The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-07-13
snacial Correspondence OF The Globe.

N in the history of bridge build
" ing have giant cables been
- y hung so swiftly as they were
on New Yorks new suspension bridge
over the East river Seven months
ago the first strand of wire for them
was still undrawn. Today the four
mighty cables are finished and the
work of hanging the suspender cables
from them is well under way. Those
four cables contain 1896 wires, each
5000 feet long, making 4,429 miles of
wire. And the seven months occupied
in the work is exactly three times as
fast as any similar work has ever been
accomplished.
Through all those months men saw
the work grow apparently so slowly
that their senses became blunted, and
they did not realize that cyclopean
labor was being performed before their
eyes. Every day they saw innumera-
BILE tiny black specks plodding to and
fro on in a tangle of wire ropes that
looked like fairy threads from below
No serious accidents, not a single in
terruption of the vast trife of the
roaring strait that is called East river,
not a sound that could be heard,
marked the work. Yet those black
atoms looking more like insects than
men from below, threw $500 tons of
cable through the air in that time.
Like the Swoop of Bird.
So high in the air hang those great
ropes of iron, so airy and lovely in out
gazing upward from the river or shore
can realize the monstrous dimensions
of everything conneced with that giant
swing. Somehow, despite the fact that
all about it is so motionless and still,
the sight of those beautifully true and
perfectly sweeping cables gives one an
impression as if he were looking at the
swoop of bird suddenly fixed miracu-
lOusly in midair in all its grace Stand
ing deep in the rushing green water,
the two steel towers stand sturdy and
powerful, like men at arms in metal
harness. From every aspect one sees
the blue sky shine through their open
grillage work, softening their mighty
trusses and Orders and making them
look, not as if they were dead tons Of
weight but as If they might be swayed
by the highest airs.
Overwhelming Proportions.
1t is only when one is high on the
structure itself and can look downward
from the towers that the true proper
tons of the great roadway become ap.
parent. But then they become appar-
ent Overwhelmingly.
Your correspondent was fortunate
enough to receive an invitation from
Assistant Chief Engineer HiIdenbrand
to accompany him over the entir,
structure just before the dizzy foot
bridges that had been swung for thu
work Of cable laying were torn away
and thus we were possibly the las
party to cross under conditions fitte,
exceptionally to bring out the stupen
dous sizes of everything connecte
with the work.
We began our climb at the Brookly
anchorage just as the last wire wa
being brought across by the bus
wheel that has carried all those mile
Of it without an error or break. TIL
work of carrying the wires over wa
simplicity itself, as indeed is almos
everything connected with the buildin
Of the bridge. On each shore of tn
river was a reel of wire. This wa
hitched into a groove in the wheel, as
belt is put around a flywheel. The
the wheel was pulled over to the othe
side with wire cable, revolving a
the way and paying out the wiz
strand that it carried. At the othe
side another wire was harnessed to i
and 1T was sent back. So it trayele
to and fro day after day, laying til
wires precisely where they were want
ed. At intervals of a few yards me
with tongs and pliers stood ready
seize the wire as it was delivered, Ia
it in place and tie it to the rest viii
stout steel bands.
Chain of Tempered Steel.
The anchorage, a pile of grant
looks more like a busy shipyard tha
an edifice of the land. Diving in
subterranean caverns beneath the to]
of stone are great fifteen-foot links
link bolted to link with bolts as thi,
as mans arm. This immense cha
of tempered steel, held in place by Il
superintendent mass of rock, a yerit
BILE anchor, only one of enormous si5
holds the cables proper, which then
selves cease some distance away fro
the anchor. Their connection with 4
chain is made by simply passing L
endless strands of wire around t
outer links.
The individual wires in the cable a
not as thick as a lead pencil. But O
of them have been spun cables tn
TIRE nineteen inches in diameter.
Although the anchorage itself ris