The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1883-06-02

excursion boats, the crowds turned home
ward. AS far as they were concerned the
celebration was over.
At the Brooklyn Academy of Music last
night there was another crush at the recep-
ton given to the President and other guests
of Breoklyn's Mayor. There was 10 hand
shaking, the guests merely bowling their ac-
acknowledgements to the salutatOns. 4 num-
Der of minor accidents occurred during
the dayy9p'ppt n99tofa serihops.fharaeter 2lFgI
,cW al THE. WORK. .eie ma 6hs iaa1
ATRrtMPH OF BNGiNEBRING SKILL. 30,
The great bridge Is largely the product of
the severe winter OF 1866 Dqripg that winter
the East River ferry-boats came TO grief.
Brooklyn businessmen embarking on.a Fulton
farry-boat found themselves, after an hours
cruising, in the vicinity Of Hellgate For DAYS
the river was so choked with ice as to be almost
impossible. Some boats, in beating against
ice-cakes in a strong current were driven down
around Governors Island and then TO Staten
Island. The Inconvenience was great, but
the losses sustained by certain bust
ness interests were such that a vigorous de-
mand was made for n bridge. Soon after men
of capital obtained a charter, and u bridge
company was formed with a capital of S5Ufl.-
900. The charter was aftenyard amended 90
that the enterprise should be managed eX
cusvey by the auph critics OF the Two ctta Is,
Brooklyn agreeing to pay two7shirtls Of tie
deserves este to be Called the t6er Of thesesat
bridge As early as fSo5'he erppioyed 40 en-
gineer to draw piars and make estimates
came for actionhe BECAME The acknow wi r,
leader Of the enterpE.se nay2S 1867, John A.
Der of the same year he made his report of SUR
veys plans and esi lniiites. Work was com
MERGED on the SITE Or tho fpindatfon of the
R RGopISlr tower Sssg ,a S Eaan g
work begun. lnrthe summer of ls6J, Yllile-a
work ON the location of the BrogAlYn tower,
an incoming 'ferry-boat. eollided with some
~ lfaIh al ha a ad If
lock-Jaw about two weeks later His son,
Washington A. Roe bling, was called upon to
take up and complete his fathers great,wOrk,
he was equal to the emergency. Although
falling a Victim to the oaisson disease . in
December, 1871. he supervised the work from
health and never will F-r Itt 81.
The constructiQnoft his gigantic cobweb for
travel has furnished an episode OF engineer
ing the magnitude of which few appreciate.
The towers are 2i6a5 feet i'm height The
cables are anchored inland at Assistance oilg3O
anchoages are triunphs of stone-masof1ry,
1l9 by l32 feet at the base and rising 10 an ele-
Yation of SO feet above high-wAter, mark.
Weighing about 5000 tons each, they are of
course capable of resisting an enormous strain.
from the cables. A stranger yieYing the tow,
ers for the frst time naturillyasks. rHowwas
sppS 10 S1a ff fSs FOR
The query is easily answered. The subma-
rine section OF the tower was construct
sunk to Its he'd deep lwn in the sand or
where the fishes were wont to dfsport This
S as bSy l dRe qi ny snd me
is called a caisson. II resembles nothing 50
much as an inverted chest. 1t must be lined
with bOiler-iron, scanned air-tight. with means
Of ingress and egress for men ana materials.
BY the use of this caisson many formidable
difheulties have been surmOunted and per
feet foundation laid where the waves viii
wash their mighty bases for ages. The foun-
dation is laid eighty feet below the surface of
the river and the granite masonry Is true to
hNnn Hl.n al.
fully over the top of the towers 218 feet In
height The bridge floor, which the cables
sustain, is an immense steel framework con-
: slstng OF TWO systems of grders at right
angles 10 each other. The main girdors, sup
porting the hoor proper. are graceful trusses
eet sH ndR Reses deep fose
attached four steel rope suspenders
from the cables. Parallel and longi-
tudinal trusses, with braces or stays give the
combination strength in every direction. At
the towers the framework Is firmly anchored.
Inc weight OF the central span of the entire
suspended structure is 6,740 tons. IL is esti-
mated that ut no time will this weight be in
creased by cars, vehicles and passengers more
t IN IA 5iSsO TONS giHing atota maximum weight
tons are sustained by the cables and 100 tons
by the suspensory stays OF steel wire ropes d.
yerging from the tops of the towers TO points
about fifteen feet apart along the bottom of
four of the vertical trusses. These stays eX-
tend out from the towers 400 feet. They form
important auxiliaries to the cables. The cen
tral avenue of the bridge is TO be used as a
footway. Its width is nineteen feet, and it is
elevated above the avenues on the sides some
ten 1eet. The side avenues are occupied by
cars moving from end TO end by means Of an
endless wire rope operated by a stationary en-
gine.
The cables suspended from the great towers
are nitoen ana three-quarter inches thick. In
each cable there are 5000 wires, the whole
mass being subdiYided into skeins or strands
tasnloned IKE skeins OF yarn or thread. Each
cable contains nineteen OF these strands of Pts
wires each, and each skein is a continuous
wire nearly l,OOOO0 feet in length. The
first man 10 cross from tower to tower was +.
n. FarringtOn. the Mister Mechanic of the 90.