LYN SUSPENSION BRIDGE.

[Illustration]

When two large cities stand opposite to one another on the banks of a
river, it is not likely they can do very well without a bridge to
connect them. Yet the citizens of New York and Brooklyn were obliged to
manage as best they could for a good many years before they had their
bridge. There were many difficulties in the way. For one thing, the
river is very broad; for another, the tall-masted ships ply up and down
so frequently that it would never do to build anything which would
obstruct their passage; and to overcome these difficulties would mean
the expenditure of a vast sum of money. But the folk who earned their
daily bread in New York and lived in Brooklyn grew thoroughly tired of
spending chilly hours in foggy weather on the river-side piers, waiting
for the ferry-boat to come and take them across, and at last they began
an agitation which resulted in the Brooklyn Bridge.

The engineer who made the first design was Mr. John A. Raebling; but he
did not live to see it carried into effect; for one summer day in 1869,
when selecting the spot at which the great work should be begun, he met
with an accident which caused his death a few days later. His son, Mr.
Washington Raebling, then took the lead. Plans were carefully drawn and
submitted to the Government, who, after much consideration, ordered that
the bridge should be five feet higher and five feet wider. This
apparently slight change added about 172,800_l._ to the cost of
building, for little changes in big things mean more than big changes in
little ones. The original cost was to be 10,800,000 dollars, or about
2,160,000_l._; but in the end it amounted to nearly 3,100,000_l._

Before we talk of the trouble and labour, let us look for a moment at
the great things the engineers have accomplished.

The Brooklyn bridge is five thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine feet
long and eighty-five feet wide. The huge cables that support it stretch
like the strands of a monster spider-web from the tops of two towers,
each two hundred and seventy-six feet high and standing one thousand
five hundred and ninety-five feet apart. The above is the length of the
central span; the two other spans, from the land to the towers, are each
nine hundred and thirty feet long in addition. The roadway, one hundred
and thirty-five feet above the river, is divided into five parts. The
two outside ones are for vehicles, the middle one for foot pass