The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
Page 76
at marriage of Tweed’s daughter
Rink Committee investigation and
Smith, Gen. Kirby
Smith, Gen. William
Smithfield Street Bridge (Pa.)
Songs on Brooklyn Bridge
Squat sperm candles for lighting caissons
Standard Oil Company
Starruca Viaduct (Pa.)
State legislature (N.Y.), approves bill for building Brooklyn Bridge
Steam drills
Steel
brittleness of
conflict over type to use
contract for
deck
diameter of
floor beams of
fraud involving quality of
manufacturing of
specifications for
superstructure of
use of
first planned
questioned
See also Bessemer steel; Crucible steel
Steele, J. Dutton
Steer, Henry
Steinman
Steinmetz, William G..
Stella, Joseph
Stephenson, Robert
Stewart, A. T.
Stewart, Elvira (daughter of John Roebling)
Brooklyn Bridge inauguration and
characteristics of
Washington Roebling’s meeting with Emily and
Stewart, John (husband of Elvira)
Stiles, Henry
Stock of New York Bridge Company graft and
ownership of
scandal over
selling
Tweed Ring control of
value of
Stokes, Edward
Storrs, Richard
Stourbridge Lion (first U.S. locomotive)
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Stranahan, James S. T.
award of cable wire contracts and
breakup of Tweed Ring and
bridge trains and
Brooklyn Bridge inauguration and
Committee of Investigation report and
crosses roadway
death of
New York World attacks
removal of W. Roebling and
Rink Committee investigation and
stock ownership of
testifies in Miller suit, 4
Stranahan, Mrs. James S. T.
Strauss, Johann
Strikes
attacks of bends and
Great Railroad Strike
Strong, George Templeton
Stroud, Henry
Stuart, Gen. J. E. B. (Jeb)
Subways, opening of first
Suez Canal
Suicides
from Brooklyn Bridge contemplated
first
friend of W. Roebling commits
Sullivan, Louis
Superstructure alterations in
completed
steel for
weight of iron
Supple, Harry
Supply shafts
blowout in
New York caisson
Suspenders
function of
in place
specifications for
Suspension bridges
built by W. Roebling during Civil War
“chain bridge,”
first suspension aqueduct
poorly built
primitive
as spiritual or ideal conception
very first
See also specific bridges
Sutter Street Railways
Swan, Alden S.
Swan, Charles
as member of Bridge Party
retires
J. Roebling and
death of Roebling and
W. Roebling and
Swedenborg, Emanuel
Sweeny, Peter (Brains)
and breakup of Tweed Ring flees the country
Rink Committee investigation and
bridge stock and
at marriage of Tweed’s daughter
Swertcope, John Valentine
Tacoma Narrows Bridge (Wash.)
Talmage, T. DeWitt
Tay Bridge (Scotland)
Telford, Thomas
Tennessee (ship)
Terminals
Thurber, H. K.
Tilden, Samuel
Tilton, Elizabeth
scandal involving
Tilton, Theodore
Timbs, Patrick
Titanic (ship)
Tombs (N.Y.C. prison), materials used for building
Tooker, Commodore Joe
Towers
Allegheny River Bridge
Brooklyn
accidents and deaths
completing
description from top of
granite for
height of
keystone of arch
masonry on
roadway to tower finished
work suspended for winter (1872)
working on top
years taken to complete
Brooklyn Bridge
architectural features of.
capstones for
completing
drawings for
height of
cable positioning between, see Cables
of Cincinnati Bridge
of Clifton Bridge
New York
accidents and deaths
completing
masonry on
specifications for granite for
testing steel wire on
work suspended for winter (1872)
of Niagara Bridge
“righted down” caisson and
see also Caissons
roadway to finished
stores for
wooden foundations for
Trains
Brooklyn Bridge
begin runs
cable car
for center of bridge
device invented for
fare
passengers handled (by 1888)
plans for
Pullman and freight
first locomotive
pneumatic
Travelers
Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A (film)
Trenton Daily State Gazette (newspaper)
Trenton Iron Works
Tribune Building (N.Y.C.)
Triger (French engineer)
Trusswork
plans for
steel used for
to allow train travel
to widen roadways (1948)
Tunnels
advantages of
Big Bend Tunnel
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
built under Confederate lines
under Chicago River
Mont Cenis
pneumatic
“Turtles” used in Civil War
Twain, Mark
Tweed, Mary
Tweed, William M. (Boss)
arrested
A. Beach and
Bridge plans and
bridge stock and
death of
downfall of
as executive member of New York Bridge Company
influence of
marriage of daughter of
Murphy opposed by
political ascension of
Rink Committee investigation and
testimonies of
See also Tweed Ring
Tweed Ring
attempts to control Bridge
bookkeeper of
breakup of
Committee of Investigation
effects on Kings County Democrats
1871 elections
New York Times publishes documents
New York World investigates
Rink Committee investigates
caricatured
Grant and
as product of urban environment
system of operation of
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Verne)
Union (newspaper)
<
br /> award of cable wire contract and
breakup of Tweed Ring and
Brooklyn Bridge inauguration and
Union and Argus (newspaper)
Union Ferry Company
Union Pacific Railroad
United States Illuminating Company
Van Anden, Isaac
Vandalia (ship)
Vanderbilt, Cornelius
Vanderbilt, John
Vanderbilt, William H..
Vanderbilt, Mrs. William
Van Keuren, H. R.
Van Rensselaer, Stephen
Van Schaick, Jenkins
Vaux, Calvert
Vehicle crossings, first
Verne, Jules
Vibrations
of Allegheny River Bridge
of Niagara Bridge.
of Smithfield Street Bridge
Victoria (Queen of England)
Vinton, Gen. Francis
Warren, Edgar
Warren, Emily, see Roebling, Emily
Warren, Gen. G. K.
W. Roebling on
Warren, John
Warren, Sylvanus
Warren, William
Washburn’s (wire manufacturer)
Washington, George
Water closet, pneumatic
Water shafts
blasting and
blowouts of
frequency of
Great Blowout
boulders and
described
failure of
Watson, James
Webb & Bell (shipyards)
Brooklyn caisson built by
Eads visits
location of
New York caisson built by
Weber, Max
Weir, Robert
West, the, opening (1869)
Western Union Telegraph Building (N.Y.C.)
Wheeling Bridge (W.Va.)
collapse of
river span of
Whiskey Ring
Whitman, Walt
Williamsburg Bridge (N.Y.C.)
Wilson, Mrs. William G.
Winona (ferry)
Winterset (film)
Wire fraud.
Wire suspension bridges
first built (1816)
Witte, Otto
Woodhull, Victoria
Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly (magazine)
“Woodman, Spare That Tree” (Morris)
Working conditions inside Brooklyn caisson, see also Bends
Work crews
Brooklyn caisson
Brooklyn Bridge
for building bridge
maintenance of
New York caisson
strike of
Wright, Gen. Horatio
Yantic (ship)
Young, Brigham
Young, Charles
Young Men’s Literary Association of Brooklyn
Young Men’s Reform Association
*The Pittsburgh Gazette
made much of the fact that the structure was strong enough to carry the water plus six heavily loaded barges all at the same time, the editors being unaware apparently that the boats merely displaced their own weight and so the total load remained the same, whether boats were crossing or not.
* Eads had completed the east abutment of his bridge in early April of 1871, with his caisson an incredible 136 feet below the Mississippi. Eads too was having trouble with advancing expenses, with construction costing about double his original estimate, but in October 1871, before work had even begun inside the New York caisson, Eads had written that all the most formidable difficulties had now been surmounted.
* The anchorages were in fact built entirely of limestone, with the exception of the corners, front arches, and the cornice. There was also about 650 cubic yards of granite placed directly over the anchor plates.
* In 1877 a group of architects would be called in as consultants on Hildenbrand’s plans. The best known of them was George B. Post, who was then designing a lofty new Queen Anne-style home for the Long Island Historical Society, at Pierrepont and Clinton Streets, and who would later do the New York Stock Exchange (1903).
* Years later, at Quebec, a huge bridge partly designed by Cooper, by then an engineer of national prominence, would collapse during construction, killing seventy-five men. On hearing the news Roebling would write scathingly of engineers who design bridges but do not give the actual construction their personal attention. “It is one thing to sit in your office and split hairs,” he would write, “but a different thing to get out and command men and meet the realities of great construction.” Ironically, Roebling was unaware, it seems, that Cooper had not been at Quebec because of his health.
* Prior to this time, cables were made of “bright” wire, which was oiled, greased, or painted for protection against the elements.
* At least one photographer had already been to the top of the Brooklyn tower, J. H. Beals, who earlier in the year had made the first great panoramic photograph of lower Manhattan, from the Battery to Rutgers Street, by taking five different views that he later spliced together into one panorama more than seven feet long.
* Crucible steel, steel made in comparatively small quantities in crucibles, or casts, was considered the finest-grade steel and was used principally for tools. Bessemer steel, made in a “converter” according to a process developed by the Englishman Henry Bessemer twenty years earlier, was the least expensive steel on the market, the kind used in the greatest quantity in the 1870’s and for rails chiefly. Between the two, crucible steel was thought to be markedly superior but the quality control of Bessemer steel had, in fact, been perfected to a remarkable degree by Carnegie and others. It could be produced in far greater quantity and was without question a perfectly respectable product.