The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-05-24
4 Triumph of Science.

One of the greatest achievements
in the annals of American progress
is given to the Union to-day. Whilst
thousands OF readers are Scanning.
the VIRGINIAN, tens of thousands of their
fellow men are assembled in New York
to witness the formal completion Of one of
most pronounced triumphs of engineering
skill the world possesses. To-day the
President of the Company charged with
the building of the East River bridge. a
magnificent structure connecting Brook
| Ign and New York, in. the presence of
prominent Federal and State officials, and
numberless spectators not less interested,
will transfer this wonderful work of
science to the representatives of the two
cities, Mayors Edison and Low.
Nearly twenty years ago, the idea of such
a bridge was first conceived. Immediately
after the close of hostilities between the
sections, in 1865 we think, Mr.. VIM. G.
Kingsley, the owner of a large amount of
real estate in Brooklyn, formed the project
in his mind, and at his own expense OBJ
tanned the plan of a competent engineer,
and located the terminii of the bridge. In
fiuential business men were enlisted in the
scheme, the power of the press brought to
bear; the necessary legislation obtained
and the first step towards what was re-
garded by many as avid visionary scheme
was taken. Brooklyn subscribed So ,OOO,-
600; New York, half of that amount. and
private individuals made up a purse of
100000. The estimate as made by the
engineer, Mr.. Roebling, in 1867, reached
$10,000,000. Five years was the time
within which it was to be completed In
1875, however, it became public work
There were changes of plans, steel was sub
stituted for iron in the making of the ca
BILE and suspended super-structure, and
granite and heavy masonry took the place
OF light iron in the approaches. These
changes, together with the 'incidentals, AL
ways a big" item in works of this charac-
ter, swelled the cost to 100000.
The structure is described as suspended
from three wire cables, each IL inches in
diameter, weighing 1872, 0S6 pounds. and
capable OF bearing a strain of 24,621 $50
pounds. These cables, each $500 feet
long, are thrown over the tops of two tow
ers, pa feet high one on the New York
and one ON the Brooklyn side of the river
Their eXtremitieS are anchored to huge
iron plates buried under immense masses
of granite $50 feet inland from the towers
on either side. The distance between the
towers OF the length of the single span, is
l,5954 feet. The cables, of course, sag in
the middle OF the span, so shat the clear
age under the centre of the bridge is but
1876 feet, which, however, is ample for the
passage OF all but the topmasts of the lar
gest sailing vessels. Part of the weight of
the bridge on each side is borne by trusses
Hence but ,297 feet of the main span is
carried by the cables. The weight on the
trusseS is $50 tons; on the cables 5,670
tons. The total weight which the bridge
rs whole, including transitory loads, will
be called upon to bear is estimated at a.
600 tons, allotted rs follows: Between the
anchorages, II, $50 main span, by cables,
$500 by trusSeS, 1850. AS the greatest
lengt-hwire pull to which the cables will be
subjected is $4,000 TONS while their esti-
mated strength is such as to enable them
to bear astrain of 43 900 tons ample margin
for security has evidently been provided.
The bridge may he said to begin at Chat
ham square in New York, and end at the
corner of Sands and Washington streets in
Brooklyn; and reckoning in this length of
the approaches, the entire extent of the
structure from terminus to terminus is
$3.50 feet OF considerably over a mile. AS
opened for use the bridge will present five
parallel avenues, each about sixteen feet
wide. The two outer ones are to be used
by vehicles. the central one, elevated
above the rest, by pedestrians, the two in
termediate ones by street cars, propelled
by continuous cables, operated by steam
engines located at the termini. Pedestri-
ans will cross the bridge without charge,
but vehicles of one class and another will
pay toll at such rates as to make the bridge
preferable to the ferryboats sIa means of
crossing East river