Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-01-29
THU BRIDGE
The Consulting Engineer, Gustav L~indsnthal'
in the City.
he SAYS OF The ENTERPRISE.
The Trades Assembly to Meet This Afternoon
to Receive Mr.. COchran's Reply
TO THE FOOTBRIDGE RESOLUTION.

the pIUlSCtOE W TUG SAS0
enterprise of any aye, the bridge across the
Hudson between New York City and Jer-
sew City, which 1t is proposed shall be
built for the accommodation Of the rail-
roads running to the Metropolis, arrived
in the city yesterday afternoon to consult
with Judge Cochran and others regarding
the proposed railroad bridge at the upper
end of the city, and will remain here for
several days looking over the ground and
securing information concerning the enter
prise. During the latter portion OF the
afternoon and last evening q large number
of business men called upon Mr.. Linden
thai, and there was a general interchange
of views upon the bridge aud its great
value 10 this city. In speaking Of the
matter to a reporter for tie REGISTER he
said
Il cannot canceiye of any argument
which could possibly be brought against
the proposition. From the maps and plans
which | have consulted and from all that
I can hear OF the situation Of your city,
the railroad bridge is the n thing needed
to expand your shipping facilities and In
crease the territory tributary to the city.
The matter is so very much one-slded that
| wonder that there is any question rs to
the policy Of voting the money asked for
on the part of the county, and the fact
that the people are so nearly unanimous
in favor OF it shows that that they are
thoroughly awake TO the opPortu-
uity afforded them. This IS m
Q of great enterprises, especially
as regards railroads, but active as are
Americans in this regard they are still a
long way behind their fellow citizens on
the other side of the Atlantic iu some re-
spects. I well remember the sensation
among the stockholders Of the Pennsylva-
MIA Company when the Board Of Directors,
some years ago, went quietly to work and
spent So. 600, 900 in fitting up the Broad
street station in Philadelphia. The outlay
was regarded as something terrible, while
in England o little road running into Lon
dou-the London and Southwestern
which is only about $50 miles long, spent
as long ago as 1868 SIS, 600, 0OO in acquir'
ing terminal facilities in London, and an
other company spent $40, 900, 600 to shorten
It's line about sixteen miles. 1t might
have cut of q loop OF twelve miles by
spending 81, 500, 900, but it was a straight
line or nothing ana the ten millions were
spent What American company would do
il? Bat u people are making head way,
- - ,u,nl not h. lnpY until Ipa stand NJ
the head In engineering enterprises Of a
particularly railroad nature, AS We al
read are ahead in some other matters
somewhat intimately allied to them. The
yreat railroad bridge which it is proposed
10 throg across the Hudson river between
New York and Jersey City, IS an indica-
ton of what may be accomplished within
tie ensuing few yearS. | have made the
drawings, estimates aud details for this
mammoth structure, and JUS a.
soon as it becomes necessary, or
| rather rs soon as the powers
| that be the existing necessity
for it, il will be built. The exact loca-
ton, ~ y matter of course, has not been
fzed upon, but that is u matter u little
moment. The engineering problems pre-
seuted, while iar IN advance OF anything
! vet put into execution, contain nothing
impossible, and the minutest details have
heen worked out, The public demand
rapid aud direct transportation, and this
structure wit prCge Ot immense value b
the tens of thousands of people who daily
enter and leave the metropolis, without
taking into regard the freight traffic. 1t
looks like a big thing, and it is, but such
has been the increase in facilities for THIS
kind of work bat it can be built about
as easy Is was the East river bridge"
From another source the reporter learn
/ ed many details of the great bridge which
has been conceived by Mr.. Lindeuthal,
and the following resume Will lot bs de-
void OF interest to our readers:
The structure, u suspension bridge, will
| span the North river, al Bergen Hill, be-
tween Jersey City and HobOken, on the
New JERSEY side, and 4 point somewhere
between Fourteenth aud Twepty-third
| streets, ON the New York side, aud will
have a clear span of 1850 feet, or 1854
feet 8 inches longer than the span of the
| existing bridge between New York and
| Brooklyn. At the centre the floor beams
will be $50 feet above the surface of the
water. The towers at either side will
| have q height of 400 feet to the lower
cable and COO feet to the top. These towers
will be Of steel and wrought iron, and
will rest upon maSonery piers $40 feet by
$50 feet, the foundations of which will be
| 70 feet deep on the New Jersey side and
lSO feet deep ON the New York SIDE The
central span of the bridge will
be suspended TO four cables Of
steel wire, each cable having an outside
diameter Of four feet. These cables are
swung in pairs n above the other and
| fifty feet apart. and the space between
| them is filled in with iron t.psS-work, ma
| king the whole u gigantic inverted a-Gh of
tremendous strength. Besides the main
spar over the river, there are two end
spans of fifteen hundred feet each. The
bridge is eighty.six feet wide, and is de-
signed to accommodate six railroad tracks,
with provision for four overhead tracks,
should they at any time be desirable. The
anchorages are OF stone, RhoDt $40 feet
square by 2lO feet high, and are pierced
through the centre for the roadwsys. Mr..
Iiudeuthal says that six of the heaviest
trains running over the bridge at = speed
of thirty miles an hour. would not injure
or Jar it,
Speaking of the suspension bridge over
the river at this city, Mt. Lindenthal said
last evening: Wheeling has more OF q
repptati6l on Scoount Of that bridge, il
| Europe, than tor ali der nails and general
industries. When built If was lie largest
bridge in the world, aud at the present DAY
it ranks with the big bridges OF the coun-
try"
Judge Cochran lss prepared a letter to
the Ohio Valley Trades and Labor AS
semby, which will be submitted to the
meeting to be held this afternoon. In it
ne will agree to the footpath provision for
the railrosd bridge, and no doubt the action
OF the Assembly will be Of the most salts.
factory nature.
True Irish Hearts,"
Concerning this beautiful play which
will appear at the Grand the last three
nights of this week, the Bloomington,
Iowa, PmtGgrdph says: True Irish