Page 237 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

BROOKL Y N BRIDGE  235

Holding the Cables
Saddle plates anchor the
cables at the top of each
of the two towers.

Cable

Diagonal stays
Suspender
Nearing Completion (1883) wires
Vertical suspender wires lashed
to diagonal stays hold the floor
beams in place.

Floor Beams
The steel floor beams weigh 4 tons each.

Odlum’s Jump
Robert Odlum was
the first to jump off the
bridge, on a bet, in May
1885. He later died from
internal bleeding.

Elevated Walkway
Poet Walt Whitman said that the view
from the walkway – 18 ft (5.5 m) above
the road – was “the best, most effective
medicine my soul has yet partaken.”

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