40 Years

Almost 40 years ago Bridge Builder Gustav Lindenthal strolled along the east bank of the Hudson, looked across the river to the Weehawken side. He could see blue sky and grey water and green trees, but his thoughts were not on the works of nature but on the works of man. Why not (thought he) build a bridge across the river? It was seven years since Engineer Roebling had finished bridging the East River with his famed Brooklyn Bridge. Why should not the Hudson be spanned as well? So Engineer Lindenthal thought of two high towers with long chains sweeping down from their tops, and of the bridge itself, hung from these chains by a myriad of suspension wires that made a harplike structure with strings of steel for the wind to play. So, in 1890, was formed the North River Bridge Co., a corporation dedicated solely to the building and operation of a Manhattan-Jersey bridge. Engineer F. W. Roebling was one of the original incorporators; so was the late great Samuel Rea, onetime (1913-25) Pennsylvania R. R. president. So was the late, great Thomas Fortune Ryan (TIME, Dec. 3). But of all that original company, only Builder Lindenthal, now 78, is alive today. And over the Hudson River, on Manhattan's west hangs yet no path of steel.

There have been many other bridges under which the waters east of Manhattan have flowed since that time, and tunnels, too, have been built both east and west. In 1896 the Williamsburg Bridge was begun; in 1901 the Queensboro and the Manhattan. But none of these bridges were over Builder Lindenthal's river, although, as city commissioner of bridges he redesigned the Williamsburg Bridge and aided in the construction of the others. Meanwhile Railroader Rea, having found bridging the Hudson an insoluble financial problem, turned his attention to tunnels, and for him Consulting Engineer Lindenthal worked on the building of the 21-ft. cast iron tubes through which travelers from Pennsylvania Station today pass en route to the Jersey mainland. Later, still working with Mr. Rea, Builder Lindenthal came even closer to the realization of his ambition when he bridged Hell Gate, to the north, with a thousand-foot arch of steel.

But still the Hudson was unbridged, and still the North River Bridge Co. was more a prospectus than a performance. Furthermore, the Pennsylvania R. R., now snugly located in Manhattan, could not well be expected to take interest in additional bridges. And Builder Lindenthal and his associates were growing old. Undiscouraged, however, he continued with his plans. After the conclusion of the War, he suggested that an admirable War Memorial would be a bridge across the Hudson, but this suggestion met with no great approval. Some six years ago, when even New York's City Fathers had begun to catch up with the Lindenthal vision, patient Mr. Lindenthal put a definite location (West 57th , Street) to his bridge, drew plans, estimated expenditures. But the City Fathers had other ideas, and when at last a Hudson River bridge was actually begun, it was the now-building structure from 178th Street to Fort Lee. Ironic, to Mr. Lindenthal, must be the sight of the Fort Lee towers, of his dream transplanted and its fulfilment in other hands.

Still undiscouraged, however, he con tinued to plan, to calculate, and last week his project at least reached as far as the newspaper headlines, and his bridge ap peared in diagram if not in steel. For with Major General Edgar Jadwin, U. S. Army Chief of Engineers, was filed an application for permission to construct a suspension bridge from West 57th Street, Manhattan, to New Jersey. First announce ments of the application linked the Baltimore & Ohio R. R. with the North River Bridge Co., told how the B. & O. was determined to get into New York, discussed plans and specifications not only of the bridge but of a great railroad terminal in the neighborhood of West 57th Street and Ninth Avenue. Except for the fact that the bridge clearance was not quite high enough to provide for the masts of ocean liners, War Department permission seemed virtually assured, and very few ocean liners get as far inland as 57th Street.

More recent developments, however, indicated that Builder Lindenthal's troubles are not entirely over. Most disconcerting was the attitude of the B. & O. Said its President Daniel Willard: "Inasmuch as the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad does not with its own rails extend north of Philadelphia at this time, that company is naturally not in a position to give its direct support to the project."*

Perhaps Builder Lindenthal will be able to solve all his problems, and perhaps the City of New York will build his bridge if the B. & O. does not. But by 1930 the North River Bridge Co. will have been in existence for 40 years. And Builder Lindenthal will be 79 years old.

* B. & O. access to New York depends upon a trackage agreement with Reading Railroad. A minority Reading stockholder, the B. & O. has applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission for control of the road.