Brooklyn Bridge construction completed by 1874?

Question

I have a summer project for my AP US History class that entails building a diorama of an important event in US History over an assigned period of time. I was given the years 1870-1874. I have chosen to build my diorama on construction of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1874. How much was completed by that time?? Any help will be greatly appreciated, Joe

Answer 1

READ the 'The Great Bridge' by David McCullough it is both informative and fun to read - - - I don't read boring History - - - that said you caught the tail end of the Donkey - - - the least visual more viscreal portion of Contruction.

You have been delivered the task of making romantic the prosaic - - - the digging of cassions etc - - - digging into the muddy riverbed rather than sending towers soaring into the sky!! The gathering of immence ammounts of supplies, the setting up equipment yards, and the clearing out of homes.

Now there is a GOOD VISUAL for you - - - the Destrruction of a Building said to be nearly a hundred years old. A quaint some would say a pretty four story brick building clearly influenced by Dutch heritage- - - - this wonderful old building knocked down to clear the approaches to the Bridge - - - New Yorks history giving way to New Yorks future - - - The Brooklyn Bridge,,,

Actually the Cassions can be a great Diorama // // they were huge Wooden Chambers, imagine a boat upside down, sunk to the bottom of the river to dig a solid foundation. They were hot humid painful to work within ib fact the builder was one of the victims of Cassion disease - - - the bends, since they were digging hundreds of feet below 'seat level.' There are some great Cassion drawings and they make good Dioramas.
The ealier links given by other answerers excellent - - - here is my contribution but again, READ THE BOOk, you will be glad that yoy did even if you hate history...

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Bridge-Story-Building-Brooklyn/dp/067145711X
July, 1869 John A. Roebling 66, dies in an accident making observations to determine the exact location of the Brooklyn tower. His son, Washington Roebling, succeeds him.
January, 1870 Work begins.
May, 1871 The New York caisson is launched. Although the Brooklyn foundation hit bedrock at 44 feet, the foundation on the Manhattan end rests on sand at 78 feet.
1872 Roebling is stricken by caisson disease, becoming an invalid. He supervises the building of the Bridge from his bedroom, his wife instructing the Bridge engineers.
1874 The Brooklyn Bridge is made public, repaying the subscribers with interest.
May, 1875 The Brooklyn tower is completed. ::""
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/brooklynbridge.htm
""The first objective was to securely anchor the bridge's two towers on the solid bedrock found under the layers of mud below the East River. A huge wooden caisson, resembling a giant box, was assembled on land, towed to the site of the Brooklyn-side tower and sunk. Compressed air was pumped into the chamber to prevent the surrounding water from leaking in. The caisson's false floor was then ripped out allowing workers to dig up the river bottom.

The working conditions within the caisson resembled a scene from Dante's Inferno. The tremendous pressure, the suffocating heat, the lack of oxygen and the noise all combined to limit a worker's time within the caisson to a maximum of two hours. As they ascended through the compressed air to the top of the caisson, the workers were threatened with the crippling and painful effects of the bends - an imbalance of nitrogen in the blood caused by a too rapid ascension out of the compressed air.
Despite the engineering, political and financial difficulties, the bridge was opened with tremendous public acclaim in 1883.
"...a dreadful pain shot through both my ears."
Frank Harris arrived in New York City from his native Ireland in 1871. The fifteen-year-old moved into a Brooklyn boarding house where a fellow resident - Mike - told him of jobs paying five dollars a day for working in the Brooklyn Bridge caissons. We join Frank's story as he and Mike go to the construction site:
"Next morning Mike took me to Brooklyn Bridge soon after five o'clock to see the contractor; he wanted to engage Mike at once but shook his head over me. 'Give me a trial,' I pleaded; 'you'll see I'll make good.' After a pause, 'O.K.,' he said; 'four shifts have gone down already underhanded: you may try.'
In the bare shed where we got ready, the men told me no one could do the work for long without getting the 'bends'; the 'bends' were a sort of convulsive fit that twisted one's body like a knot and often made you an invalid for life. They soon explained the whole procedure to me. We worked, it appeared, in a huge bell-shaped caisson of iron that went to the bottom of the river and was pumped full of compressed air to keep the water from entering it from below: the top of the caisson is a room called the 'material chamber,' into which the stuff dug out of the river passes up and is carted away. On the side of the caisson is another room, called the 'air-lock,' into which we were to go to be 'compressed.' As the compressed air is admitted, the blood keeps absorbing the gasses of the air till the tension of the gasses in the blood becomes equal to that in the air: When this equilibrium has been reached, men can work in the caisson for hours without serious discomfort, if sufficient pure air is constantly pumped in. It was the foul air that did the harm, it appeared. 'If they'd pump in good air, it would be O.K; but that would cost a little time and trouble, and men's lives are cheaper.' I saw that the men wanted to warn me, thinking I was too young, and accordingly I pretended to take little heed.
When we went into the 'air-lock' and they turned on one air-lock after another of compressed air, the men put their hands to their ears and I soon imitated them, for the pain was very acute. Indeed, the drums of the ears are often driven in and burst if the compressed air is brought in too quickly. I found that the best way of meeting the pressure was to keep swallowing air and forcing it up into the middle ear, where it acted as an air-pad on the innerside of the drum. . . .
When the air was fully compressed, the door of the air-lock opened at a touch and we all went down to work with pick and shovel on the gravelly bottom. My headache soon became acute. The six of us were working naked to the waist in a small iron chamber with a temperature of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit: in five minutes the sweat was pouring from us, and all the while we were standing in icy water that was only kept from rising by the terrific air pressure. No wonder the headaches were blinding. The men didn't work for more than ten minutes at a time, but I plugged on steadily, resolved to prove myself and get constant employment; only one man, a Swede named Anderson, worked at all as hard.
The amount done each week was estimated, he told me, by an inspector. Anderson was known to the contractor and received half a wage extra as head of our gang. He assured me I could stay as long as I liked, but he advised me to leave at the end of a month: it was too unhealthy: above all, I mustn't drink and should spend all my spare time in the open. He was kindness itself to me, as indeed were all the others. After two hours' work down below we went up into the air-lock room to get gradually 'decompressed,' the pressure of air in our veins having to be brought down gradually to the usual air pressure. The men began to put on their clothes and passed round a bottle of schnapps; but though I was soon as cold as wet rat and felt depressed and weak to boot, I would not touch the liquor. In the shed above I took a cupful of hot cocoa with Anderson, which stopped the shivering, and I was soon able to face the afternoon's ordeal.
For three or four days things went fairly well with me, but on the fifth day or sixth we came on a spring of water, or 'gusher,' and were wet to the waist before the air pressure could be increased to cope with it. As a consequence, a dreadful pain shot through both my ears: I put my hands to them tight and sat still for little while. Fortunately, the shift was almost over and Anderson came with me to the horse-car. 'You'd better knock off,' he said. 'I've known 'em go deaf from it.'
...One day, just as the 'decompression' of an hour and a half was ending, an Italian named Manfredi fell down and writhed about, knocking his face on the floor till the blood spurted from his nose and mouth. When we got him into the shed, his legs were twisted like plaited hair. The surgeon had him taken to the hospital. I made up my mind that a month would be enough for me."
References:
Frank Harris' account appears in: Harris, Frank, My Life and Loves (1963, originally published in 1922); McCullough, David, The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Brooklyn Bridge (1972).

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Bridge-Story-Building-Brooklyn/dp/067145711X

Pax-----------------------------------

Answer 2

My buddy, it somewhat is unfaithful. The Brooklyn Bridge is often open to foot site visitors. as a rely of fact, there's a pedestrian walkway going maximum suitable down the middle of the bridge it somewhat is discover on an intensive-unfold basis via travelers and basic persons who stay in Brooklyn Heights and walk or bike to artwork in decrease manhattan. i'm hoping this innovations an somewhat powerful. solid success

Answer 3

BROOKLYN BRIDGE FACTS, HISTORY, and INFORMATION

http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/bbridge/bbridgefacts.htm

http://bridgepros.com/projects/Brooklyn_Bridge/Brooklyn%20Bridge.htm


A short brooklyn bridge history based on the chronology by barbara head millstein, the brooklyn bridge exhibition, 1983::

http://www.romdog.com/bridge/history/bridge_history.html

Answer 4

1883 it was completed Fool!