The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-29
Brooklvn Earle.

Not all the slack wire walkers are en- gagged by the circuses. Within few weeks the builders of the new East Xiv CT Bridge will have work LOT another twenty-five men who can walk on slack wires. and there will be abundance of work for them for some little time. The men will be required to waik m gangs of twenty-five, so that any one wno gation of slack wire walkers ever per- forming at one time" should keep an eye on the new bridge.
 Perhaps 1t would be well to explain that the twenty-five slack wire walkers wno may be required by the builders of the East River bridge are not expect ed to give a thrilling performance. They will be expected to work, and there Will be a painful lack of spectacular features about the task They will be needed to "tICad" the wire, as the operation or strEightening and dfsentangllng the ca- bic wires Is called, put none the less they VII be legitimate performers on the slack wire. Ass5
 at the top of the big new bridge m are now bdsily at work stretching the single wires which, later on, will be bound together to form the great cables which are to support ths. bridge struc- ture- Two wires are stretched at time by a machine which is hauled back and forth across the East River and each day the embryo cables grow bigger and bigger. It may seem to be a very simple matter to stretch wires from one side of a river to the other, but as a matter of fact 1t Is one of the most troublesome and intricate details of the work.
 Each one of the single wires is 0.1e5 of an inch in diameter, and~2d Of these sfn- gle wires are stretched across the river before they are bound together to form ene of the nineteen parts of which each of the great cables Is to be constructed. In other words, nineteen cables are made on each side of the bridge and then each group of nineteen is bound together to form single length for one Of the big cAhlse
 EvsSy time one of the nineteen strands fs- eonspIeted the slack wire walkers are efliea into service to arrange the wires Everything possible is done to keep the wires at the same temperature. but each ome oG the 1eng strands is as sensitive as Q ahar@ometer to changes of temper afpss and the consequence is that the W'8ues snaxl up" and get twisted into the nnesa aatentehing combinations. Into this uzAes OE wire the twenty-five slack wire Wmz&egs lower themselves and, holding en fight by hand cables that are spec, 1aiiy provided for them, they tread out Hhs tangled wires by short sections until 1hs part they are werking on Hes smooth. when this occurs the sEAll cable is qufek1y bound asound % as to prevent ft from twisting again, snd then the wire walkers pass along ts the next
 me work of threading out's the mass ol wires is very laborfous. Blow and primi- five, but the engineers say that 1t Is still the only. way In which the work can be
 %yhen each of tire nineteen cables has been .'trodden out and bound up safe- 1y each must be lifted. one after the oth- eR. into the saddles on the top of the <owere. The end of each Individual wire has to be fastened to a pin before 1t is stretched, and then all theee 2gi pins on the ends of the wires have to. be gather ed together and made fast to the ancho-- ages on each side of the river. When r4-a Sfrv q ing cables are fastened nineteen times more. and then each big cable is ready to be wound" This is done by gathar- ing together the nineteen thick wire ca- bfes and winding them around and arOund with wire in the same way that a sailo- "aeixes'' a rope-or Tn the game way in which thread is wound upon spool
 Not until each of these nineteen ply cables has bstn bound around. tested and adjusted will 1t be possible for the build CTS to begin work upon the roadway. of the brfdge. All the peculiarittes of be- havior evidenced by the individual wires Ncentuated when the whole number Is hound together. When the sun shines ol oNe side of the big ca pie 1t expands while the other siae being in the shade contracts slightly. The esuit is that the eable usually Giss very hard to tie it. self fin a knot and 1t Is the task of the bri3ge builder 10 circumvent these inten- tions by sivi,sg 1t room in which to move. If bridge 5.ere not allowed plenty of play it Is probable that 1t would pull itself down, say the engineers.
 So far there 1z-e been yery few bad accidents on the bEidge. This Is due, it is said. to the Tefna Fke bfa mount of good weather which has been expsriene- ed. It Is CT 6u-tv. sqJaNv days, It seams that the most danger is tncdrFcd- Con trary to DcpGiar |. iis1 mEn are, very sal- dom blown from these high stru@tnres but they do Tlctlmes make uiscaleuIa- tiens and then they fall. In order to pre- serve their balance when working at. a great height. with no hand hold and Iit- tie more than bare room for their feet, the men are acc ist7mcd to lean forward or back, as the case may be. and so brace themselves against the wind. If there comes q sudden and unexpected Hull the workman finds himself instantly robbed of the support upon which he had been leaning. and unless he can rec9Vers him. self swiftly. h. falls to his death F'of this reason The days when the wind blows In ceeaxt7naI sharp Puffs Is dread ed by the workmer- 'sr ".
 Because of the soof weather that has accompanied the work the contractors find themselves ahead of the specified time of their contracts. and it now ap- pears probable that the bSfdge can b. opened and used early in is8- There is indeed. a. great deal of good Hatured fl Vafry between the bridge contractors anj those who are buitltng the Rapid Transit Slfhway Man, Of the chances seem tC be in favor of the sub7vg VI rbot it Is be ing predicted that the finish win be- quit' eIQse~ s- .t~
 Work is being pressed evenly from tlTl ewO ends of the bridge Tn tae begtnnin1i Ghe Lazhatran ~nd had somewhat tn hest of it. out since the WOyk of making the big cables has been in progress ab