Soon after Washington’s father completed the
preliminary drawings for the Brooklyn Bridge, he died after an accident at the future Bridge site. Terefore, Washington had to do all the design, engineering, and construction most likely, all by himself. “However he had already worked on several bridges including the Covington-Cincinnati Suspension Bridge before working on the Brooklyn Bridge, and he was the person who had done all the research in Europe,” says Wagner. Still, working on the Brooklyn Bridge alone as
the Chief Engineer nearly cost Washington his life numerous times. If it wasn’t enough that the vast burden of the design of the project was on his shoulders, he was also the primary person to direct the work. Ten there were numerous men who had greatly suffered and others who also died on the construction site while working on caissons – foundations that are buried deep into the East River’s bed. Out of great concern, Washington himself would go down into the digging of the caissons. As a result, Washington also ended up with decompression sickness, also known as the bends, like many other construction workers. “Even later in life, Washington continued to endure through very tough situations,” Wagner continues.
Washington outlived all his siblings as well as some nephews, so he had to pick up running the Roebling Wire Rope business that had previously been managed by his brothers. Washington was 80 years old when he took his father’s family business and rode the trolley into work every day until he passed away. “Washington is the most resilient person I have ever met,” she says. Wagner has spent so much time researching Washington that she says she almost feels as though she has met this great man. Te depth of her research comes through the book giving us a window into the life of a man who truly did so much for our nation’s technological progress. “To go from working with the facts of Washington’s life and then to make the leap of imagination required to write a biography was a moving experience for me,” says Wagner. “I had wanted to write a book about Washington since the first day I learned about him in the New York Public Library at 19 years old.” However, Wagner had shied away from the idea for many years because she felt like she was not going to do Washington justice. She was also self-conscious about not having a working knowledge about wire rope, bridge design, engineering, and the construction industry, etc. “Washington was my inspiration for the book,” she says. “If Washington could persevere as much as he did in his day, how could I not do the same myself?” Wagner took on a 19th-century mentality by learning as much as she could about wire rope and these other technical subjects to write Chief Engineer. She was able to tour the Bridon-Bekaert wire mill and manufacturing roperies in the UK and to spend quite a long time observing and studying each process within the plant. “To have toured Bridon-Bekaert was one of the most exciting experiences of my life. To understand now how wire rope is so much a part of so many different technologies that we use in America and across the world today and to then see the manufacturing process is truly amazing,” says Wagner. During the 19th-Century, Wagner pointed out that people would study to become experts about almost any subject. A lay person would read technical manuals and study a wide variety of disciplines. During Wagner’s research, she also went to visit
Invitation to Brooklyn Bridge opening. Roebling Collection, Institute Archives and Special Collections, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
26 JULY–AUGUST 2017 WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE
Saxonburg, Pennsylvania where John A. Roebling set up a manufacturing plant for wire rope production. While there, she purchased a wire rope bracelet that is a replica of the types of bracelets that the wire rope
Erica Wagner. Photo by Olivia Beasley
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