“…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.
Activities of Matthew J. O’Rourke: Lynch, “Boss” Tweed, pp. 354, 361.
Watson the nerve center of the Ring: Werner, Tammany Hall, p. 209.
“You must do just as Jimmy tells you”: Ibid., p. 161.
O’Rourke’s estimate of Ring thefts: Ibid., p. 160.
Attempt to bribe Jones: Ibid., p. 210.
Attempt to bribe Nast: Ibid., pp. 211-212.
Times attack: Callow, The Tweed Ring, pp. 256—261.
Orange riot: Lynch, “Boss” Tweed, pp. 367-369; Swanberg, Jim Fisk: The Career of an Improbable Rascal, pp. 234—240; Strong, The Diary of George Templeton Strong, entries for July 1871.
Cooper Union meeting of September 4: Lynch, “Boss” Tweed, pp. 370-371; Werner, Tammany Hall, pp. 217-218.
Cartoon of Tweed in the shadow of the gallows: Harper’s Weekly, October 21, 1871.
“At home again amidst the haunts of my childhood”: Lynch, “Boss” Tweed, pp. 377-378.
George Templeton Strong on the “Boss of New York”: Strong, Diary, entry for January 27, 1871.
Elections in Brooklyn: Syrett, The City of Brooklyn, 1865-1898, pp. 56-60.
Accident: C. C. Martin interview published in the Eagle, May 24, 1883.
“This has been the case from the first”: Kingsley, Report of the General Superintendent of the New York Bridge Company, p. 32. LER.
Six thousand illegal votes: Syrett, The City of Brooklyn, p. 59.
Kingsley interview in the World: Quoted in the Eagle, December 15, 1871.
Kingsley’s name a football: Beecher at Kingsley’s funeral, published in memorial book, W. C. Kingsley. LIH.
Tweed’s appearances at the meetings of the Executive Committee: “Exhibit J; A Full Synopsis of the Minutes of the Respective Executive Committees Thereof, From September 1869 to June 1st, 1883,” New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, 1867-1884, pp. 526-566.
“Resolved, That fifteen per centum on the amount of expenditure”: Ibid., p. 552.
“I had no understanding with him, sir”: Testimony in the Miller Suit to Remove the East River Bridge, “Exhibit A,” February 15, 1879, p. 62.
Kingsley’s “claim…liquidated”: New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, p. 572.
Erasure made in the records: “Exhibi
t No. 4,” Minority Report by Demas Barnes, December 16, 1872, New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, p. 96.
Tweed indicted and arrested: Werner, Tammany Hall, p. 233.
Death of Fisk: Swanberg, Jim Fisk, pp. 271-278.
12 How Natural, Right, and Proper
“Although the bridge from every element of its use”: “Exhibit No. 4,” Minority Report by Demas Barnes, New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, p. 100.
“It is true that Tweed, Connolly, and Sweeny are among the subscribers”: Eagle, April 10, 1872.
Kingsley’s letter to the Eagle and Union appeared April 17, 1872.
Committee of Fifty’s letter in answer to Kingsley: Eagle, April 22, 1872.
Kingsley’s second letter: Eagle, April 29, 1872.
Replacements for Tammany quartet: “Synopsis of the Minutes of Proceedings of the Corporators, Directors, and Stockholders of the New York Bridge Company and Also of the Trustees of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, Comprehending a Period of 16 Years, Viz.; From May 13th, 1867, to June 1st, 1883” (“Exhibit I”), New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, p. 332.
Hewitt swings into action: “The New York Bridge Company and the Trustees of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, A Full Synopsis of the Meetings of the Executive Committees Thereof, From September 17th, 1869, to June 1st, 1883” (“Exhibit J”), New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, pp. 575—577.
WAR’s report: Report of the Chief Engineer on Prices of Materials, and Estimated Cost of the Structure, East River Bridge, June 28, 1872 (“Exhibit No. 2”), New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, pp. 74—83.
Barnes called an ass and a quack: Eagle, June 22, 1872.
Kinsella faces down scandal: Syrett, The City of Brooklyn, 1865-1898, p. 95.
“…He is the thinker who acts”: Eagle, June 22, 1872.
Predict bridge to cost forty million dollars: Scientific American, July 15, 1872.
Kingsley’s “agreement” at an end: Directors’ Meeting, November 4, 1872, New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, p. 334.
Beecher scandal breaks: Johnston, Mrs. Satan, pp. 159-178; Shaplen, “The Beecher-Tilton Case,” Part II.
Majority report: “Exhibit No. 3,” New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, pp. 84—89.
Barnes’s minority report: “Exhibit No. 4,” Ibid., pp. 90-101.
Executive Committee report: “Exhibit No. 5,” Ibid., pp. 102-131
“This Company was chartered as a private company”: Ibid., p. 109
Kingsley back at ten-thousand-dollar salary: Ibid., p. 336.
Kingsley takes leave of absence: Ibid., p. 586.
13 The Mysterious Disorder
“Knowing from the reports of other similar works”: Kingsley, Report of the General Superintendent of the New York Bridge Company, p. 33. LER.
“To such of the general public”: WAR, Third Annual Report of the Chief Engineer, June 1, 1872, p. 7. LER.
“Considerable risk and some degree of uncertainty”: Ibid., p. 8.
Depth of bedrock: Ibid., p. 9.
“The great timber foundation was now complete!”: Ibid., p. 13.
Paine’s mechanical signaling system: Collingwood, Further Notes on the Caissons of the East River Bridge. LER.
Caisson sinking six to eleven inches a day: Ibid.
Sand pipes: WAR, Third Annual Report of the Chief Engineer, pp. 18-20, LER; Farrington, Concise Description of the East River Bridge, pp. 25-26; Collingwood, Further Notes on the Caissons of the East River Bridge. LER.
“The downward movement of the caisson”: WAR, Third Annual Report of the Chief Engineer, p. 26. LER.
Change of work shifts: Collingwood, Further Notes on the Caissons of the East River Bridge. LER.
Dr. Smith’s nine rules: Smith, The Effects of High Atmospheric Pressure, Including the Caisson Disease, p. 13. LER.
“The habits of many of the men”: Ibid., p. 14.
“The utmost efforts of the expiratory muscles”: Ibid., p. 15.
“Hence, the pulse is small”: Ibid., p. 16.
Experiment with pigeons: Ibid., p. 20.
Experiment with dog: Ibid., p. 28.
Sample case histories: Ibid., pp. 35—37.
“When it is severe, local numbness”: Sodeman, Pathologic Physiology, p. 238.
Remedies employed: Ibid., pp. 32—33.
Walter Reed at Brooklyn City Hospital: Ibid., p. 39.
“Indeed, it is altogether probable”: Ibid., p. 30.
“Experience teaches”: Ibid., p. 7.
Smith rules more time in the lock: Ibid., p. 30.
“The natural impatience of the men”: Ibid., p. 30.
Theory of “special predisposition”: Ibid., p. 29.
“The testimony of all observers”: Ibid., p. 27.
14 The Heroic Mode
Smith’s explanation, “overpowering physical force,” blood “retreats,” etc.: Smith, The Effects of High Atmospheric Pressure, Including the Caisson Disease, pp. 25—26. LER.
Prior discovery by Paul Bert: Ibid., p. 27.
“It frequently happened under my observation”: Ibid., p. 34.
“by applying the heroic mode”: WAR, Third Annual Report of the Chief Engineer, June 1, 1872, p. 24. LER.
Difficulty of taking patient into the caisson: Smith, The Effects of High Atmospheric Pressure, p. 34. LER.
Death of John Myers: Ibid., p. 41.
Death of Patrick McKay: Ibid., p. 40.
“Perhaps if they had known”: Josephson, Al Smith, Hero of the Cities, p. 20.
Caisson workers strike: Kingsley, Report of the General Superintendent of the New York Bridge Company, pp. 34-35, LER; Eagle, May 8, 1872.
“The surface was evidently very irregular”: WAR, Third Annual Report of the Chief Engineer, p. 21. LER.
WAR estimates a hundred lives to go to bedrock: EWR, unpublished biographical sketch of WAR. RPI.
Strata undisturbed since time of deposit: WAR, Third Annual Report of the Chief Engineer, p. 22. LER.
A time of “intense anxiety”: EWR, unpublished biographical sketch of WAR. RPI.
First spur of bedrock described: WAR, Third Annual Report of the Chief Engineer, p. 23. LER.
Death of Reardon: Smith, The Effects of High Atmospheric Pressure, p. 40. LER.
Differences of level at the extreme corners: Collingwood, Further Notes on the Caissons of the East River Bridge. LER.
“The labor below is always attended with a certain amount of risk”: WAR, Third Annual Report of the Chief Engineer, p. 29. LER.
“Relief from the excruciating pain”: WAR, Pneumatic Tower Foundations of the East River Suspension Bridge, p. 88, fn. LER.
Cholera epidemic at Niagara Falls: JAR to Charles Swan, July 29, 1854, RUL; also quoted in Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 95.
“He determined not to have it”: Beecher’s Magazine, January, 1871; also quoted in Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 96.
Business carried on by WAR in the fall of 1872: New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, 1867-1884, pp. 579-583.
WAR’s efforts the winter of 1872-73; EWR, unpublished biographical sketch of WAR, RPI; also WAR notes, letters, specifications, etc., RPI.
Requests leave of absence: Meeting of the Board of Directors, April 21, 1873, New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, p. 339.
“My plan would be as follows”: Smith, The Effects of High Atmospheric Pressure, p. 34. LER.
PART THREE
15 At the Halfway Mark
“Everything has been built to endure”: Francis Collingwood in a speech before the First Annual Meeting of the Alumni of RPI, New York, February 18, 1881.
“The love of praise is, I believe,”: Dorsey, Road to the Sea, p. 163
Tweed escapes: Werner, Tammany Hall, p. 244.
Beecher on trial: Shaplen, “The Beecher-Tilton Case,” Part II.
“…probably no great work was ever conducted”: EWR, unpublished biographical sketch of WAR. RPI.
Granite and gravity: WAR, Repo
rt of the Chief Engineer of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, January 1, 1877, p. 6. LER.
Limestone in anchorages: Collingwood, Notes on the Masonry of the East River Bridge. LER.
Arrangement of the anchor plates and anchor bars: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, January 1, 1877, pp. 6-8, LER; Specifications for Anchor Plates, New York Anchorage, East River Bridge, 1875, LER; Specifications for Iron Anchor Bars, New York Anchorage, East River Bridge, April, 1875, LER; “Up Among the Spiders; or How the Great Bridge Is Built,” Appleton’s Journal, January 1878; Conant, “The Brooklyn Bridge.”
Work on the approaches: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, January 1, 1877, pp. 23-32. LER.
Model of the bridge: Brooklyn Union, May 25, 1878.
Tower work: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, January 1, 1877, pp. 4-5, LER; Scientific American, August 10, 1872; Collingwood, Notes on the Masonry of the East River Bridge, LER.
“There are times when standing alone on this spot”: Farrington, Concise Description of the East River Bridge, pp. 57—59.
Deaths from tower and freak accidents: Eagle, May 18, 1876; interview with C. C. Martin, Eagle, May 24, 1883.
The bridge as an obstruction to navigation: Iron Age, April 27, 1876; Scientific American, May 6, 1876. The hearings were reported in detail in the Eagle, April 24 and May 21, 1876.
Charter amended: An Act to amend an act…Chapter 601. Passed June 5, 1874. LER.
New York Bridge Company dissolved: An Act providing that the bridge in the course of construction over the East River…Chapter 300: Passed May 14, 1875. LER.
“Before winter shall drive the workmen”: Eagle, July 11, 1876.
“One thing is certain”: Ibid.
16 Spirits of ‘76
Specifications: Specifications for Granite Face-stone and Archstone, Required for the New York Tower, East River Bridge, April, 1875, LER; original copy, RPI.
Correspondence with Brooklyn: WAR and EWR, letter books. RPI.
“It is one thing to sit in your office”: WAR to JAR II, August 20, 1907. RUL.
“I would further add, now is the time”: WAR to HCM, February 25, 1875. LER.
Physical discomforts: WAR to JAR II, May 5, 1894.
“There is a popular impression”: EWR, unpublished biographical sketch of WAR. RPI.
Could neither read nor write: WAR to James Rusling, February 18, 1916. RUL.
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