THE BROOKLYN BRIDGEIntroduction BABYLON had her hanging gardens , Egypt her Pyramid , Athens her Acropolis , Rome her Athenaeum so Brooklyn has her Bridge These were the words a proud Brooklyn shopkeeper correct in his window when the Brooklyn Bridge premier opened to relations in 1883 . Public excitement ran highThe opening ceremonies would presbyopic be remembered . On that bright , sunny twenty-fourth of May , Chester A . Arthur , president of the United States , led the grand parade crosswise the elevated promenade of the distich . That night , 14 dozens of fireworks lit the sky The greatest bridge in man flesh . the greatest engineering work of the continent , and of the age This is what its set up decorator , German immigrant John Roebling , predicted it would be . He was rightPerhaps that is the main apprehension why the fanfare associated with the centennial celebration appealed to so umteen . After all , the Great Bridge had been an engineering greybackstone . Besides , it still works . In cars and on understructure , 150 ,000 people pass everywhere it every day metre . And though many hardly give it a musical theme as they cross , they were forced to on May 24th - the bridge was closed off for most of the day ! besides the 18 ,000-member parade was allowed to pass over itWho could have cognize the monetary value this bridge would exact in terms of time money and human lives ? John Roebling himself , while taking a preliminary survey by Fulton Ferry , would be the first casualty . His foot was crushed between pilings jostled by an designate(postnominal) ferry and he died from tetanus threesome weeks laterThen there was caisson infirmity . What was it ? No one knew then . But workers in the caissons , the underwater boxlike structures for digging the tower foundations , increasingly inform pains in their joints , as well as dizziness and vomiting . As the depth increased , there were a number of deaths . John Roebling s son Washington succeeded his father as chief engineer .

But in only three years his health was ruined by caisson disease coupled with overwork . Eventually he became so abstemious that he couldn t even visit the bridge site any longer . He directed most of the project from a house on nearby Columbia HeightsAh , what a feat it was to fatten out such a bridge ! Men worked with horse and waggon , hammer and chisel , and steam power - not with the kind of labor-saving equipment we have today . It took 14 trouble-filled years to build the bridge , 9 years behind schedule . And the cost was over 15 million dollars , more than twice the originally estimated price . Twenty lives were lost in building it . But the closing product was a monument that was years ahead of its timeIt was the biggest falling out bridge in the world , more than a mile in length . Its main span , supported by steel cables - something never before used - was an unprecedented 1 ,595 feet (485 m ) long - half again as long as any span ever attempted up to that time . The two granite towers , each with impressive Gothic...If you want to generate a full essay, order it on our website:
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