15. The Manhattan Tower is Built on Sand
Building the Brooklyn Bridge was an amazing engineering feat and the success of its design is evident in the fact that it is still standing strong today. Many lives were lost in the construction of the bridge and one of the riskiest parts of the process was installing the caissons, the base on which the towers rest, at the bottom of the river.
Brooklyn Bridge Walking Tour
When digging into the riverbed, on the Manhattan side, fossils were found which indicated that the riverbed had not shifted in several million years. Washington Roebling, who had already seen too many of his workers suffer from caisson disease (the bends), decided that this was enough evidence to safely halt digging thirty feet above the bedrock. What means essentially is that the Manhattan side tower sits not atop bedrock like the Brooklyn side, but on sand. It would have taken another year more possible casualties if the digging continued into the bedrock.
Next, check out Vintage Construction Photos of NYC’s Bridges and The 14 Best Things to Do in DUMBO