As the two companies approached the Promontory Mountains in Utah, both realized there was only one route through. Blasting began on both sides to lay track. The east slope was more difficult as the grade was steeper. On both sides, fills and trestles were necessary for crossing deep ravines. Finally on April 9, the Union Pacific, and on April 11, the Central Pacific, stopped trying to lay tracks ahead. Congress established that they would meet at Promontory Summit.
By April 16, 1869 the two crews were only 50 miles apart. The Union Pacific crew was delayed because it ran out of ties. They also had to build three more trestles to make the summit.
May 8 was the target date for the union of the two railroads. On May 7, the two lines were just 2,500 feet apart. Former California Governor Leland Stanford traveled to Utah along with other officials from California and Nevada, bringing two golden spikes with him. One was made by David Hewes, one of the Central Pacific's largest supply contractors. The other was sent by The San Francisco "News Letter." West Evans, the contractor who supplied most of the Central Pacific ties, hand-polished and waxed a special last tie made out of laurelwood. The Pacific Union Express Company sent a silver plated sledge for the final blow.
The Union Pacific team was not prepared by May 8. Many of the dignitaries traveling on their end got held up by weather or by labor disputes. However, on May 9 the Union Pacific laid the final 2,500 feet of track, leaving one length of rail separation. The two trains from the east arrived the morning of May 10th.
At noon on May 10, 1869 a ceremony began with approximately 600 people in attendance. The two engines, the Central Pacific's Jupiter and the Union Pacific's No. 119, stood cowcatcher to cowcatcher at each end of the last rail.
At 12:20 p.m., one official from each railroad joined together to lay in the ceremonial last tie using the gold spikes. The silver sledgehammer was used to "drive" the spikes, but not enough to damage them. (The real final tie, spike and sledge were ordinary.) The two trains were then driven together, and a bottle of champagne was broken over the laurel tie. A telegraph went out across the nation with the simple message: "Done." The transcontinental railroad was complete. At that instant in Promontory Point, Utah, coast-to-coast travel time was reduced from four to six months to six days. In just seven years, the Union Pacific railroad had built 1,086 miles of railroad lines from Omaha, Nebraska. The Central Pacific had built 690 miles from Sacramento, California. Both railroads had crossed a major mountain range, the Rocky Mountains in the East and the Sierra Nevada in the west.
While the Transcontintental Railroad was started in the midst of a war that divided America, its completion marked a new unity and connection between the east and west coasts that further defined the United States as a single nation. The railroad signaled the death knell for the "western frontier" as it made possible the large-scale immigration to, agricultural and other trade with, and ultimately the industrialization of the western U.S.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Transcontinental Railroad
The Central Pacific broke ground in Sacramento, California in January, 1863. The Union Pacific broke ground at the Missouri River bluffs near Omaha, Nebraska in December, 1863. A competition arose between the construction crews of the two railroads, to see who could finish first.
In December 1862, the Central Pacific Railroad awarded its first construction contract to Charles Crocker & Company. The construction company subcontracted the first 18 miles to firms with hands-on experience, and the Central Pacific reached Newcastle, California on June 4, 1864. From that point on, it was a long haul up the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The physical construction of the rail line was a job with an enormous scope, and it was often a painfully slow process. There was also constant pressure to meet time or geographical deadlines. The construction crews had to cut grade, build snowsheds, blast through hard rock and lay track through snow. Deep fills, switchback routes, high trestles, huge rock cuts and fifteen tunnels were necessary to make it over the Sierras.
To create this rail line, an enormous amount of tools, materials and supplies were required. Each mile of track required 100 tons of rail, about 2,500 ties and two or three tons of spikes and fish plates (metal pieces that joined the rails and prevented climatic expansion and contraction of the metal). Some of the tools needed included wheelbarrows, horse drawn scrapers, two-wheel dump carts, shovels, axes, crowbars, blasting powder, quarry tools and iron rods. On top of that, locomotives, wheel trucks, switch mechanisms and foundry tools were needed as well.
Providing these supplies was no small challenge. All supplies for the Central Pacific came from the East, and the Panama Canal shortcut did not exist at that time. All material, rails, rolling stock and machinery was shipped around Cape Horn on the southernmost tip of South America, en route to California. River steamers then took the material upriver to Sacramento, where it was offloaded to platform cars and hauled up into the mountains. If a shipment didn't leave the East Coast on time (and this happened frequently) or if an accident occurred in the shipping, the resulting delay could create a great hardship. The contractors often cut corners, spiking only seven of every ten rails or allowing other shoddy work along the line.
In 1865, the construction company faced another shortage, a labor shortage. They hired Chinese workers against the wishes of the other laborers and their foreman, but when the first group proved to be efficient and hardworking, the contractor recruited more from California and China itself. It was the Chinese men and their back-breaking labor that would get the railroad through the Sierra Nevada.
While the Central Pacific crews were struggling through the mountains, they heard tales of the speed with which the Union Pacific crews were able to work. As they grew closer to the point where the two railroads would meet, the Central Pacific crews decided they had something to prove. Spurred on by their supervisors, on April 28, 1869 they laid an extraordinary ten miles of track across the Utah desert between sunrise and sunset. They used 25,800 ties, 3,520 rails, 55,000 spikes and 7,040 fishplates. The Irish and Chinese crews worked together and completed the ten mile stretch in 12 hours. This feat has never duplicated by human beings in railroad construction since. It also brought the Central Pacific rail within ten miles of the Union Pacific line, ensuring the Union Pacific could not hope to replicate the achievement.
Led by construction superintendent Samuel B. Reed, chief engineer Grenville M. Dodge and contractors John S. and Dan T. Casement, the task facing Union Pacific construction crews was relatively easy at first. Their route went largely through flat plains, following the Oregon Trail through the Platte Valley, then crossing the Continental Divide through the Black Hills in Wyoming.
While the terrain was comparatively easy to work in, Union Pacific construction crews faced one problem that their Central Pacific rivals didn't: Indians. In Nebraska, the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes continually harassed Union Pacific construction crews. Forts were established along the line to protect the railroad. When the workers weren't at work or asleep, they were at war with rifles at their sides, ready for the next Indian attack. Sometimes the Indians fought the workers; other times, they damaged the progress made by the construction crews. In August 1867 at Plum Creek, Nebraska, Cheyennes pried up some rails and caused the derailment of a freight train. The train crashed and the Indians looted the cars.
The Union Pacific's construction materials were sailed up the Missouri or brought in by wagon. Their biggest difficulty lay in getting railroad ties, since there were few natural trees as were found in the Sierras. They had to import the ties until the Chicago & Western railroad line was extended to reach the Black Hills of Wyoming and the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.
Both companies laid track essentially the same way. They sent crews far ahead to do a preliminary survey, then location surveys. The graders would grade 100 miles of track at a time. In the mountains they graded as much as 200 to 300 miles at a time since the actual building took so much longer. Bridge, culvert and trestle crews worked five to 20 miles ahead. Then the tracklayers came in, grabbing rails out of horse-drawn carts. Then came the men to pound in the spikes. At the end of each line was a base camp that supplied material and food to the workers. As construction of the line was completed every 100 to 200 miles, the base camp would move up to keep in proximity to the crews.
In December 1862, the Central Pacific Railroad awarded its first construction contract to Charles Crocker & Company. The construction company subcontracted the first 18 miles to firms with hands-on experience, and the Central Pacific reached Newcastle, California on June 4, 1864. From that point on, it was a long haul up the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The physical construction of the rail line was a job with an enormous scope, and it was often a painfully slow process. There was also constant pressure to meet time or geographical deadlines. The construction crews had to cut grade, build snowsheds, blast through hard rock and lay track through snow. Deep fills, switchback routes, high trestles, huge rock cuts and fifteen tunnels were necessary to make it over the Sierras.
To create this rail line, an enormous amount of tools, materials and supplies were required. Each mile of track required 100 tons of rail, about 2,500 ties and two or three tons of spikes and fish plates (metal pieces that joined the rails and prevented climatic expansion and contraction of the metal). Some of the tools needed included wheelbarrows, horse drawn scrapers, two-wheel dump carts, shovels, axes, crowbars, blasting powder, quarry tools and iron rods. On top of that, locomotives, wheel trucks, switch mechanisms and foundry tools were needed as well.
Providing these supplies was no small challenge. All supplies for the Central Pacific came from the East, and the Panama Canal shortcut did not exist at that time. All material, rails, rolling stock and machinery was shipped around Cape Horn on the southernmost tip of South America, en route to California. River steamers then took the material upriver to Sacramento, where it was offloaded to platform cars and hauled up into the mountains. If a shipment didn't leave the East Coast on time (and this happened frequently) or if an accident occurred in the shipping, the resulting delay could create a great hardship. The contractors often cut corners, spiking only seven of every ten rails or allowing other shoddy work along the line.
In 1865, the construction company faced another shortage, a labor shortage. They hired Chinese workers against the wishes of the other laborers and their foreman, but when the first group proved to be efficient and hardworking, the contractor recruited more from California and China itself. It was the Chinese men and their back-breaking labor that would get the railroad through the Sierra Nevada.
While the Central Pacific crews were struggling through the mountains, they heard tales of the speed with which the Union Pacific crews were able to work. As they grew closer to the point where the two railroads would meet, the Central Pacific crews decided they had something to prove. Spurred on by their supervisors, on April 28, 1869 they laid an extraordinary ten miles of track across the Utah desert between sunrise and sunset. They used 25,800 ties, 3,520 rails, 55,000 spikes and 7,040 fishplates. The Irish and Chinese crews worked together and completed the ten mile stretch in 12 hours. This feat has never duplicated by human beings in railroad construction since. It also brought the Central Pacific rail within ten miles of the Union Pacific line, ensuring the Union Pacific could not hope to replicate the achievement.
Led by construction superintendent Samuel B. Reed, chief engineer Grenville M. Dodge and contractors John S. and Dan T. Casement, the task facing Union Pacific construction crews was relatively easy at first. Their route went largely through flat plains, following the Oregon Trail through the Platte Valley, then crossing the Continental Divide through the Black Hills in Wyoming.
While the terrain was comparatively easy to work in, Union Pacific construction crews faced one problem that their Central Pacific rivals didn't: Indians. In Nebraska, the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes continually harassed Union Pacific construction crews. Forts were established along the line to protect the railroad. When the workers weren't at work or asleep, they were at war with rifles at their sides, ready for the next Indian attack. Sometimes the Indians fought the workers; other times, they damaged the progress made by the construction crews. In August 1867 at Plum Creek, Nebraska, Cheyennes pried up some rails and caused the derailment of a freight train. The train crashed and the Indians looted the cars.
The Union Pacific's construction materials were sailed up the Missouri or brought in by wagon. Their biggest difficulty lay in getting railroad ties, since there were few natural trees as were found in the Sierras. They had to import the ties until the Chicago & Western railroad line was extended to reach the Black Hills of Wyoming and the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.
Both companies laid track essentially the same way. They sent crews far ahead to do a preliminary survey, then location surveys. The graders would grade 100 miles of track at a time. In the mountains they graded as much as 200 to 300 miles at a time since the actual building took so much longer. Bridge, culvert and trestle crews worked five to 20 miles ahead. Then the tracklayers came in, grabbing rails out of horse-drawn carts. Then came the men to pound in the spikes. At the end of each line was a base camp that supplied material and food to the workers. As construction of the line was completed every 100 to 200 miles, the base camp would move up to keep in proximity to the crews.
World's Largest Subway System Completed
The subway system was completed and opened for business on October 27, 1904. The price to ride was a nickel and 150,000 stood in line to take a ride on the first subway train. New Yorkers applauded IRT's innovations, especially its use of electric power which added nothing to the city's air pollution. With a four-track design that could run in each direction at both local and express speeds, IRT had built the fastest public transportation system in the world. Its slogan: "City Hall to Harlem in 15 minutes!"
Neighborhoods sprung up around the planned subway stations and the population grew. In 1900 few people lived in Brooklyn, but by 1914 it was home to one million people. On Monday, December 23, 1946, 8,872,244 people rode the New York subway system, a record that still stands today.
Thanks to IRT, New York City flourished and developed into the city it is today because the subways enabled people to live in one area of the large city and work in another, with quick and efficient travel in between.
Since the subway was built, over 100 stations have been renovated, with many more planned. More than 1,000 new cars have been put into use, at a price of $2.4 billion - more than it cost to build the entire subway system itself.
Neighborhoods sprung up around the planned subway stations and the population grew. In 1900 few people lived in Brooklyn, but by 1914 it was home to one million people. On Monday, December 23, 1946, 8,872,244 people rode the New York subway system, a record that still stands today.
Thanks to IRT, New York City flourished and developed into the city it is today because the subways enabled people to live in one area of the large city and work in another, with quick and efficient travel in between.
Since the subway was built, over 100 stations have been renovated, with many more planned. More than 1,000 new cars have been put into use, at a price of $2.4 billion - more than it cost to build the entire subway system itself.
Highway Construction in Arizona
A stretch of I-15 runs through the 500-year-old Virgin River Gorge in Arizona, an area that is known as a scenic wonder. When time came to build the interstate highway system through this area, the Kiewit Construction Company faced the challenge of building a highway system that was up to federal standards, yet did not ruin the beauty of the area.
Kiewit Construction Company started out as a local builder, as did many of the contractors who worked on the interstate highway system. After World War II, the company was forced to switch its focus to water projects because there was a great deal of that development going on in the western parts of the country. The company worked on many dams and canals, including the Friant-Kern Canal, which was designed to bring water to the Los Angeles area from Northern California; the Monticello Dam near Sacramento, a concrete arch dam that was built to feed water into the California Aqueduct; the concrete arch Flaming Gorge Dam on the Colorado River in Utah; and the earth-fill Garrison Dam on the Missouri River in North Dakota. When the United States and Canada began working together to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway in the mid-1950s, Kiewit contributed work on the Long Sault Canal and the Iroquois Dam.
Prior to the building of I-15, there was no road to take people through the beautiful scenery of the Gorge. The Federal Highway Administration wanted the highway to run through the Gorge because of its beauty, and thanks to its previous work on waterways Kiewit was up to the task. In order to build the highway, the Virgin River had to be re-channeled twelve different times and the road squeezed between the deep walls of the canyon.
The Virgin River Gorge section of the interstate highway system opened in 1973, and in 1988 Arizona Highways Magazine stated that this section of the highway "enhanced rather than distracted from nature's handiwork." This is high praise indeed in an area whose citizens were rightfully protective of their region's natural splendor. So amazing was the job done by Kiewit Construction Company that this section of the interstate highway system has been deemed a wonder in itself.
To date, Kiewit has built more miles of the interstate highway system than any other construction company, including sections through Colorado's Glenwood Canyon, the Eisenhower Tunnel through the Colorado Rockies and the Ft. McHenry tunnel beneath Baltimore Harbor. Forbes Magazine called company president Peter Kiewit "The Colossus of Roads." Kiewit is still one of the largest transportation contactors in the United States today.
Highway Construction in Colorado
The longest tunnel built as part of the interstate highway system is the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel under the Continental Divide. Four construction companies joined together to form Straight Creek Constructors, a name derived from where the west portal of the tunnel was located. The Division of Highways had estimated the cost of the project at $42.5 million, and the Straight Creek Constructors had the low bid at $54.1 million.
The project called for completing the westbound tunnel; starting the eastbound tunnel a short distance into each end; constructing combination portal and ventilation buildings for all tunnel entrances; and installing such facilities as lighting, other utilities and an electronic surveillance system. The first bore was to open three years after beginning construction, and the second several years later.
Construction began on March 15, 1968. There were a number of challenges that had to be faced by the construction company.
Geologists had discovered that the bedrock in the tunnel was 75% granite and 25% gneiss and schist. In the pilot bore, more than 26% of the length was in self-supporting rock, with 74% needing support. There was also 820 feet of what tunnelers describe as bad rock-not the most ideal situation. Additional problems arose because the first bore was not in the same spot as the pilot bore, and so conditions were different from what contractors were expecting.
The workers had to excavate 524,000 cubic yards of rock at an elevation of eleven thousand feet, which made efficiency for both man and machine much lower than expected. That area of the country has a long winter season, making the available time for working on the outside of the tunnel very short. In order to get the work done on schedule, 1,140 people worked in three shifts, 24 hours a day, six days a week.
The greatest problem the construction company faced was the mountain itself. There was simply no way to predict how it would react to the great tunnels being bored through it, and it didn't always cooperate as contractors had planned. Stress would often show up, for example, where theory would indicate there should be none. In order to overcome these obstacles, the construction company had to devise new methodology, like creating a way to mine and support a hole 50 feet high and 45 feet wide.
All told, contractors used 190,000 cubic yards of concrete to line the tunnel, 34,000 cubic yards of concrete for the buildings, and 10,000 tons of steel reinforcing bars and 23,400 tons of structural steel in the tunnel.
On March 8, 1973, the first of the twin tunnels was dedicated and opened to traffic. The second bore was opened in December, 1979.
Glenwood Canyon in Colorado, experts agree, was one of the most challenging sections of the interstate highway system, and another to which Kiewit Construction Company of Arizona lent its expertise. The canyon was formed by the Colorado River and includes 16 miles of steep, sheer cliffs on both sides of the river. Kiewit began work on the project in 1981, employing as many as 500 workers.
Because this is an amazingly scenic area, environmentalists and other nature enthusiasts were concerned that the highway would mar the canyon's beauty. So afraid were environmentalists that Kiewit would ruin their lovely landscape that in 1984 the Colorado Open Space Council and Sierra Club joined forces to seek a restraining order to stop construction. Their motion was rejected, but contractors were required to disturb as little of the canyon as possible, even facing fines if their work harmed certain trees.
Kiewit had to find a way to make engineering and the environment work together, and they did it by introducing a construction method that had never before been used in the United States: balanced cantilever construction. This method enables construction companies to build bridges from above, rather than below. First a bridge column is built and then a gantry, a special type of crane, is positioned on top of the column. Using precast segments that were brought in by truck, the gantry was used to build the bridge outward from the column.
Construction on I-70 through Glenwood Canyon was completed in 1992, one full year ahead of schedule, at the cost of $490.3 million. All in all, more than 40 bridges and viaducts made of precast box girders, precast I-beams, cast-in-place post tension box girders and welded steel box girders were used to preserve as much of the canyon as possible.
Kiewit Construction Company started out as a local builder, as did many of the contractors who worked on the interstate highway system. After World War II, the company was forced to switch its focus to water projects because there was a great deal of that development going on in the western parts of the country. The company worked on many dams and canals, including the Friant-Kern Canal, which was designed to bring water to the Los Angeles area from Northern California; the Monticello Dam near Sacramento, a concrete arch dam that was built to feed water into the California Aqueduct; the concrete arch Flaming Gorge Dam on the Colorado River in Utah; and the earth-fill Garrison Dam on the Missouri River in North Dakota. When the United States and Canada began working together to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway in the mid-1950s, Kiewit contributed work on the Long Sault Canal and the Iroquois Dam.
Prior to the building of I-15, there was no road to take people through the beautiful scenery of the Gorge. The Federal Highway Administration wanted the highway to run through the Gorge because of its beauty, and thanks to its previous work on waterways Kiewit was up to the task. In order to build the highway, the Virgin River had to be re-channeled twelve different times and the road squeezed between the deep walls of the canyon.
The Virgin River Gorge section of the interstate highway system opened in 1973, and in 1988 Arizona Highways Magazine stated that this section of the highway "enhanced rather than distracted from nature's handiwork." This is high praise indeed in an area whose citizens were rightfully protective of their region's natural splendor. So amazing was the job done by Kiewit Construction Company that this section of the interstate highway system has been deemed a wonder in itself.
To date, Kiewit has built more miles of the interstate highway system than any other construction company, including sections through Colorado's Glenwood Canyon, the Eisenhower Tunnel through the Colorado Rockies and the Ft. McHenry tunnel beneath Baltimore Harbor. Forbes Magazine called company president Peter Kiewit "The Colossus of Roads." Kiewit is still one of the largest transportation contactors in the United States today.
Highway Construction in Colorado
The longest tunnel built as part of the interstate highway system is the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel under the Continental Divide. Four construction companies joined together to form Straight Creek Constructors, a name derived from where the west portal of the tunnel was located. The Division of Highways had estimated the cost of the project at $42.5 million, and the Straight Creek Constructors had the low bid at $54.1 million.
The project called for completing the westbound tunnel; starting the eastbound tunnel a short distance into each end; constructing combination portal and ventilation buildings for all tunnel entrances; and installing such facilities as lighting, other utilities and an electronic surveillance system. The first bore was to open three years after beginning construction, and the second several years later.
Construction began on March 15, 1968. There were a number of challenges that had to be faced by the construction company.
Geologists had discovered that the bedrock in the tunnel was 75% granite and 25% gneiss and schist. In the pilot bore, more than 26% of the length was in self-supporting rock, with 74% needing support. There was also 820 feet of what tunnelers describe as bad rock-not the most ideal situation. Additional problems arose because the first bore was not in the same spot as the pilot bore, and so conditions were different from what contractors were expecting.
The workers had to excavate 524,000 cubic yards of rock at an elevation of eleven thousand feet, which made efficiency for both man and machine much lower than expected. That area of the country has a long winter season, making the available time for working on the outside of the tunnel very short. In order to get the work done on schedule, 1,140 people worked in three shifts, 24 hours a day, six days a week.
The greatest problem the construction company faced was the mountain itself. There was simply no way to predict how it would react to the great tunnels being bored through it, and it didn't always cooperate as contractors had planned. Stress would often show up, for example, where theory would indicate there should be none. In order to overcome these obstacles, the construction company had to devise new methodology, like creating a way to mine and support a hole 50 feet high and 45 feet wide.
All told, contractors used 190,000 cubic yards of concrete to line the tunnel, 34,000 cubic yards of concrete for the buildings, and 10,000 tons of steel reinforcing bars and 23,400 tons of structural steel in the tunnel.
On March 8, 1973, the first of the twin tunnels was dedicated and opened to traffic. The second bore was opened in December, 1979.
Glenwood Canyon in Colorado, experts agree, was one of the most challenging sections of the interstate highway system, and another to which Kiewit Construction Company of Arizona lent its expertise. The canyon was formed by the Colorado River and includes 16 miles of steep, sheer cliffs on both sides of the river. Kiewit began work on the project in 1981, employing as many as 500 workers.
Because this is an amazingly scenic area, environmentalists and other nature enthusiasts were concerned that the highway would mar the canyon's beauty. So afraid were environmentalists that Kiewit would ruin their lovely landscape that in 1984 the Colorado Open Space Council and Sierra Club joined forces to seek a restraining order to stop construction. Their motion was rejected, but contractors were required to disturb as little of the canyon as possible, even facing fines if their work harmed certain trees.
Kiewit had to find a way to make engineering and the environment work together, and they did it by introducing a construction method that had never before been used in the United States: balanced cantilever construction. This method enables construction companies to build bridges from above, rather than below. First a bridge column is built and then a gantry, a special type of crane, is positioned on top of the column. Using precast segments that were brought in by truck, the gantry was used to build the bridge outward from the column.
Construction on I-70 through Glenwood Canyon was completed in 1992, one full year ahead of schedule, at the cost of $490.3 million. All in all, more than 40 bridges and viaducts made of precast box girders, precast I-beams, cast-in-place post tension box girders and welded steel box girders were used to preserve as much of the canyon as possible.
Interstate Highway System
The United States' Interstate Highway System was designated as one of the Seven Wonders of the United States in 1994 by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). To put this recognition into perspective one has only to look at other structures worthy of inclusion in the ASCE's list, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Panama Canal and the Hoover Dam.
The highway system, formally known as The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways, is a marvel in construction. Not only does it link the nation from coast to coast, but it also helped to increase business productivity as companies may now to get their goods anywhere in the United States more quickly and efficiently. In fact, since the highway system was started in 1956, our country has seen a tenfold increase in our gross national product, thanks to this massive project.
No one construction company is responsible for the highway system; it was a task too monumental for any single company to undertake. For the most part, each state, with help from the federal government, was responsible for its own sections of the interstate highway system. Some states built their roads through their various transportation departments and some contracted out the job to highly skilled highway builders. Here are a few of the states where construction companies overcame huge challenges to help create America's superb highway system.
Highway Construction in Louisiana
One section of I-10 in Louisiana was earning design awards before it even opened in March of 1973. That stretch is the elevated roadway that runs across the Atchafalaya Swamp. The construction company responsible for this section of the interstate highway system is Boh Brothers Construction.
The company was founded in 1909 when Arthur Boh built four duplexes in a small New Orleans neighborhood. When Arthur's brother Henry joined the company in 1913, they changed the name to Boh Brothers, a name it still carries today.
In the early part of the 20th Century they branched out from building construction and into drainage and sewage projects, growing modestly through the difficult times of the Depression. By this time the company started earning recognition for their expertise in underground work and pile-driving skills, eventually leading to them being considered the number one pile-driving contractor in the South. As the company grew, it worked on war-related facilities, utilities, subdivisions, power plants and overpasses. Henry brought in some key employees who would later play a crucial role the interstate highway system project, including J.A. Tedford, D.E. Guiza, the company's first registered engineer, and B.C.Stewart. Stewart was a man so committed to providing quality workmanship that he was known for tearing out work if he didn't feel it was good enough - even if that work had already been approved by inspectors. Stewart became the company's vice president and senior consultant, positions he still holds today.
By the time the interstate highway system was ready to be built in Louisiana, Boh Bros. was ready for the task. The elevated section of highway across the Atchafalaya Swamp was constructed from precast segments. These segments were cast at a plant on Lake Pontchartrain, and then floated through a maze of streams and canals by barge to the Atchafalaya River Basin. When they arrived at the building site, the segments were then lifted by large cranes and placed on top of the supporting columns.
The highway system, formally known as The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways, is a marvel in construction. Not only does it link the nation from coast to coast, but it also helped to increase business productivity as companies may now to get their goods anywhere in the United States more quickly and efficiently. In fact, since the highway system was started in 1956, our country has seen a tenfold increase in our gross national product, thanks to this massive project.
No one construction company is responsible for the highway system; it was a task too monumental for any single company to undertake. For the most part, each state, with help from the federal government, was responsible for its own sections of the interstate highway system. Some states built their roads through their various transportation departments and some contracted out the job to highly skilled highway builders. Here are a few of the states where construction companies overcame huge challenges to help create America's superb highway system.
Highway Construction in Louisiana
One section of I-10 in Louisiana was earning design awards before it even opened in March of 1973. That stretch is the elevated roadway that runs across the Atchafalaya Swamp. The construction company responsible for this section of the interstate highway system is Boh Brothers Construction.
The company was founded in 1909 when Arthur Boh built four duplexes in a small New Orleans neighborhood. When Arthur's brother Henry joined the company in 1913, they changed the name to Boh Brothers, a name it still carries today.
In the early part of the 20th Century they branched out from building construction and into drainage and sewage projects, growing modestly through the difficult times of the Depression. By this time the company started earning recognition for their expertise in underground work and pile-driving skills, eventually leading to them being considered the number one pile-driving contractor in the South. As the company grew, it worked on war-related facilities, utilities, subdivisions, power plants and overpasses. Henry brought in some key employees who would later play a crucial role the interstate highway system project, including J.A. Tedford, D.E. Guiza, the company's first registered engineer, and B.C.Stewart. Stewart was a man so committed to providing quality workmanship that he was known for tearing out work if he didn't feel it was good enough - even if that work had already been approved by inspectors. Stewart became the company's vice president and senior consultant, positions he still holds today.
By the time the interstate highway system was ready to be built in Louisiana, Boh Bros. was ready for the task. The elevated section of highway across the Atchafalaya Swamp was constructed from precast segments. These segments were cast at a plant on Lake Pontchartrain, and then floated through a maze of streams and canals by barge to the Atchafalaya River Basin. When they arrived at the building site, the segments were then lifted by large cranes and placed on top of the supporting columns.
Hoover Dam
The Hoover Dam was built by Six Companies Inc, which was actually a consortium of several companies. A number of construction companies were interested in the job. After all, this was a historical project of great significance, as well as an incredible challenge. It soon became obvious, though, that no one company would be able to handle a project of this magnitude. Even the very biggest construction companies in that day had neither the capital nor the resources to take on such a job.
Harry Morrison, president of Morrison-Knudson Co., approached San Francisco banker Leland Cutler to seek financial backing for Morrison-Knudsen Co. for the Hoover Dam project. Cutler refused because he didn't think any one company could raise the $5 million bond that was necessary, but he did give Morrison the names of several other construction companies who might be interested in a joint venture. Morrison quickly realized the only way to get the Hoover Dam built was for several companies to join together, and he organized the Six Companies consortium.
At that time, the leading dam builder in the United States was Frank T. Crowe, a former Department of Reclamation superintendent. Crowe had spent twenty years working for the Department of Reclamation, as well as private construction companies. He had helped to build Arrowrock Dam in Idaho, the Jackson Lake Dam in Wyoming and Washington's Tieton Dam. Crowe had also developed a cableway system of delivering concrete and moving equipment that was far more advanced than any other system of its time.
Everything Crowe had ever done during his career helped prepare him for the building of Hoover Dam, which would be the biggest challenge of his life. Crowe aided Reclamation Commissioner Arthur Powell Davis in developing a cost estimate for a dam on the lower Colorado River as early as 1919 and also helped with the preliminary design in 1924.
Prior to 1925, when the Reclamation Service (which later became the Department of Reclamation) wanted to build a dam, the government did the project itself. In 1925, the government began contracting such projects out. Frank Crowe wanted very badly to work on the Hoover Dam; in fact, it had been a dream of his for a very long time. And now that the Reclamation Service had changed its way of doing business, Crowe had to choose between staying in his government job or working on the Hoover Dam. To work on off the Hoover Dam project, Crowe would be forced to leave his job and team up with a construction company. Crowe decided to join Morrison-Knudsen Co., and was instrumental in persuading Morrison to organize Six Companies.
Since Crowe had two decades of experience and had worked on the project's cost estimate for the government, he knew what went into the calculations the government used to develop their estimates. Morrison gathered together the construction companies that would make up Six Companies, made Crowe construction superintendent and won the contract on March 4, 1931. Six Companies bid $48.9 million for the project, a bid that was just $24,000 higher than the Department of the Interior had budgeted for the project and $10 million lower than the next lowest bid. At the time, this was the largest single contract the United States government had ever awarded. In today's dollars, that bid would be more than $577 million.
Six Companies Delivered Comprensive Construction Expertise
Each member of the Six Companies consortium brought a special expertise to the table. The Wattis Brothers of Utah Construction were well known for their expertise in building the early railroads in the western United States and Mexico. The JF Shea Company had started out as a plumbing business and was experienced in tunnel building and other underground work. Charles Shea knew people at the Pacific Bridge Company, and he convinced them to bring their expertise and capital to the project. Felix Kahn of San Francisco's MacDonald and Kahn had built a number of large buildings in San Francisco and contributed $1 million to the project. Henry Kaiser and Warren Bechtel were experienced in road building.
Word of the Hoover Dam project spread quickly, and Six Companies quickly received more than 2,400 job applications and over 12,000 letters of inquiry about jobs. This was during the Depression. Times were tough and many people desperately needed work. Workers flocked to the building area from all over country, more than 5,000 in all. Many brought their wives and children and lived in tents. With poor sanitation, little access to clean water, 119-degree heat and no utilities, this tent community was a living hell. Six Companies realized that these people would be here for years and something had to change. Along with the Reclamation Service and under Frank Crowe's guidance, Six Companies built Boulder City. Electricity was brought in, and a school, churches, post office, library, newspaper and stores were built.
Before construction on the dam could start, a monumental task was at hand. The construction companies had to divert the Colorado River away from the project's foundation site, and this could only happen during the winter. Crowe decided this needed to be done during the winter of 1932-33. Work on the tunnels began in May 1931. For 24 hours a day, seven days a week four tunnels, two on each side, were built right through the rock walls of the canyon. Each tunnel was 4,000 feet long, 56 feet in diameter, and lined with three feet of concrete, making them the second largest tunnels ever made.
The diversionary tunnels had to be built in the summer in order to be ready to divert the river in the winter. Conditions in the tunnels were brutal, with temperatures inside reaching 140 degrees Fahrenheit. As many as four workers died from heat prostration each week. To make matters worse, Six Companies used gasoline-powered trucks in the tunnel, something that had never been done before in underground mining, so carbon monoxide was added to the heat, dust, and fumes from the blasting.
Crowe was a mechanical genius, something he had proven time and time again on his previous dam projects. He conceived of many new inventions during the course of building Hoover Dam, one of which occurred during the building of the diversionary tunnels. He came up with a drilling jumbo, four platforms welded to a truck that carried 30 rock drills. This enabled construction workers to complete the tunnels and cofferdams by April 1932, a full year ahead of schedule. Construction on the dam base could now begin.
In order for Six Companies to recover its initial $5 million investment, it gave high prices for the work done in the diversion phase and lower prices for subsequent work. But in order for this to work, Frank Crowe had to place the 3.4 million cubic yards of concrete necessary to complete the dam for only $2.70 per yard, a price that was 35% lower than the price of the second lowest bidder. Further, Six Companies had agreed to a $3,000 per day penalty for every day the project went over schedule, so it was imperative that everything go according to plan. Crowe overcame these challenges magnificently. Not only was he able to get the concrete into place at the right price, he also did it ahead of schedule.
The base of the Hoover Dam, as with any dam, was the most important part of the structure. If the base wasn't built correctly, to there could be numerous potential problems with the rest of the structure. Construction workers had to use power shovels to dig through more than half-million cubic yards of river bottom mud to reach the bedrock 40 feet below, making the total excavation 125 feet, with grouting as deep as 150 feet. Simultaneously, high scalers blasted the canyon walls with jackhammers to make a smooth surface for the dam's construction. These scalers earned $5.60 a day and were some of the highest paid workers on the job.
On June 6, 1933, two years after Six Companies won the contract, they started pouring the concrete for the dam's base. In order to allow the concrete to dry properly and not crack during the process, construction workers had to pour 230 individual blocks of concrete for the base. All in all, 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete were used for the base, enough concrete to pave a highway 16 feet wide from New York to San Francisco.
The first eight-cubic-yard bottom-dump bucket of concrete went into the dam 18 months ahead of schedule. The dam's great mass of concrete was stripped of heat by pumping refrigerated water through 590 miles of pipe placed in the concrete as it was poured. The four 395-foot intake towers were taller than most buildings. The powerhouse's two 230-foot-high wings were designed to house 17 generating units. When construction was complete in 1935, the diversionary tunnels were closed, and the filling of Lake Mead began.
The Construction Project Completed
All in all, Hoover Dam stood 725 feet high, is 1244 feet wide, 660 feet thick at the base, tapering to a thickness of 45 feet at the top. It cost a total of $165 million to build and was completed in four and a half years. The project was begun in March 1931 and President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated it on September 30, 1935. First power was produced in October 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule. A total of 4.4 million yards of concrete were used in its construction. The powerhouse used 17 generators in 10 acres of floor space to produce over 4 billion kilowatt-hours for California, Nevada, and Arizona.
The name of the dam has changed several times. Early in the construction process, surveyors thought the dam should be built at Boulder Canyon because of its granite floor, and the dam was to be called Boulder Dam. It was later determined that Black Canyon was a more suitable site since a dam in this location would not have to be quite as high, but the name was left as Boulder Dam. During the strike-driving ceremony on September 17, 1930, Secretary of the Interior Ray L. Wilbur named the dam Hoover Dam in honor of President Herbert Hoover, which came as a great surprise to everyone. In 1933 voters elected Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt as president, and his Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes changed the name back to Boulder Dam. Fourteen years later, a joint resolution of Congress changed the name back to Hoover Dam.
Harry Morrison, president of Morrison-Knudson Co., approached San Francisco banker Leland Cutler to seek financial backing for Morrison-Knudsen Co. for the Hoover Dam project. Cutler refused because he didn't think any one company could raise the $5 million bond that was necessary, but he did give Morrison the names of several other construction companies who might be interested in a joint venture. Morrison quickly realized the only way to get the Hoover Dam built was for several companies to join together, and he organized the Six Companies consortium.
At that time, the leading dam builder in the United States was Frank T. Crowe, a former Department of Reclamation superintendent. Crowe had spent twenty years working for the Department of Reclamation, as well as private construction companies. He had helped to build Arrowrock Dam in Idaho, the Jackson Lake Dam in Wyoming and Washington's Tieton Dam. Crowe had also developed a cableway system of delivering concrete and moving equipment that was far more advanced than any other system of its time.
Everything Crowe had ever done during his career helped prepare him for the building of Hoover Dam, which would be the biggest challenge of his life. Crowe aided Reclamation Commissioner Arthur Powell Davis in developing a cost estimate for a dam on the lower Colorado River as early as 1919 and also helped with the preliminary design in 1924.
Prior to 1925, when the Reclamation Service (which later became the Department of Reclamation) wanted to build a dam, the government did the project itself. In 1925, the government began contracting such projects out. Frank Crowe wanted very badly to work on the Hoover Dam; in fact, it had been a dream of his for a very long time. And now that the Reclamation Service had changed its way of doing business, Crowe had to choose between staying in his government job or working on the Hoover Dam. To work on off the Hoover Dam project, Crowe would be forced to leave his job and team up with a construction company. Crowe decided to join Morrison-Knudsen Co., and was instrumental in persuading Morrison to organize Six Companies.
Since Crowe had two decades of experience and had worked on the project's cost estimate for the government, he knew what went into the calculations the government used to develop their estimates. Morrison gathered together the construction companies that would make up Six Companies, made Crowe construction superintendent and won the contract on March 4, 1931. Six Companies bid $48.9 million for the project, a bid that was just $24,000 higher than the Department of the Interior had budgeted for the project and $10 million lower than the next lowest bid. At the time, this was the largest single contract the United States government had ever awarded. In today's dollars, that bid would be more than $577 million.
Six Companies Delivered Comprensive Construction Expertise
Each member of the Six Companies consortium brought a special expertise to the table. The Wattis Brothers of Utah Construction were well known for their expertise in building the early railroads in the western United States and Mexico. The JF Shea Company had started out as a plumbing business and was experienced in tunnel building and other underground work. Charles Shea knew people at the Pacific Bridge Company, and he convinced them to bring their expertise and capital to the project. Felix Kahn of San Francisco's MacDonald and Kahn had built a number of large buildings in San Francisco and contributed $1 million to the project. Henry Kaiser and Warren Bechtel were experienced in road building.
Word of the Hoover Dam project spread quickly, and Six Companies quickly received more than 2,400 job applications and over 12,000 letters of inquiry about jobs. This was during the Depression. Times were tough and many people desperately needed work. Workers flocked to the building area from all over country, more than 5,000 in all. Many brought their wives and children and lived in tents. With poor sanitation, little access to clean water, 119-degree heat and no utilities, this tent community was a living hell. Six Companies realized that these people would be here for years and something had to change. Along with the Reclamation Service and under Frank Crowe's guidance, Six Companies built Boulder City. Electricity was brought in, and a school, churches, post office, library, newspaper and stores were built.
Before construction on the dam could start, a monumental task was at hand. The construction companies had to divert the Colorado River away from the project's foundation site, and this could only happen during the winter. Crowe decided this needed to be done during the winter of 1932-33. Work on the tunnels began in May 1931. For 24 hours a day, seven days a week four tunnels, two on each side, were built right through the rock walls of the canyon. Each tunnel was 4,000 feet long, 56 feet in diameter, and lined with three feet of concrete, making them the second largest tunnels ever made.
The diversionary tunnels had to be built in the summer in order to be ready to divert the river in the winter. Conditions in the tunnels were brutal, with temperatures inside reaching 140 degrees Fahrenheit. As many as four workers died from heat prostration each week. To make matters worse, Six Companies used gasoline-powered trucks in the tunnel, something that had never been done before in underground mining, so carbon monoxide was added to the heat, dust, and fumes from the blasting.
Crowe was a mechanical genius, something he had proven time and time again on his previous dam projects. He conceived of many new inventions during the course of building Hoover Dam, one of which occurred during the building of the diversionary tunnels. He came up with a drilling jumbo, four platforms welded to a truck that carried 30 rock drills. This enabled construction workers to complete the tunnels and cofferdams by April 1932, a full year ahead of schedule. Construction on the dam base could now begin.
In order for Six Companies to recover its initial $5 million investment, it gave high prices for the work done in the diversion phase and lower prices for subsequent work. But in order for this to work, Frank Crowe had to place the 3.4 million cubic yards of concrete necessary to complete the dam for only $2.70 per yard, a price that was 35% lower than the price of the second lowest bidder. Further, Six Companies had agreed to a $3,000 per day penalty for every day the project went over schedule, so it was imperative that everything go according to plan. Crowe overcame these challenges magnificently. Not only was he able to get the concrete into place at the right price, he also did it ahead of schedule.
The base of the Hoover Dam, as with any dam, was the most important part of the structure. If the base wasn't built correctly, to there could be numerous potential problems with the rest of the structure. Construction workers had to use power shovels to dig through more than half-million cubic yards of river bottom mud to reach the bedrock 40 feet below, making the total excavation 125 feet, with grouting as deep as 150 feet. Simultaneously, high scalers blasted the canyon walls with jackhammers to make a smooth surface for the dam's construction. These scalers earned $5.60 a day and were some of the highest paid workers on the job.
On June 6, 1933, two years after Six Companies won the contract, they started pouring the concrete for the dam's base. In order to allow the concrete to dry properly and not crack during the process, construction workers had to pour 230 individual blocks of concrete for the base. All in all, 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete were used for the base, enough concrete to pave a highway 16 feet wide from New York to San Francisco.
The first eight-cubic-yard bottom-dump bucket of concrete went into the dam 18 months ahead of schedule. The dam's great mass of concrete was stripped of heat by pumping refrigerated water through 590 miles of pipe placed in the concrete as it was poured. The four 395-foot intake towers were taller than most buildings. The powerhouse's two 230-foot-high wings were designed to house 17 generating units. When construction was complete in 1935, the diversionary tunnels were closed, and the filling of Lake Mead began.
The Construction Project Completed
All in all, Hoover Dam stood 725 feet high, is 1244 feet wide, 660 feet thick at the base, tapering to a thickness of 45 feet at the top. It cost a total of $165 million to build and was completed in four and a half years. The project was begun in March 1931 and President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated it on September 30, 1935. First power was produced in October 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule. A total of 4.4 million yards of concrete were used in its construction. The powerhouse used 17 generators in 10 acres of floor space to produce over 4 billion kilowatt-hours for California, Nevada, and Arizona.
The name of the dam has changed several times. Early in the construction process, surveyors thought the dam should be built at Boulder Canyon because of its granite floor, and the dam was to be called Boulder Dam. It was later determined that Black Canyon was a more suitable site since a dam in this location would not have to be quite as high, but the name was left as Boulder Dam. During the strike-driving ceremony on September 17, 1930, Secretary of the Interior Ray L. Wilbur named the dam Hoover Dam in honor of President Herbert Hoover, which came as a great surprise to everyone. In 1933 voters elected Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt as president, and his Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes changed the name back to Boulder Dam. Fourteen years later, a joint resolution of Congress changed the name back to Hoover Dam.
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a marvel of engineering and architecture, and it occupies a unique place in the history of construction companies and construction management. Not only was the 1453-foot, 103-story structure built in just over 13 months, the construction company that took on the daunting job allegedly began with nothing on hand - no equipment or supplies that would be sufficient for such an enormous undertaking. How they accomplished the task is a case study in early, successful commercial construction management.
Legend has it that General Motors executive John J. Raskob conceived of the project when he decided to best his arch-rival, Walter Chrysler, who had begun construction on the 1046-foot Chrysler Building. The Chrysler Building was already in competition with the Bank of Manhattan Building at 40 Wall Street to be the tallest building in the world.
Raskob rounded up a group of well known investors that included Coleman and Pierre S. duPont, Louis G. Kaufman and Ellis P. Earl to form Empire State, Inc. He appointed former Governor of New York and Presidential candidate Alfred E. Smith to head the group. Raskob then went to architectural firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates, who were known as the best skyscraper architects in the city. He told them he not only wanted an office building whose height would exceed that of the Chrysler Building, but he wanted it to be finished first.
The decade of the 1920s was known as the Art Deco Period in design. The Empire State Building's architects wanted to make this building something that would stand out, even in this era. One way they did this was by creating a building with four facades facing the street, rather than just the one that most buildings have. The highlight of the building would be its imperious tower, set off by the buildup of the lower levels and the indented setbacks of the center. Steel columns and beams were to be used to form a stable 3-D grid. Because the column grids were to be closely spaced, the open spaces in the building would be obstructed. As a result, there would be no column-free spaces on any of the building's floors.
The schedule on this project was as adventurous as the design. The project would be done, the architects planned, in only eighteen months.
General contractors Starrett Brothers and Eken, who were known as the premier "skyline builders" of the 1920s, made a bold bid to win the job. Not only did they promise that they could get the job done on time, but they announced that they would purchase custom-fitted equipment to fulfill the contract. The Starrett Brothers were sure that other commercial contractors trying get the job had assured the client that they had plenty of equipment, and what they didn't have they would rent. The Starret Brothers decided to take a different tack. During the interview process, when asked how much equipment the construction company had on hand they answered that they didn't own anything that would be useful on this project. They explained to the investors that the size and scope of the Empire State Building would create unusual problems. Ordinary building equipment would not suffice so they would have to design and purchase all new, custom pieces. They would sell that equipment and credit the investors with the difference when the project was complete. Their opinion was that this would cost less than renting secondhand equipment and would be more efficient. The investment group agreed.
With such an extremely tight schedule, Starrett Bros. and Eken had to start planning immediately. They determined that more than sixty different types of trade people would be required and that most supplies would need to be ordered to specification because the immense job scope. The supplies had to be made at the plants in as close to finished state as possible, to minimize preparatory work needed at the site. The companies they hired had to be dependable, able to provide quality work, and willing to adhere to the allotted timetable. Time had to be scheduled nearly to the minute. The schedule dictated that each section of the building process overlapped - not a moment was to be wasted.
The Empire State Building was the first commercial construction project to employ the technique of fast-track construction, a commonplace approach today but very new in the early 20th Century. This technique consists of starting the construction process before the designs are fully completed in order to reduce delays and inflation costs. In this case, it was imperative to use the fast-track construction method to win the race for the tallest building. In order to make this work, the structural engineer makes a schematic design based upon the architect's sketches. The schematic design includes the materials to be used in construction (either reinforced concrete or steel), types of floors and column spacing.
The contractors began excavation for the new building in January 1930, even before the demolition of the site's previous occupant, the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, was complete. The Starrett Brothers had pioneered the simultaneous work of demolition and foundation-laying just a year earlier when building 40 Wall Street, an earlier competitor in the race to erect the world's highest building. Two shifts of 300 men worked day and night, digging through the hard rock and creating the foundation.
Less than two months later, in March 1930 construction began on the steel skeleton. The frame of the skyscraper rose at the rate of four and a half stories per week, or more than a story a day. No comparable building has been built at a similar rate of speed. This accomplishment came about through effective logistics combined with a skilled, organized workforce.
The project became a model of efficiency. The contractors created various innovations that saved time, money and manpower. The 60,000 tons of steel for the framework were manufactured in Pittsburgh and transported immediately to New York via train, barge and truck. Legend has it that the steel posts and beams arrived at the site marked with their place in the framework and with the number of the derrick that would hoist them. Workers could then swing the girders into place and have them riveted as quickly as 80 hours after coming out of the furnace and off the roller.
A railway was built at the construction site to move materials quickly. Since each railway car -- a cart pushed by people -- held eight times more than a wheelbarrow, the materials were also moved with less effort. The steel girders could not be raised more than 30 stories at a time, so several large derricks were used to pass the girders up to the higher floors.
In those days, bricks used for construction were usually dumped in the street and then moved from the pile to the bricklayer by wheelbarrow as needed. The streets would have to be closed off, while the labor of moving the bricks was backbreaking and inefficient. With ten million bricks needed for this job, the old method would be impractical and wasteful of time. Instead, Starrett Brothers and Eken devised a chute that led to a hopper in the basement. As the bricks arrived by truck, the contractors had them dumped down the chute. When they were needed, the bricks were released from the hopper and dropped into carts, which were then hoisted up to the appropriate floor.
While the outside of the building was being constructed, electricians and plumbers began installing the internal necessities of the building. Timing for each trade to start working was finely tuned, and the building rose as if being constructed on an assembly line - one where the assembly line did the moving and the finished product stayed put.
In addition to the steel frame, construction materials included 62,000 cubic yards of concrete; 200,000 cubic feet of Indiana limestone and granite, which comprised most of the exterior; 10,000 square feet of Rose Famosa and Estrallante marble; 6,500 windows, whose spandrels were sandblasted to blend their color into the tone of the windows; and 300,000 square feet of Hauteville and Rocheron marble for the elevator lobbies and the corridors on the office floors.
The Starrett Brothers managed a workforce of 3,500 men, who put in seven million man-hours including work on Sundays and holidays. The workers earned $15 a day, an excellent rate of pay in the early 1930s.
The project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Instead of taking 18 months as anticipated, the construction took just under fifteen. Due to reduced costs during the Depression, the final costs totaled only $24.7 million instead of the estimated $43 million.
In September of 1930, only partially finished, the Empire State Building officially became the world's tallest skyscraper. The 1046-foot Chrysler Building, which was completed in May 1930, had held the title for only a few months. When the 85th floor of the Empire State Building was completed, it officially eclipsed its rival.
Construction was completed on April 11, 1931, one year and 45 days after it had begun. President Herbert Hoover officially opened the building on May 1, 1931 by pressing a button in Washington, D.C. which turned on the building's lights. The Empire State Building remained the world's tallest skyscraper for more than 40 years, until the World Trade Center Towers were constructed in 1972.
Although it is no longer the tallest building in the world, the Empire State Building is a crowning achievement of architecture, a symbol of New York City, and most of all an amazing accomplishment in the field of commercial construction.
Seventy-three elevators wait to take visitors to the upper floors, but if you prefer the stairs you'll have to climb 1860 steps. Seventy million people have viewed the world from the platforms on the 86th and 102nd floors-approximately 35,000 a day. Famous visitors include Lassie, KISS, Prince Charles and Fidel Castro. The building has appeared in over 50 different movies, including "An Affair to Remember" and "When Harry Met Sally." Floodlights in 18 different color combinations shine on the top of the building on special occasions and holidays.
Interestingly, the building was designed to be a lightning rod for the area and it works: the Empire State Building is struck approximately 100 times each year. In 1945, the structural integrity of the building was tested when a twin-engine B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor. Fourteen people were tragically killed, but the building remained standing. Even though one of the plane's engine went right through the entire building, damage was confined to the outer wall.
The lobby of the building is a spectacular feat in itself. It rises five stories and is finished in Art Deco stylings, with large bronze medallions that honor the workers who created this amazing building. The crowning touch is a metal mosaic that features the building as the center of the universe. Marble and granite grace the lobby and are highlighted with brushed stainless steel.
Legend has it that General Motors executive John J. Raskob conceived of the project when he decided to best his arch-rival, Walter Chrysler, who had begun construction on the 1046-foot Chrysler Building. The Chrysler Building was already in competition with the Bank of Manhattan Building at 40 Wall Street to be the tallest building in the world.
Raskob rounded up a group of well known investors that included Coleman and Pierre S. duPont, Louis G. Kaufman and Ellis P. Earl to form Empire State, Inc. He appointed former Governor of New York and Presidential candidate Alfred E. Smith to head the group. Raskob then went to architectural firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates, who were known as the best skyscraper architects in the city. He told them he not only wanted an office building whose height would exceed that of the Chrysler Building, but he wanted it to be finished first.
The decade of the 1920s was known as the Art Deco Period in design. The Empire State Building's architects wanted to make this building something that would stand out, even in this era. One way they did this was by creating a building with four facades facing the street, rather than just the one that most buildings have. The highlight of the building would be its imperious tower, set off by the buildup of the lower levels and the indented setbacks of the center. Steel columns and beams were to be used to form a stable 3-D grid. Because the column grids were to be closely spaced, the open spaces in the building would be obstructed. As a result, there would be no column-free spaces on any of the building's floors.
The schedule on this project was as adventurous as the design. The project would be done, the architects planned, in only eighteen months.
General contractors Starrett Brothers and Eken, who were known as the premier "skyline builders" of the 1920s, made a bold bid to win the job. Not only did they promise that they could get the job done on time, but they announced that they would purchase custom-fitted equipment to fulfill the contract. The Starrett Brothers were sure that other commercial contractors trying get the job had assured the client that they had plenty of equipment, and what they didn't have they would rent. The Starret Brothers decided to take a different tack. During the interview process, when asked how much equipment the construction company had on hand they answered that they didn't own anything that would be useful on this project. They explained to the investors that the size and scope of the Empire State Building would create unusual problems. Ordinary building equipment would not suffice so they would have to design and purchase all new, custom pieces. They would sell that equipment and credit the investors with the difference when the project was complete. Their opinion was that this would cost less than renting secondhand equipment and would be more efficient. The investment group agreed.
With such an extremely tight schedule, Starrett Bros. and Eken had to start planning immediately. They determined that more than sixty different types of trade people would be required and that most supplies would need to be ordered to specification because the immense job scope. The supplies had to be made at the plants in as close to finished state as possible, to minimize preparatory work needed at the site. The companies they hired had to be dependable, able to provide quality work, and willing to adhere to the allotted timetable. Time had to be scheduled nearly to the minute. The schedule dictated that each section of the building process overlapped - not a moment was to be wasted.
The Empire State Building was the first commercial construction project to employ the technique of fast-track construction, a commonplace approach today but very new in the early 20th Century. This technique consists of starting the construction process before the designs are fully completed in order to reduce delays and inflation costs. In this case, it was imperative to use the fast-track construction method to win the race for the tallest building. In order to make this work, the structural engineer makes a schematic design based upon the architect's sketches. The schematic design includes the materials to be used in construction (either reinforced concrete or steel), types of floors and column spacing.
The contractors began excavation for the new building in January 1930, even before the demolition of the site's previous occupant, the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, was complete. The Starrett Brothers had pioneered the simultaneous work of demolition and foundation-laying just a year earlier when building 40 Wall Street, an earlier competitor in the race to erect the world's highest building. Two shifts of 300 men worked day and night, digging through the hard rock and creating the foundation.
Less than two months later, in March 1930 construction began on the steel skeleton. The frame of the skyscraper rose at the rate of four and a half stories per week, or more than a story a day. No comparable building has been built at a similar rate of speed. This accomplishment came about through effective logistics combined with a skilled, organized workforce.
The project became a model of efficiency. The contractors created various innovations that saved time, money and manpower. The 60,000 tons of steel for the framework were manufactured in Pittsburgh and transported immediately to New York via train, barge and truck. Legend has it that the steel posts and beams arrived at the site marked with their place in the framework and with the number of the derrick that would hoist them. Workers could then swing the girders into place and have them riveted as quickly as 80 hours after coming out of the furnace and off the roller.
A railway was built at the construction site to move materials quickly. Since each railway car -- a cart pushed by people -- held eight times more than a wheelbarrow, the materials were also moved with less effort. The steel girders could not be raised more than 30 stories at a time, so several large derricks were used to pass the girders up to the higher floors.
In those days, bricks used for construction were usually dumped in the street and then moved from the pile to the bricklayer by wheelbarrow as needed. The streets would have to be closed off, while the labor of moving the bricks was backbreaking and inefficient. With ten million bricks needed for this job, the old method would be impractical and wasteful of time. Instead, Starrett Brothers and Eken devised a chute that led to a hopper in the basement. As the bricks arrived by truck, the contractors had them dumped down the chute. When they were needed, the bricks were released from the hopper and dropped into carts, which were then hoisted up to the appropriate floor.
While the outside of the building was being constructed, electricians and plumbers began installing the internal necessities of the building. Timing for each trade to start working was finely tuned, and the building rose as if being constructed on an assembly line - one where the assembly line did the moving and the finished product stayed put.
In addition to the steel frame, construction materials included 62,000 cubic yards of concrete; 200,000 cubic feet of Indiana limestone and granite, which comprised most of the exterior; 10,000 square feet of Rose Famosa and Estrallante marble; 6,500 windows, whose spandrels were sandblasted to blend their color into the tone of the windows; and 300,000 square feet of Hauteville and Rocheron marble for the elevator lobbies and the corridors on the office floors.
The Starrett Brothers managed a workforce of 3,500 men, who put in seven million man-hours including work on Sundays and holidays. The workers earned $15 a day, an excellent rate of pay in the early 1930s.
The project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Instead of taking 18 months as anticipated, the construction took just under fifteen. Due to reduced costs during the Depression, the final costs totaled only $24.7 million instead of the estimated $43 million.
In September of 1930, only partially finished, the Empire State Building officially became the world's tallest skyscraper. The 1046-foot Chrysler Building, which was completed in May 1930, had held the title for only a few months. When the 85th floor of the Empire State Building was completed, it officially eclipsed its rival.
Construction was completed on April 11, 1931, one year and 45 days after it had begun. President Herbert Hoover officially opened the building on May 1, 1931 by pressing a button in Washington, D.C. which turned on the building's lights. The Empire State Building remained the world's tallest skyscraper for more than 40 years, until the World Trade Center Towers were constructed in 1972.
Although it is no longer the tallest building in the world, the Empire State Building is a crowning achievement of architecture, a symbol of New York City, and most of all an amazing accomplishment in the field of commercial construction.
Seventy-three elevators wait to take visitors to the upper floors, but if you prefer the stairs you'll have to climb 1860 steps. Seventy million people have viewed the world from the platforms on the 86th and 102nd floors-approximately 35,000 a day. Famous visitors include Lassie, KISS, Prince Charles and Fidel Castro. The building has appeared in over 50 different movies, including "An Affair to Remember" and "When Harry Met Sally." Floodlights in 18 different color combinations shine on the top of the building on special occasions and holidays.
Interestingly, the building was designed to be a lightning rod for the area and it works: the Empire State Building is struck approximately 100 times each year. In 1945, the structural integrity of the building was tested when a twin-engine B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor. Fourteen people were tragically killed, but the building remained standing. Even though one of the plane's engine went right through the entire building, damage was confined to the outer wall.
The lobby of the building is a spectacular feat in itself. It rises five stories and is finished in Art Deco stylings, with large bronze medallions that honor the workers who created this amazing building. The crowning touch is a metal mosaic that features the building as the center of the universe. Marble and granite grace the lobby and are highlighted with brushed stainless steel.
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