Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-12

make a tangle around u.s. But as we'll
might one expect the eye to note a fly
when looking at Niagara as to see any
thing here except those noble spans. hang
| ing serene and beautiful, high over tho
citys smoky atmosphere.
Hung by such as this spare. shy. smiling
man who is leading US across Now he
Is pointing downward. Advancing TO the
edge OF the tower, where 1t drops sheer
into the deep water so far away that it's
rolling waves look like rippies, we see a
warship just leaving the BROOKLYN Navy
Yard that lies just below. Other warships.
one OF them mighty battleship. lie in
perths there. While We are looking the en-
gineer raises his hand to warn ms 81 n
dangerous spot in the path. And instauta-
neouSly all the picture is gone. So high
are We that this hand suffices TO blot ont
navy yard and all its ships,
A ferry boat passes under us. Beautifully
distinct, like the image in the camera OBJ
scura are Its passengers, with the hats
or the women making gaudy patches OF
color in it. We count ninety-four persons
on the forward deck and four big, two
morse teams and trucks. But / hold out
my outspread hand over the gulf. and loi
my thumb alone serves to hide them all
Over the River.
Now We are descending the foot bridge
toward the center of the span, over tho
middle of the river We have to grin the
guy rope with power and lean backward,
as If We were trying to haul something up
the least desire to let his momentum start
him 70 hurrying down that swinging aerial
way. Tugboats and side-wheelers lines OF
lows, ocean steamers, pass below-miser-
able little toy boats. Some OF them cough
spltefully, trying to pun their black smoke
at us. But 1t dissipates miles and miles
below. Miles and miles below floats a
triple row of excursion barges dashed to-
gether and crowded with people from stem
to stern. We see a fiuttering of white IL
is as IL one saw the wind stir a daisy
studded field far away. Those are hum
dreds Of handkerchiefs that are being
waved at us black specks that crawl on
the cobweb flament far above them.
In the center of the span the wind CATCH
es us. Back and forth, up and down.
rolling like a ship in a gentle seaway.
sways the foot bridge. The engineer cheer
fully and apropos of nothing that We care
about at the time, mentions that the men
are so proud of having completed the work
OF cable spinning that they have begun
already to take the iron trusses off our
meager roadway. That, he explains with
the satisfaction Of science, is what makes
the foot bridge swing so. He stops quite
unnecessarily to explain it.
Then We begin the ascent toward the
New York, or rather. Manhattan tower.
though nobody ever calls Ii that even by
accident. IL the climb from the Brooklyn
anchorage to the tower was hard now
IN the light of present trouble IL seems
as If II had been pleasant morning talk.
Height seems more appalling here. too.
10 look down and see Manhattan's inn
mense buildings, dwarf-like under us tells
US suddenly that there is such thing as
dizziness. If We thought that we had tX-
perienced Ii before this, we learn now that
we did not know what the real thing WAS.
In spots here the spaces between the plank
of the foot bridge are wide enough so that
ones whole leg would go through If there
were slip. 1t would be entirely impossi-
BILE for ones body to follow, but-every
man holds his breath as he steps over the
terrible yawning chasm of seven inches.
when we arrive at the top of the tower
at last we find that there is a gap over
which one must take a long half step,
half jump. And to make matters more de-
lightful, a wire is being paid out with
alarming velocity right through that gap,
level with our feet. Standing at the brink,
We can see little bugs scurrying around on
the street. Or are they men? Nobody
looks long enough to ascertain. They are
too far away to be worth while. Every
man, as he finally launches himself across,
has vivid realization Of what would hap
pen if his foot slipped and that demoniao
wire caught him. What a bolt he would
make for that cataputi
Looking downward from the summit here
wonderful sight is unrolled To accom-
modate the long approach to the bridge a
mighty cash has been torn in the city.
Right through what was. only a short
while ago, the most crowded part of the
world, more crowded even than the
most populous part of Canton in China the
bridge builders have cut. What they have
ltll IOOhS actually ike a vast, Diced -ng
wound More than thirteen soldly built M
blocks have been RACED. They held enough
population to make a town of importance.
But the mere destruction of a town seems
only little thing to us, standing on the
monstrous thing that has been reared I'm it's
place.
Both Bridges Compared.
Will the new bridge be imposing archi-
tecturally as the old? The old one has
beautiful granite towers, and the new one
will lack the grandeur that they give. But
the new one will be the more graceful,
owing to the open steelwork that is used
throughout
In relative strength the new one will not
Guido the old. But its actual strength will
be far greater Where the old bridge has
only eighty-five feet width of roadway the
new one will have lis feet. The old one
carries only two railroad tracks that were
built for it, although two additional tracks
have been laid, one on each carriage way.
The new bridge will have two lines of track
for regular railroad traffic and four tracks
for trolley service. Instead of one side
walk, 1t will have two. In addition Il VIII
have two bicycle paths.
In general construction and design il does
not differ materially in most respects from
the present bridge. Its span is LOGO feet
between towers, and its approaches Will
make its total length between terminals
1900 feet, 200 feet more than the old bridge.
The height of the roadway over the river
will be the same that of the old. 135 feet
at the center of the span. But the towers
of The old bridge only 21S feet high.
against the $50 feet of the new bridge.