Great Bridge
The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
Chapter One
The Plan
The shapes arise!
Walt Whitman
They Met at his request on at least six
different occasions, beginning in February 1869.
With everyone present, there were just nine in
all - the seven distinguished consultants he
had selected; his oldest son, Colonel Washington
Roebling, who kept the minutes; and himself, the
intense, enigmatic John Augustus Roebling,
wealthy wire rope manufacturer of Trenton, New
Jersey, and builder of unprecedented suspension
bridges.
They met at the Brooklyn Gas Light Company on
Fulton Street, where the new Bridge Company had
been conducting its affairs until regular
offices could be arranged for. They gathered
about the big plans and drawings he had on
display, listening attentively as he talked and
asking a great many questions. They studied his
preliminary surveys and the map upon which he
had drawn a strong red line cutting across the
East River, indicating exactly where he intended
to put the crowning work of his career.
The consultants were his idea. In view ... read full excerpt from: The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge ebook
