THE EAST RIVER BRIDGE, between New York City and Brooklyn, more familiarly known as the Brooklyn Bridge, is a massive suspension bridge, the largest in the world, which connects New York with Brooklyn. Its colossal towers and ponderous cables loom up conspicuously before the stranger who approaches New York from the riverside. Begun in 1870, it was opened for traffic May 24th, 1883, at a total cost of $15,000,000. The whole length of the bridge is five thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine feet. From high water mark to the floor of the bridge is one hundred and thirty-five feet. The central span (itself measuring one thousand five hundred and ninety-five and a half feet) is suspended to four cables of steel wire, each fifteen and three-quarter inches in diameter. The width of the structure is eighty-five feet, which includes a promenade for foot passengers, two roadways for vehicles, and two railway tracks on which run passenger cars propelled by a stationary engine from the Brooklyn side.
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.
A few very simple typographical errors were corrected.
This book always uses “Canon,” never “Canyon.” It contains several likely typographical errors or misspellings, most of which have not been changed by the Transcribers. Some are noted below.
[Page 42]: “mertons” was printed that way.
[Page 72]: “Propylacum” was printed that way.
[Page 120]: “Andulasia” was printed that way.
[Page 162]: “Michel Angelo” was printed that way.