hang the bridge, lead
| ing into Brooklyn beyond, coming into
fte" Iork mere. Who can tell how the
towers are placed in position and on what
! foundation they rest? To present technical
| description here would be sn absurdity. Suf-
| ice 1t 10 say that by the aid of caisson, a
| huge wooden diving bell, on which were laid
| the solid wills Of masonry, little by little the
vast foundation on tue New York side was
| SUNK eighty feet below the surface of the
| rushing waters, resting on the bedrocks there
The caisson top was 102 feet By l72 feet and
twenty-five feet thick, of tough Southern
pine, fastened by bslts and Joints, aggregat-
ing $50 tons in weight. The sides at The top
wereeight feet thick, and tapered down to
eight inches thick. On this cs'sson land for
that matter the Brooklyn work was done in
! the same way)the huge foundation was built
by scientific laying Of huge stones, whose
weight gradually sunk the caiRson to its rest-
ing place. The reader may not appreciate
the innumerable difficulties Of technical ma.
ture which confronted the workmen at every
step, but il is easy to understand that on this
great, strong box huge layera Of heavy ma
sonry we're laid, aud that little by little its
own weight sunk it to the level carefully
prepared by men inside the box or caisson,
who, aided by prepared machinery, hauled
up al the stone and dirt at the bottom, so
that the final rest was as it should be. The
Brooklyn caisson WAS not ready until Msy,
1870, at which time it waa towed into lis
berth near the Fulton ferry clip. After it
was thoroughly ready the granite blocks,
averaging five tons each, were gradually laid
until The middle OF July of that year, when
compressed air was let in and workmen be-
gan to excavate beneath. The Brooklyn
endorsements were trivial inI comparison
with those on this eide, and after a depth of
foEty-fve aud half feet was reached, the
entire stratum being q tough mixture of pc
culiar clay, 1t was deemed safe 10 rest fill
the csisson with solid hydraulic concrete.
which soon became as firm as the rock il.
self, and leave it. This work lasted until
the middle of the month of N--SL,86Tt,
nsa<iy ruJrre year, two months of which,
however, were loet on account OF
$4,000 fire in the oaissoD, which necessi-
tatsd tho flooding of the interior. 1t was a
costly lesson, but forewarned forearnled, and
when the New York csissen was built a
boiler iron lining was provided at cost OF
SZOOUO, which, with the S15,0 loss in
Brooklyn, added pleasant total of So, 600
n hn E~F Uxzk n. Al i Il
difficulties we're greatly enhanced by The Pc
culiar nature Of the bottom, which was
trescherously sandy, and could not be trusted
until depth OF seventy Eight feet below
high water mark discovered a solid bed of
rock. caisson similar to the one above
described was built and to wed into position
10 October, 1871, and in May, 1872, it was
sunk and left.
UP THEY GO.
The satisfactory completion of these first
steps was cause for congratulations, because
the remainder of the work was purely me-
chanical and within the range of known SCI
ence. 1t is one thing TO fight with nature
fifty feet under water and another TO battle
with it on the solid earth or in the ambient
air. 1t Seems rather tough that Mr.. Reeb-
ling, whose inventive genius and practical
knowledge secured the successful termi-
nation OF this endeavor, waa not per-
mitted 10 see it. He was the first victim
in rather remarkable list, having died with
lockiaw which resulted from crushinG of his
loot IN the summer OF 1869, while superln-
tending the works. His son and partner,
Washington A. Roebing, was at once put in
the succession, where he has remained until
now, although his personal presence has not
been possibls since the fire in the caisson in
1871, when he contracted a curious disease,
with which he has been sffiicted ever since.
Having finished the foundations in this ex-
traordinary manner the upward progress OF
the great towers was the second step. Obyi-
ously- there was nothing about this Of start
ling nature. 1t was a tremendous job, fer
the towers are 276S feet high, but aside
from the necessity for accurate elevation
and the msny loop. holes and subdivisions
needed for the steel bands and traces and
wire ropes of the hri6g; and its connections
with the snohorages, the building of the
masonry there was precisely like that of any
other. AT the hight of lis feet above high
water mark, each tower is divided into three
sub-towers by two avenues 81 feet wide.
These rise to hight of 1904 feet, above
which the fall towers rise thirty feet higher
TO point where huge iron plates rest IS
kind OF saddle for the play Of the cables sup
porting ths bridge and running back to the
anchorages on either side. Tbe Brooklyn
New York tower in july, 1876. .--
THE BRIDGE.
The bridge may be said to begin at
Chatham Square in New York and end at
the corner OF Sands and Washington streets
in BROOKLYN, but the bridge proper, the
single span which constitutes the marvel Of
engineering skill, stretches 1854 feet from
tower to tower and 1850 from anchorage to
anchorage. At the towers the bridge is lis
feet above high mark, and in the CEN
Ter l35 feet. Clearly the fret thing TO be
done before stretching a single wire across
was the establishment of an anchorage on
each side of the river. These anchorages
hold the Wifes, and are located $50 feet iu-
land from the towers on each side. There
they stand, vast aggFeg stions OF stone, 1l9
feet by 1872 feet at !he base, ninety feet above
high-Waler marx, ard weigh hing $4,000 tons
each. There is nothing peculiar in the out
line or plan of these vast structures except
that at the bottom are four huge cast iron
plateS, one for each cable, sixteen and one
half feet by seventeen and one-half feet in
size, two sni one-half feet thick, and weigh
ing 10000 pounds each.
TIE WIRES IN THE CABLE.
In this castiron anchor plate are fastened
| parallel iron bars, which run up through the
/ SOiAd A8AooAIl iHS 1aNS
| of the anchorage walls some twenty
| ave feet, where they meet the ends Of the
cable. The bridge is held up By cables
| four huge punches Of wirep, laid parallel and
/ bound together By an unbroken wrapping,
also OF wire. Each wire is an eighth OF sn
inch thick, and, as there are 5000 Of them in
each cable, making bunch or bundle about
sixteen inches thick, the physical difficulty
of binding them together may be readily
imsgiDed. To do this it waa necessary TO
| arrange the wires in small parcels, nineiesn
| to cable, and each holding 27S single wires.
| These parcels or bundles formed coutinu-
Gus wire rope 200 miles long, which was
carried from anchorage to anchorage, back
and forth, 27S times. The ropes when laid
| were bound together, and then the ssVeral
ropes were lightly wound into one huge Ca
BILE. In this way four cables were made. 1t
was no easy tssk 10 send the fret wire rope
| scross from tower to tower. 1t VAS fret
coiled on q scow. Oae end was raised TO
the tower top, dropped on the other side
taken back 10 the anchorage aud made fast.
| The scow was then towed across the river,
the wire rope running from ths coil az it
| went. Once there it was hoisted to tn top
| of the second tower, and in turn fastened at
| the anchorage. When second roTe was
| carried over 10 the same way the two were
Joined over a windlass and sn endless wire
rope or belt was then workable through the
entire distance. Over this, which in engin.
eering psrlanee is called traveller the
writer made Trip in "buggy," which was
| simply contrivs nee of boards, with iron
! lotI,-, liz ~, olI fas H., fa.x.