New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-07-23
THE NEW BRIDGE APPROACH
~ Axe FOR AN IMPROVEMENT WHICH WILL
cE GREATLY TO BROOKLYN'S
ADVANTAGE

DOUBLED WHEN TIE CHANGES
At THE NEw-YOIK End
ARE FINISHED
On the evening of Monday. March u, 1888.
,hs writer was standing at the Brooklyn terminal
q, the Fulton Ferry, in Fulton-st, looking up at
,be bic East River Bridge. The electric lights,
.,,etching in two parallel lines across the great
highway. appeared dim and muddy. The face of
nafure as well the face of man and mans
handiwork, was changed by the great blizzard
which was then beginning to slaclicn in force
10 such an al-pervading extent that every one who
was in the city on that night will recall the his
torlc visitation with perfect vividnesS. Indeed.
IL you desired to mark the time when IA white
dweer on the Island of Manhattan had previous
experience Of any such elementary commotion. you
would have to so back to period long anterior
20 the great struggle when the hero of Austerlitz
lost a crown and an empire, and as military com
mander forever disappeared from pul lie view.
The electric lights blinked, died out, Haired up,
and blinked again The ferryboats stole care
fully, almost noisclcssy from then moorings, but
had not gone far into the stream when they sent
out ear-piercing whistles on the still night air.
Strong men, only few blocks from where they
lived struggled desperately through the deep drifts
Of snow in their efforts 10 get home. Roscoe Conk-
ling was making his way on foot from his Office
in Wall-st., up along Broadway, only to founder
in the big white mountains Of hall-irozcn water
which blocked Union Squarc-an experience which
later cost him his life \ group of men near the
waiting groom OF the ferryhouse were exchanging
experiences of what they had seen and heard
during that memorable day.
The statue of George Washington. in New
York. said the writer a. he approached, conii'lcl
TO me that it was brief reminder of one of the
terrible nights in Valley Forge"
Alas" said the Oldest of tho party, as he
spoke up, quoting unconsciously from Macbeth.
my long remembrance cannot parallel fellow
to it,"
YANKEE INGENUITY. INDEED.
There were collisions in the rivers: there were
collisions on the elevated railroads; there were
frequent and provoking breakdowns on the Bridge
cars Il fnd" said one. that kilograms had to
he dispatched to-day to Boston. Mass. by way Of
London, England.
An evidence of the unbounded resources of
the Yankee, I'll admit, chmed in another; :" but
were you down at Old Slip, on the New
York side?"
"No"
We'll, then, you haven't seen Yankee in
genuity. as You call il, at its best was there
ice to this side When | was in the act of
stepping on the frozen surface TO begin my jour
ney an American small boy stopped me. Hey,
mister. said he. You can't get down without a
ladder But where's the ladder, my boy |
asked innocently. You bet | have one here
good an ready Come right down. Twenty-Five
cents, please l paid il TO him before knew
what l was about. and with that unquestlonng
readiness which an American shows when obey
ing what he thinks is the law. | saw by the
papers the next day that the young rascal
maybe, after all, shouldn't call him a rascal
and his companion, instinct with the spirit OF
enterprise, had actually pocketed by this novel
method more than 500 before the policeman
came along and scared him away. Yankee IN
Cenuity indeed | made "a bet then that that
Young fellow will surely BE- one day, if not
President of the United States or engineer of
a Transatlantic bridge, at least the designer OF
some gorgeous ice palace the like of which has
never before been seen either III Montreal or
Dakota. Well indeed has it been said that
the Republic is opportunity; but it is 10 the
great blizzard on this occasion that we must
award the palm If we should ever happen to
meet here again after this memorable night, let
us compare notes. GOod-by
UNDER DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES.
last week the writer happened again to meet thc
same men in the same place lie had strolled
over TO get midnight view OF the Bridge from
that mart of Brooklyn What change lie
fund himself in a strange place, surrounded by
arrange sights The night was bright, the stars
were differing overhead, and If you hela a
feather in your hand at arms length you would
hardly have seen it stir The electric lights, when
nm the night of the blizzard were scarcely Vis-
;hla tbrough the fog and the binding sleet'
.bore now with unusual brilliancy, ana the
steady and uniform rolling of the trains DacN
and forth over the mighty span showed tha' 'he
. nm ,borc WAS entirely different from that
during tho never-to- forgotten storm when al
most cboked up the roadway five short years ago
E,o, in the neighborhoo! of the fcrry you
could sec a great change. Across the street where
.The BROOKLYN Eagle" used to have IT'S ONCE Is
q bo structure of brick and steel TO Dc uhc"
when completed a storage warehouse ina.
mart of Fulton-st. looked even more Ioh'ly "h"
1s.sr,ed than the thorouehfare of the same name
on the New-York side OF the river a 'e" n'o'Ns
nm On Columbia Heights were the tall stories of
come big fat dwellings, towering into the SKY
and mare 70 come" as one of the group terscly
dosn,;bad i, The horse cars. such few OF
,ho,, .. orc loft trundled along lazy, chased by
,ha electric oars whose conductors were inpatenty
,,no;,, ,ho;r conqs 10 them 10 get out oil the
,r, woman inside with a bundl" OF soica
cIo,bing or n man outside on the drivers pit'-
form smoking a pipe. formed the only "uIuel
which these vehicles of past aye oo'c "'o'e
10 their destination.
TIE TRAFFIC OVERHEAD.
From overhead, though, came roar lin.
rattle Of musketry. reminding w" ''''' W, aro,r
on the elevated railroads was g'o"'"I " r,,,,,.
ing, until now the throhgs "ii'' e.onnnd
from the fcrryhou,e into the ears 49, y,hicl
absence Of hustle and a rapdty of motion wn'cl
,rar. No, % ~. thonuht of on that da. wheI
- :. -, LII LID ~ hr informed. thrOuGH