Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1883 — EAST RIVER BRIDGE. [ARTICLE]

EAST RIVER BRIDGE.

The Magnificent Structure Open to Travel. One of the Greatest Engineering Feats of the Age. * The completion of the great suspension bridge over the Ea-fc river, between New York and Brooklyn, has been looked forward to with a great deal of interest all over the country, and the formal ceremonies of opening the structure to the public traffic were witnessed by an immense throng. The building of a bridge to connect the two cities was first suggested by Thomas McElrath, of the New York Tribune, nearly half a century ago. but it was not seriously entertained, however, and nothing was done then. In January, 1857, Air. John A Roebling, a Brooklyn engineer, acted on by the staeof popular leeling, suggested the con traction cf a suspension bridge, to cost $2, Oo.uOJ, with a rt aaway -0 > L-ec above high water mark, that s.iould be available both for veliic.es and pedestrians, and on on which trsins shou d run front shore to shore a: shor. in:ervtua This may be iaid to have been tho first definite proposition made. Three years later in April, iB6O, the same/ gentleman 1 1 .ted his views in the columns of the Architects' and Mechanics' Journal He then o imated the ccsi at $4,00J.00.i, a.d the annual revenue derivable from a 3-ce:it tqll, which should include the fare, over in tie cars, at th'JCO.OoO. Six years more elapsed, and then Mr. William 0. Kingsley, of Brooklyn, who had taken up tha project warmly, and who was seomued by Henry C. Murphy (sinco deceased) and Congressman William E. Robinson, began to work zealously for the accomp ishment of what many consider* i an impossible design. A bill "was int odueed into Congresß, empowering a company that had been formed to build the bridge, and it passed in March, 18(59. The work was commenced under the auspices of the company, which, like others, was at first a private corporation. But as it progressed it became evident that its cost would largely exceed the estimate. Objections were also raised to inch an undertaking being in the hands of the company. The remit was that in 1875 a bill was passed by the Legislature of this State, authorizing the cities of New York and Brooklyn to buy out the stock, the former to the extent of onethird and the latter to that of two-thirda, This arrangement was carried inte effect, and a Board of Trustees was appointed by the Mayors of the two cities,under whose direction the work has been carried eut. Opera .ions were commenced on Jan. 8, 187 o,» so that the work has gone en for nearly thirteen years and five month*. The approaches to the bridge are not yet complete, but they are soon to be. The total length of the bridge is 5,089 feet, the span between the two columns being 1,505 feet 0 inches Ion?. The summits of the towers that support the great structure are 218 feet above high water, and their foundations go down on the Brooklyn and New York sides respectively 45 and 78 feet The clear height of the bridge above high water in the center is 185 feet, the grade of the roadway is iibi feet in 100, and the width of the bridge 85 feet No less than 14,801 miles of wire were used for the cables, each single wire being 3,579 feet long. These cables, which are four in number, weigh 3,588)4 ton?. The ceremonies attending the opening of the great bridge were, under the direction of the Brooklyn authorities, and were of an imposing character. Business was generally suspended in both cities. President Arthur and his Cabinet Ministers and a large number of other distinguished persons graced the occasion with their presence, and the parading of the crack local military regiments added eclat to the affair. Gen. James Jourdan was Marshal of the day. At night there was a pyrotechnic display on the bridge, andfche public buildings of the two cities were illuminated. The completion of this grand etruoture marks another decided advance in the construction of fhls da'B of bridges, as this is the largest of its kind in the world, and probably in all material respects the most notable one. It certainly is the most remarkable one in tbi 5 country, in regard to the length of span and the amount of material used in its construction At the time of Its construction the suspension bridge built by Roebling at Niagara was regarded, with respect to its single span, its elevation above the- water, and the daring involved in its construction, as an additional wonder of the world. This was in 1855; and, however great may have been its prominence at that date, it has since become so dwarfed by greater constructions that it is now scarcely noticeable. In 18(50 the bridge at Cincinnati wss completed with a span Cf 1,057 feet, or nearly 200 feet more than the Niagara bridge, and it at one# supplanted the latter as a work of art, in the matter of magnitude. Then Roebling built the upper bridge at Niagara, with a span of 1,250 ieet, some 40u feet more than the first Niagara; and then the Cincinnati structure ! fell back to second place. And now Reebling has once more excelled himself by oon•tructiug a bridge, with a single span of | 1,(500 feet, nearly double that of hw first I work, and a third' larger than the Cincinnati j effort, I There is no suspension bridge in Europe : that is at all oomparable to any of these, 1 unless it be to the first one built by Roeb- | ling at Niagara. There is one at Fribourg ! In Switzerland, which has a span of 870 feet, | some 50 more than the Niagara span; and j there are three or four bridges of the kind in England which have spans of between ! SCO and 700 feet