History of the Brooklyn Bridge - Essay Example

Brooklyn Bridge Introduction Building the Brooklyn Bridge required overcoming tremendous economical and technical challenges. While the Brooklyn Bridge reflects the optimism and entrepreneurial spirit of the late 19th century, it also entailed individual tenacity and sacrifice. Washington Roebling supervised the project to completion despite fires, accidents, industrial corruption, and flagging popular support. Although work on the project crippled him, he lived to see the bridge praised for its grace and utility. Pedestrians crossing from Brooklyn to Manhattan felt exhilarated while "climbing the river." The tall span with its Gothic arches would also inspire artists, writers, and poets then and now. http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/brooklynbridge/educators/ After 60 years of political, financial as well as technical negotiations, John Roeblings plan was accepted, the New York Bridge Company was formed and, in the year 1869, construction of the bridge at last began. Economical and the Technical Challenges Faced during the Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and how it was overcome In the year 1867, a group of well-known leaders formed the New York Bridge Company for the reason of constructing as well as maintaining a bridge across the East River. Via the enabling act, the Brooklyn city subscribed for three million dollars of the capital stock, while the New York City just subscribed for one and a half million dollar. The company was allowed to fix toll rates for pedestrians as well as all kinds of vehicles, getting a profit of no more than 15% per annum. The bridge was built over fourteen years in the face of huge complicatedness. Roebling died by an accident at the onset; a fire in the Brooklyn Caisson smoldered for a few weeks; Roeblings son, Washington, who occupied the post as chief engineer, endured a crippling attack of the bends during the building of the Manhattan Caisson, and sustained to direct operations, sending messages to the location by his wife, Emily. After the towers were constructed, a cable parted from its port killing two people; there was fraud committed by the cable contractor (Trachtenberg, 1990). Soon after ground was broken on January 3, 1870, work on the Manhattan and Brooklyn foundations. Life in the caissons was unhappy. Immigrant laborers worked in the profound foundations, paid $2.25 per day to work in perilous circumstances lacking electricity, telephones or other conveniences. Some of the most horrible accidents of the bridge construction came about during the cable rigging. In June of 1878, a cable strand protected at the New York anchorage broke loose during tuning. The strand flew over the New York tower and into the East River, taking off the head of one rigger and knocking another off the anchorage along the way. Another rigger was steering wire onto a drum. He kicked at it to maintain it in order, and his foot was caught. His leg was enfolded around the drum, killing him almost instantaneously. Many others died due to falls or falling tools. As a minimum 3 men died of the bends during the caisson work. A few of men were crushed by blocks being swung into place. All told, approximately 27 people died during the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge (McCullough, 1983). There is no authorized figure for the number of men killed constructing the bridge. The Bridge Company accumulated no list, kept no accurate records on the subject, which is feature of the age. In a brochure made up of his Cooper Union talks and issued after the bridge was built, between thirty to forty men died during the work, which is particularly interesting if it is bore in mind that Emily Roebling might have done Farringtons writing for him. Bridge Construction Calamities: John A. Roeblings death Explosion Caisson Fire Steel Cable contractor fraud Illness and debilitation of Washington A. Roebling 20-30 Deaths http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/bbridge/bbridgefacts.htm The Chief Engineer along with William Kingsley, nonetheless, both said twenty had died and from the deaths accounted in the papers and revealed hither and thither in the minutes of Bridge Company meetings that seems to be a sensible figure. The Brooklyn Bridge cost $15.1 million to construct, $3.8 million of which was to pay for the land for approaches as well as the rest going toward construction. This was more than double the original cost approximation of $7 million (Trachtenberg, 1965). The scale of the troubles faced is radically conveyed though the rebuilding of the caissons, wooden structures, in which men had to dig more than 70 feet below the riverbed in compressed air. In these hellish circumstances workers surrendered to a then little understood syndrome, the bends. Some died and Washington himself was restricted to a wheelchair. In the face of his health problems, Washington sustained to supervise the project. It was a matter of admiration and arrogance for Washington to see the bridge accomplished. Caisson Disease (Bends) The adversary of all compressed-air workers was the bends. At the instance of the Brooklyn Bridge construction, hardly anything was known regarding the reasons of the painful attacks so little could be done to stop them. Just about all caisson laborers were imposed with the bends to a certain extent. Overcoming the dread of the Disease In the case of the Brooklyn Bridge, 3 people passed away and 15% of those who got the bends were paralyzed to some extent. Some achievement with fighting the bends was accomplished by Dr. Janimet, on the St. Louis Bridge (George, 1982). He was the former American to strike upon the thought of slow decompression (the British along with French had recognized it for years). Terror of the bends was what made Roebling to stop the progress of the excavation of the New York caisson; he projected that upwards of eighty men would die if he struggled to excavate any more. Washington Roebling himself did not run away from the construction of the caissons uninjured. He had at all times been a man, who liked to be on site throughout the construction, and time and again he could be found inside the caisson guiding others what to do and lots of times doing manual work himself. Washington Roebling in fact spent more hours in the working hall than anybody else for terror that any slip might bear out to be devastating. One day in the summer of 1872, Washington Roebling had to be carried out of the caisson with caisson illness. From this instance on, he remained devastatingly paralyzed and became recognized as "the man in the window," for he never came back to the location of the Brooklyn Bridge, but looked at it through a spyglass from his townhouse (Shapiro, 1983). Roebling was resolute to see the building of the bridge to conclusion. He aimed at the construction from his townhouse; his wife Emily Roebling worked as a mediator between the Colonel and his bridge. On Memorial Day, 1883, a woman walking up the ladder of the Manhattan side tripped, and her female friend shouted. The shout set off a rumor that the bridge was going to collapse. In the terror as well as resulting crush, twelve people were killed and thirty-five others were gravely injured. Conclusion During the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, most of the accidents occurred from men falling from a high altitude by either losing their balance or being pulled by falling equipment. One worker impulsively held on to his wheelbarrow as it tripped from the gangplank, and man and wheelbarrow went dropping all the way through the space. The men grew habituated to working at great heights, and soon lost concern. Quite a few workers on the towers fell to their deaths by a hasty misstep. The force of wind near the border of the tower was frequently very great and, coming in rapid gusts, it produced a further danger. This is the one danger that bridge-men dread. A man would stay himself against the wind, just to lose his balance when the pressure abruptly changed. This happened more than one time with deadly results. After the hell of the caissons we are delighted to our first sight of the bridge taking shape. The view of the new towers connected by cable adjacent to the sunset is if anything more wonderful than any picture of the bridge today for the reason that it speaks of promise. Without a doubt the Brooklyn Bridge was intended to factually form a great city, linking New York and Brooklyn. It is a suitable tombstone to the Roeblings that what was once the most magnificent structure on the East Coast is now part of a still more imposing skyline. And, even though correctly taken for settled by the millions who cross it daily, the Brooklyn Bridge is a prompt of what the human spirit as well as personal sacrifice can attain against the odds. Reference: Trachtenberg, Alan, 1965. Brooklyn Bridge: Fact and Symbol. New York: Oxford University Press. G. McCullough, 1983. The Great Bridge. Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group M. J. Shapiro, 1983. A Picture History of the Brooklyn Bridge. New York: Dover Publications. George, Judith St., 1982. The Brooklyn Bridge: They Said it Couldnt be Built. New York, G.P. Putnams Sons http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/bbridge/bbridgefacts.htm http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/brooklynbridge/educators/ Read More