Part 3, Chapter 8 Summary and Analysis

"The Treasure from the Carpentry Shop" takes a different look at the bridge builders' legacy, through blueprints and drawings unearthed 90 years later in a New York City carpentry shop. In 1969, the year of the moon landing, when most folk view the Brooklyn Bridge as a quaint relic (and McCullough is digging through another long-neglected Roebling archive at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), "trunnions" connecting the vertical cables to the roadway show signs of wear and civil engineer Francis P. Valentine is sent to look for plans to the custom made part. He discovers 10,000 documents in disorder, dust, and filth, and senses the carpentry shop is a treasure trove, not a waste of space as the engineer in charge of East River bridges has decided. Luckily, his order to throw it out is disobeyed. Valentine wonders why many of the wonderful...