Report of the Chief Engineer of the New York & Brooklyn Bridge: (Abridged, Annotated)

Washington Roebling was not only a hero of Gettysburg but also the brilliant engineer who carried his father’s audacious vision for the Brooklyn Bridge through to completion. In this historic report, written six years before the bridge opened, Roebling and his staff explain exactly how they planned and built what was then the largest suspension bridge in the world. The result is a rare, first hand technical narrative that remains remarkably clear and readable for the modern layperson.

Inside, Roebling walks the reader through foundation work in the caissons, the engineering logic behind the bridge’s massive stone towers, the design and testing of the steel cables, and the careful selection and inspection of every major building material. You see the project as he saw it, complete with the practical problems, experiments, and solutions that defined nineteenth century civil engineering at its highest level.

Roebling himself paid a terrible price for his dedication, suffering a crippling case of decompression sickness after prolonged time in the pressurized caissons. Confined and often unable to appear on site, he relied heavily on his wife, Emily Warren Roebling, who became his eyes, ears, and voice on the bridge. Acting as field liaison, technical interpreter, and de facto project manager, she carried instructions between her husband and the on site engineers and also assisted in preparing his official reports.

This edition is ideal for:
• Readers of Brooklyn Bridge and New York City history
• Students of civil and structural engineering interested in primary sources
• Military and Civil War history enthusiasts who want to follow Roebling’s postwar career
• Anyone fascinated by how great infrastructure projects are conceived, tested, and executed

Presented in an accessible format, Report of the Chief Engineer of the New York & Brooklyn Bridge offers a front row seat to one offers a front row seat to one of the nineteenth century’s defining engineering achievements.