The Great Bridge (79 page)

PART TWO

8 All According to Plan

“The foundations for the support”: JAR,
Report of John A. Roebling, C.E., to the President and Directors of the New York Bridge Company, on the Proposed East River Bridge,
p. 20. LER.

Dimensions of the Brooklyn caisson, as well as all other descriptive data: WAR,
First Annual Report of the Chief Engineer of the East River Bridge,
LER; WAR,
Pneumatic Tower Foundations of the East River Suspension Bridge,
LER.

Barometer analogy:
Harper’s Weekly,
December 17, 1870.

“The extreme rise and fall”: WAR,
First Annual Report of the Chief Engineer,
pp. 8-9. LER.

Webb & Bell contract: Kingsley,
First Annual Report of the General Superintendent of the East River Bridge,
p. 23. LER.

“A pile which was sixteen inches in diameter”: WAR,
First Annual Report of the Chief Engineer,
p. 11. LER.

“The character of this material”:
Ibid.,
pp. 11-12.

James B. Eads: There is no real biography of the remarkable Eads. The following have been used as general biographical background:
Dorsey, Road to the Sea;
Woodward,
A History of the St. Louis Bridge; Gies, Bridges and Men; Dictionary of American Biography.

“Eads’s Turtles”: Catton,
Grant Moves South,
pp. 102-103.

JAR calls St. Louis people fools: JAR to WAR, November 10, 1867. RUL.

Carnegie, Linville, and the Keystone Bridge Company: Carnegie,
Autobiography,
pp. 119-121.

“an achievement out of all proportion”: Kirby and Laurson,
The Early Years of Modern Civil Engineering,
p. 162.

Material on early use of compressed air and resulting cases of caisson sickness is from
The Effects of High Atmospheric Pressure, Including the Caisson Disease by Andrew
H. Smith, M.D., pp. 4—10. LER.

“A workman walking about with difficult step”: Woodward,
A History of the St. Louis Bridge.

“The fatigue of ascent added not a little”:
Ibid.

Eads’s views on the problem of caisson sickness are contained in a long article in
Scientific American, December
24, 1870.

The launching of the Brooklyn caisson was described in considerable detail by all of the following:
Eagle,
March 19, 1870;
Engineering
(London), June 10, 1870;
Scientific American,
July 9, 1870; Collingwood,
A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge,
LER.

“more like a huge war leviathan”:
Eagle,
March 19, 1870.

The only known reference to Roebling’s visit to St. Louis and his sessions with Eads is an exchange of letters in
Engineering
(London) in the issues for May 16, June 27, and September 5, 1873.

“I do not want any news carried between myself and Mr. Ellet”: JAR to Charles Swan, April 21, 1849, RUL; also quoted in Schuyler,
The Roeblings,
p. 82.

“…one of the wonders of the nineteenth century”; “hidden from the gaze of mortal eyes”; “as placidly as a swan”:
Eagle,
May 3, 1870.

“…they had been upon the monster”:
Ibid.,
May 4, 1870.

Roebling, Paine, and Collingwood go down for first time on May 10: WAR,
Pneumatic Tower Foundations of the East River Suspension Bridge,
p. 24. LER.

9 Down in the Caisson

The descent of the Brooklyn caisson and the work that went on inside it were the subjects of many articles in newspapers and technical publications in the year 1870. Of particular interest were those in the following:
Eagle,
June 20;
Scientific American,
July 9;
Van Nostrand’s Eclectic Engineering Magazine,
October;
Journal of the Franklin Institute,
October; and
Harper’s Weekly,
December 17. But nearly all of this chapter has been drawn from a paper read before the ASCE by Francis Collingwood on June 21, from Master Mechanic E. F. Farrington’s
Concise Description of the East River Bridge,
and from WAR’s own annual report to the directors of the Bridge Company. An excellent scale model of the caisson can be seen on display at the Smithsonian Institution.

“We have no precedent just like this bridge”: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, January 1, 1877,
p. 5. LER.

“The material now became sufficiently exposed”: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer to the Board of Directors of the New York Bridge Company, June 5, 1871,
p. 4. LER.

“Inside the caisson everything wore an unreal, weird appearance”: Farrington,
Concise Description of the East River Bridge,
pp. 27-28.

“An unearthly and deafening screech”:
Scientific American,
July 9, 1870.

Use of limelights: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871,
pp. 35-37. LER.

Varieties of rock uncovered:
Ibid.,
pp. 4—5.

“Moreover, a settling of the caisson of six inches”:
Ibid.,
p. 6.

“The noise made by splitting blocks”:
Ibid.,
p. 23.

“Levels were taken every morning”: Collingwood,
A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge.
LER.

Techniques for removing boulders from under the shoe: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871,
pp. 8-10. LER.

“five months of incessant toil…were almost tempted to throw the buckets overboard”:
Ibid.,
pp. 15—17.

“When the lungs are filled with compressed air”:
Ibid.,
p. 15.

Side friction: Collingwood,
A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge.
LER.

WAR “conspicuous for his presence and exertions”: Kingsley,
Report of the General Superintendent, New York Bridge Company,
p. 54. LER.

Lowering of air pressure gives added twelve hundred tons: Collingwood,
A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge.
LER.

Apprehensions about blasting: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871,
pp. 11-12. LER.

WAR uses revolver:
Ibid.,
p. 12.

“For night is turned into day”: New York
Herald,
December 3, 1870.

Work schedule and work force: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871,
pp. 38—39; Kingsley,
Report of the General Superintendent, New York Bridge Company,
p. 52. LER.

Pneumatic water closet: Collingwood,
A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge.
LER.

Roebling follows Eads’s system, convinced increased oxygen intake is the heart of the problem: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871,
pp. 39-40. LER.

Steam coils in air locks:
Ibid.,
p. 40.

Great Blowout:
Ibid.,
pp. 20-21; Farrington,
Concise Description of the East River Bridge,
pp. 20-21.

Weight variation in columns of water: Collingwood,
A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge.
LER.

“To say that this occurrence was an accident”: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer, June
5, 1871, p. 20. LER.

10 Fire

“When the perfected East River bridge”:
Eagle,
June 22, 1872.

Modifications in New York caisson: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer to the Board of Directors of the New York Bridge Company, June 5, 1871,
pp. 45-49. LER.

“This bold and peculiarly American design”:
Harper’s Weekly,
November 19, 1870.

“the rapidity with which the work has proceeded”:
Scientific American,
November 12, 1870.

Cause of the fire and description of the fire itself have been drawn from the following: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871,
pp. 29-35, LER; Eagle, December 2, December 3, December 5, 1870; Farrington,
Concise Description of the East River Bridge, pp. 22-24; Engineering
(London), December 30, 1870; Journal of the
Franklin Institute,
February 1871.

Attempts to extinguish fire: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5,1871,
pp. 29-30. LER.

Boring into the roof:
Ibid.,
p. 31.

WAR’s efforts “almost superhuman”: Kingsley,
Report of the General Superintendent, New York Bridge Company,
p. 54. LER.

Discover mass of living coals: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871,
p. 31. LER.

“He appeared calm and collected”:
Eagle,
December 2, 1870.

Damage estimated at $250,000: New York
Herald,
December 3, 1870.

World
charges sabotage: December 2, 1870.

Fire marshal’s hearing:
Eagle,
December 5, 1870.

Begin filling work chambers with concrete:
Eagle,
December 23, 1870.

Blowout of supply shaft: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer, June
5, 1871, pp. 24-27. LER.

Repairing the fire damage:
Ibid.,
pp. 32—35; Farrington,
Concise Description of the East River Bridge,
pp. 22—24.

Fresh-water springs: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer, June
5, 1871, p. 28. LER.

11 The Past Catches Up

Launching of the New York caisson:
Eagle,
May 8-9, 1871.

Tweed’s daughter’s wedding: Werner,
Tammany Hall,
pp. 190-193; Lynch,
“Boss” Tweed,
pp. 359-360; New York
Sun,
June 1, 1871.