People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1896 — A DREAM IS REALIZED [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A DREAM IS REALIZED

SPANNING THE NORTH RIVER, ONCE A TASK FOR GBNtl. topeulon Structure Twice aa tons n Brooklyn Bridge With Towers Twice us High—Cost Fixed at BZs,ooo,ooo—Marvels of Engineering Involved. When a group of enthusiasts and wealthy men met ten years ago and seriously proposed the building of a great bridge to span the North river, the idea was scoffed at aa impossible of achievement and absurd. Individuals had long talked of such an undertaking, but they had been looked upon as dreamers. True, the East river bad been bridged, but in that success the limit of engineering skill bad been reached. Tbe new bridge oonld not be built unless by the aid of genii such as shine in the pages of the “Arabian Night*” Yet the group of projectors went earnestly on. They bad faith in Amerioan genius and did not need Arabian genii. It did not trouble them that they were charged with dreaming dreams and seeing visions. They consulted with engineers, had plans carefully drawn and six years ago made their first formal efforts' toward their great end. Their plans were for tbe building of a oantalever bridge, with a river span of 8,000 feet an£ a tower 1,000 feet in midstream. But the greatest of the tasks that tgoed the bridge projector? were not tbe physioal difficulties. There was the congress of the United States and the seo-

re tary ot war and the legislatures of two great rival states, with their con.Aiding and jarring interests. There were city boards to meet and oonvinoe, and there were an infinity of peculiarities prejudices, all forms of selfishness and a multitude of private and corporate interests to combat. Diplomats were needed even more than engineers. A stonn of opposition arose to the project of a oantalever bridge. The secretary of war held that no bridge could span the mighty Hudson whose construction required the placing of a pier in midstream, for it would mean the certain injury of commeroe. The chamber of oommerce also opposed it. Other organizations did the same, and a new start had to be taken. It was determined to fling a suspension bridge across the stream. It was to be an engineering feat greater than had ever been attempted. The constructing of such a bridge involves difficulties vastly greater than those of acautulever. The oentral span was to be 8,204 feet in length. The floor was to be 100 feet above the water. It was to bo bread enough to have six parallel railroad tracks and of such strength that if all of the traoks were filled from end to end with loaded oars the bridge would no more waver under the strain than if only a featherweight lay on it. The towers were to reach far below the earth’s surface and grapple with the rock, and they were to rise toward the eky. The bridge was to be twice the length of the Brooklyn bridge, and its towers were to bo twice as high. The new plans were attacked as fiercely as the old. The opposition took a different form, but the same array of rival interests, of railroads who did not need tho bridge, of business men whose fortunes might be affocted, of lobbyists, of legislators, again faced the projectors. The secretary of war gave his official sanction to the plana, and congress was gained. At length also the legislatures of the states .were won, after long arguments and delays. But even then it was fonnd hard to find a. place where the bridge would be permitted to touch the city. Interests of great magnitude felt themselves too nearly affected to allow it to enter if entrance could be prevented. i It was hoped that the bridge could be located nearly opposite IJorty-second street and have a straight entrance into the city. This would at least have been best for the architectural appearance of the approach to the' bridge, but it was not to be. Permission was finally won to locate the New York end at Fiftyninth street. That was too far north for the terminal station, into which the passenger trains from all the railroads that now end at the western shore of the river were to bo run. The projectors fixed npon the section between Broadway and Forty-ninth and Fifty-first streets, and the ingenuity of their engineers planned a six track viaduct, that would have a compound curve, to reach that spot, while one street Bhould bo spanned by the great station building. It was estimated that the entire cost of the bridge and terminal station and the approaches would be fnlly $60,000,000. Yet such tremendous figures did not deter them. The freight was to be carried along the shore of the river and unloaded at stations. With the winning of the consent of the necessary officials and bodies, the □ext step was to secure enough capital for the enterprise. The impossible was agaiD shown to be possible, and a corporation, with a capital of $86,000,000, was formed. Moat of the stock was taken by Americans) but a third was held by Englishmen. And then came the queerest interruption to the plans. The trouble with England in regard to Venezuela began. The relations of the two countries became strained. The Londoners withdrew in a panic, taking their money with them, and this so dis- | oonraged many of the others that the affair came to an ignominious ending.

4 Thus a little South Amerioan nation spoiled the project of the bridge. Not only does hope spring eternal, but so does eapitai, if a project be rightly pushed. A new corporation was organized, and again were the plans put forward. England again held one-third of the oapital stock. It was necessary to find a oompany willing and able to assume contract for building the bridge. That company was found, and yesterday morning at 11 o’olook the pages were signed that bound the New York and New Jersey Bridge oompany and tbe Union Bridge oompany to mutual responsibilities, the contractors giving a bond for $1,000,000 that they would build aooording to the plans. They have oontraoted that the total oost will not exoeed $86,000,000. This is for the bridge alone. The approaches and the terminal station will be arranged for later. They agree that within six years from the date of beginning work the bridge will be completed, and it is expected that work will be begun early in the coming summer. Tbe bridge will indeed be more wonderful than the achievements of the genii. The weight suspended by tbe cable will be, when the bridge is empty of train* 88,000 tons. Over 100,000 cubio yards of masonry will be nsod in tbe construction of tbe towers. Anchor plates that weigh 86 tons each will be handled like toys. The concrete filling alone will be 80,000 tons. Three thousand men will toil in mills that the Iron and the wire may be made. When the bridge is fairly under way, 8,500 men will each day be employed on various parts of the work. The beautiful oreatlon, swinging itself across the Hudson, will be a marvel of beauty wb«n completed. And toe obange that its erection will mean for the oity of New York oannot be foretold. Instead Of a number of ferries discharging bunches of passengers into this oity at various points along the North river there will be one mighty stream, with its outlet near Oentral park. Another of the miraoles, therefore, that tbe men of the bridge will work will be a readjustment of the business center of the oity, and tho changing of tbe oharaoter of many of its streets.—New York Journal

WORTH RIVER BRIDGE.