sylvania, in 1810, is credited with the introduction in this country of wire bridges of general utility. In 1842 he built a wire cable suspension bridge over the Schuylkill at Fairmount, which was the first noteworthy wire suspension bridge in this country. General J. G. Barnard says that "he shares with Roebling the honor of being a pioneer of wire suspension bridges." The earliest European wire suspension bridge of which we have found any mention is the bridge at Fribourg, in Switzerland, which was completed in 1834. This bridge has a span of 870 feet and is suspended at a height of 167 feet above the water. It is supported on cables of iron wire. Wire rope was in use in the Hartz mines, in Germany, in 1831. It can be justly claimed that the wire suspension bridge as we see it to-day is to all intents and purposes the work of American engineers.

John Augustus Roebling will always be regarded as the greatest of all American bridge engineers. If he did not absolutely invent the wire suspension bridge he was certainly its most earnest and intelligent advocate and its most skillful builder. The Brooklyn Bridge, which he planned but which after his death was built by his illustrious son, Washington A. Roebling, is not his only monument. The Niagara and other wire suspension bridges. which were built after his plans and under his direction need not be referred to in detail in these pages, but they may well contain a brief notice of the man himself.

Mr. Roebling was a native of Mühlhausen, Prussia, in which city he was born on June 12, 1806. After the ordinary high school course he attended the mathematical institute of the celebrated Dr. Unger, at Erfurt, in Germany, for two years. Then he went to the Royal University at Berlin and graduated with high honors after a three years' course, mostly in engineering branches, followed by a special course in architecture. After spending two years in Westphalia as an engineer in the government service he concluded to emigrate to this country, and in 1829 or 1830 he led a small colony of Germans to Western Pennsylvania and founded the town of Saxonburg, in Butler county. He soon found employment as

an engineer in various canal and railroad enterprises. At Saxonburg he established the first wire-rope works in the United States, borrowing the money to pay for the wire, for which he was charged 21 cents a pound. His first wire rope was made on a rope-walk, not on a machine. Mr. Roebling was induced to engage in the manufacture of wire rope as a substitute for hempen ropes on the inclined planes of the Portage Railroad, to which episode in his life we will presently refer. The details which follow have been given to us by Washington A. Roebling.

The success of the Portage Railroad alterations led to similar improvements by my father on the Morris Canal in New Jersey, where 22 inclined planes were adapted to the use of wire rope, very large ones at that, being 24 inches in diameter. These were followed later on by the introduction of wire rope on the planes of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company and the Pennsylvania Coal Company. The general use of wire rope was a matter of very slow growth.

The manufacture of wire rope gave my father a thorough knowledge of the strength and qualities of iron wire and its various capabilities. When, therefore, in the year 1844 it became necessary to rebuild the wooden arch aqueduct of the Pennsylvania Canal across the Allegheny river at Pittsburgh he made the startling proposition of replacing it by a wire suspension aqueduct. This called forth a storm of violent opposition. He finally obtained a contract to build the aqueduct in the short space of six months in the winter season. This comprised removal of the old structure, rebuilding five piers in a rapid stream, building two new anchorages, spinning a pair of long cables, and suspending the wooden trunk. It was completed in time. He cleared $3,500, which was afterwards lost by the failure of a bank where it was deposited.

In 1846 my father built the Monongahela Suspension Bridge at Pittsburgh without any assistant. Next followed four suspension aqueducts on the line of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, all winter work, lasting three seasons. In 1849 an injury to his left arm made his left hand practically useless. With this handicap he accomplished some of his greatest works. With all this external activity he still found time, or made time, to attend to his wire-rope business, which he removed from Saxonburg to Trenton in 1849 and much enlarged by adding a wire-drawing department and a rolling mill, all constructed on his own plans. The Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge, now replaced by a double-track steel arch, was opened to travel in 1854, over fifty years ago. All the designing, calculating, drafting, and superintending was done by Mr. Roebling personally.

At the Allegheny Bridge at Pittsburgh I was my father's only assistant, having just left college, but he did all the designing and vital parts of the work. On the Cincinnati Bridge I was again his principal assistant, the close of the civil war giving me liberty to take the position. Here again he did all the designing and superintending, the bridge being built by day's work. As regards the Brooklyn Bridge I can say that he made the original designs, with perhaps a little assistance from myself and Mr. Hildenbrand. In the construction of the bridge the design was, however,

considerably modified, and might perhaps have been changed to even more advantage. This is inevitable where conditions are rapidly changing and demands are constantly increasing. My father died from an accident on July 22, 1869, before actual work was begun, and it remained for me to make it an accomplished fact by fourteen years of hard work.

The building of the wire aqueduct over the Allegheny river at Pittsburgh by Mr. Roebling, "the designer and contractor," as stated by the American Rail Road Journal in 1845, was contracted for by the city of Pittsburgh, under an agreement with the State authorities. The Journal makes this prophetic statement: "This system, for the first time successfully carried out on the Pittsburgh aqueduct, may hereafter be applied with the happiest results to railroad bridges, which have to resist the powerful weight and great vibrations which result from the passage of heavy locomotives and trains of cars." The contract price for the aqueduct was $62,000.

The Hon. James Potts, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was for many years, beginning with 1839, the collector of tolls on the Pennsylvania Canal and Portage Railroad, his office being located at Johnstown, where the western division of the canal ended and the railroad commenced, the latter terminating at Hollidaysburg. It had ten inclined planes, operated by stationary engines. On the 9th of September, 1886, the "old boatmen " on the western division of the canal held a reunion at Nineveh, near Johnstown, at which Judge Potts delivered an address, of which the following incident in the life of John A. Roebling formed a part. Judge Potts was a native of Butler county and had long known Mr. Roebling.

The late John A. Roebling, one of the most distinguished civil engineers and scientists of his day, conceived the idea of spanning the largest rivers with bridges supported by wire cables. To that end he directed the labor of his life. He established a wire rope works on a small scale at Saxonburg, in Butler county, and by special grace he got permission from the Canal Board in 1842 or 1843 to put a wire cable on Plane No. 3. It was put on in the fall of the year. The manufacturer of the hempen ropes in Pittsburgh, backed by a powerful political and interested influence, endeavored to prevent the introduction of the wire cable. The superintendent and employés on the road partook of that opposition. If the wire cable was a success it would supersede the profitable hempen-rope industry. The cable, however, was put on the plane, and in a few days one of the attachés cut the cable in two. Mr. Roebling found his cable stretched on the plane condemned. He came to the collector's office and asked

an interview with me in the parlor. He stated with the tears of grief, if not of agony, that he was a ruined man. The labor of his life, the hope of his fame and fortune, were lost forever. His cable was condemned by the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was condemned, not because it was worthless, but because it would supersede the hempen rope. "Can not you do something for me?" he asked. Why, Mr. Roebling, I would do anything in the world for you, but what can I do?" "You have influence with the Canal Board, and, perhaps, you can get me another opportunity to test my cable."

Just at that moment there was a rap at the door, and, in answer to the call, who stepped in but John B. Butler, the President of the Board of Canal Commissioners, and, after the usual salutation, I said to Mr. Roebling, "Just state your case to Mr. Butler." Mr. Roebling stated his case in very few words, for he was a man of few words. Mr. Butler listened attentively until he got through, when he said: "Roebling, have you confidence in your cable?" The answer was, "I have, sir." "Then," said Mr. Butler, "I now appoint you superintendent of Plane No. 3, with the credit of the Commonwealth for all the material you may need; superintendent of the depots at Johnstown and Hollidaysburg for all the machinery you may want; the appointment of all such mechanics and laborers as you may require in the reconstruction of the plane-all this at the expense of the Commonwealth. You will commence immediately after the close of navigation and have everything necessary for the spring business. You will superintend the plane yourself for the first month, and if your cable is a success we will put it on all the planes on the road, and this is all I can do for you.' Mr. Roebling did not burst forth in the usual laudation of thanks, of God bless you and prosper you, etc.; but this time, with tears of joy rolling down his cheeks, his only reply was, "God is good!" I shall never forget the reply. He gave thanks to that Source from whom all blessings flow. He left with a joyful heart and greatly encouraged. The plane was reconstructed, ready for the spring business. The cable worked like a charm.

During that summer wire cables were put on all the planes. By these planes Mr. Roebling had an opportunity of testing the flexibility and strength of his cables. The heavy weight of cars and section boats on those cables gave them a fair test of strength and durability. I mention this fact to show that the planes on the Portage Railroad were the means of the wonderful enterprise of wire-cable bridges, for Mr. Roebling frequently told me since that, had it not been for the interview in my parlor and the authority he got there to reconstruct a plane to establish and test the virtue of his wire cable, he never would have attempted it again, being condemned by the Commonwealth. So the old Portage is entitled to the credit of all these great wire bridges, notably the Brooklyn Bridge.

It was in Western Pennsylvania that the first chain suspension bridge in this country was built, and Judge Finley, who built it, introduced it in other parts of the country. It was also in Western Pennsylvania that the first wire-rope factory in the country was established by John A. Roebling, who also, more than any other man, promoted the building of wire suspension bridges.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH.

THE prominence which Pittsburgh has attained as the centre of the iron and steel, bituminous coal, and glass industries of our country, and as the centre of the world's iron and steel industries, naturally leads to a condensed account in this volume of its early history and of the notable part which Washington bore in shaping that history. The dates and other details that we shall give have been verified from trustworthy sources.

The selection of the forks of the Ohio, formed by the junction of the Monongahela and the Allegheny rivers, as a suitable place for the erection of a fort was made in 1753 by George Washington for the mutual benefit of the Ohio Company and the colony of Virginia, which latter Washington directly and officially represented. This selection was made at a time when Virginia claimed jurisdiction over Western Pennsylvania, and when this claim received entirely too little consideration from the provincial authorities of Pennsylvania. The Ohio Company was composed chiefly of Virginians, and of this company both Lawrence and Augustine Washington, half brothers of George Washington, were members. The company was organized to engage in trade with the Indians west of the Alleghenies and to secure valuable grants of land. It received the encouragement and support of the English and Virginia authorities because the territory it expected to occupy was claimed as a part of Virginia. In November of the year above mentioned Washington visited the forks of the Ohio while serving as a commissioner from Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, to the French commandant in Northwestern Pennsylvania, the French at that time claiming jurisdiction over the Ohio and Mississippi valleys and having established military posts at Presqu' Isle (Erie) and at Le Boeuf, (Waterford.) The object of Washington's visit to the French commandant was to