The Press., 1883-05-03
Issued Every Thursday Evening.
THE EAST RIVER BRIDGE.

THE EAST RIVER BRIDGE.
 The work is so far advanced at present as to give . fair idea of what it will be when completed. Viewed from up or down the river, 1t presents striking fea- trlre in the landscape, giving the eye an objective point which the low and ill-built water front has hitherto lacked. Artistic ally 1t is already success and when the floor shall be graded, and the present. i'm equalities in it's surface shall have disap- peared, 1t will not be matched in grace and beauty by a any similar structure in the world By day when it's delicate outlines shall stand out against the sky, or at night when its arch shall be marked by g Iine of glittering lights, it will make the harbor of New York unique in it's picturesque eff fects.
 Viewed near at hand, itsis even more in teresting. At either approach, 8 broad roadway, eighty-five feet wide, opens out before the visitor, leading directly and by an easy grade to the super structure of the bridge itself. In the middle of this roadway is the footpath. six teen feet wide on either hand runs the railway, thirteen feet. wide; while the re- maining nineteen or twenty feet on each side are occupied by a carriage track. When the railway and carriage road reach the towers, they pass underneath the arches, but the foot-path, being in the middle, encounters solid pier-or would encounter ii, If it did not ascend by a flight of steps and, proceeding around the pier, cross the river at an elevation of about fif- teen feet above the roadway. By this ex- pedient the entire width of the bridge is utilized, while the pedestrian, raised above the level of the floor, commands an unob- structed view of the magnificent prospect. E It is, however, from the top of the tow Ter that the prospect is the widest and that one gets the best idea of the structure and the bridge itself. Here, at an elevation of |278 feet -58 feet higher than Bunker Hill Monument one finds the whole of. N. Y. and Brooklyn, from Central Park to the Atlantic Ocean, stretched out at his feet Objects are so fore shortened by the height that the Cathedral in Fifth Avenue seems quite near and one hardly guesses that the mass of foliage, on the other hand, is Prospect Park in Brooklyn, or realizes that the Cathedral and the park are six miles distant in 8 straight line. Below, the East river winds like thread and one may trace its course from the islands, around Corlear's Hook, and past the bridge tower, until it joins with the Hudson to make the spacious bay. Only the largest ships, whose masts are more than 135 feet high, are obstructed in their passage :; and by striking their topmasts, these may easily pass under Once in a while, how ever, this precantion is neglected, and then there IS crash aloft, and a shower of splntered wood on the vesseli deck, while the great framework above does not even tremble. In such an encounter one gets a new impression of the bridges strength. To all appearanceit it is as firm as the death itself and one can hardly imagine any load being put upon it that 1t would not
 be able to bear.
 One ceases to wonder, as he surveys the marvellous complication of beams and
 trusses, the mighty cables, and the pon. derous masonry of the towers and ap. breaches, that it should have cost.so much money, or that its construction should have taken soelong. The cost, it is true, is larger by several millions than was orig inally contemplated but the whole plan of the bridge has been meanwhile changed, steel has been substituted for iron, its car rying capacity has been greatly strength
 ened, and. the land occupied by the ap-
 breaches on either side has been bought
 instead of rented, as at first designed. l There nave been delays, moreover, caused
 by opposition of enemies, by political
 feuds, and by the fluctuations of the steel
 market, which, with the difficulty of in
 venting machinery to do the work, embar-
 rassed the manufacturers and prevented
 the prompt filling of their contracts. But
 these are things of the past week after
 the bridge is opened they will be forgot
 ten, and people will wonder, not that its
 completion was so tardy, but that it did
 not take longer.