Roebling waited another decade, but he hustled while he waited. The Brooklynites continued to make their uncertain ways across the river in times of storm and tide and ice as the Lord gave them strength, and the sacred ferryboats still paid dividends. The vicious winter of 1866-7, coldest, bitterest, longest the cities have ever known, wrung forth at last a cry for relief. They could wrap themselves up against the weather, but no weight of woolens could turn the shafts of ridicule. It was grand ammunition for the advocates of the bridge, when people traveling by train from Albany actually reached New York sooner than did the man who did business in New York, and left his domicilium in Brooklyn at the same hour. And besides, the Roebling cap had another feather in it now, in the completion of the Ohio Bridge. He was building wire bridges everywhere, and it began to look as though there was some body of truth in the Western contention that New York was the most provincial city in America, for all its self-approval. At one of the many hearings that were held on the bridge question a famous engineer who favored the wire type was asked what reason he had for believing it would do the work. "I believe it," he replied, "because Roebling says so." [Sidenote: THE INITIAL CHARTER GRANTED] The demand for the bridge rose to a clamor. In the month of May, 1867, the initial charter was granted, and Mr. Roebling was appointed engineer. Three months afterward he submitted his report and estimates, which were examined and approved by a commission of engineers from the United States War Department. Then he set about preparation for the task. [Sidenote: THE DEATH OF JOHN A. ROEBLING] It was while fixing the location for the Brooklyn tower that he met with the accident that caused his death. But his work had been well done, and his son and associate, Col. Washington A. Roebling, took up without delay the execution of the plan he had helped to create. If the older Roebling encountered obstacles in bringing his great idea to the point of acceptance, the pathway of his successor, called without warning to take over responsibility for the greatest engineering labor of the age, was not strewn with roses. [Sidenote: THE WORK OF CONSTRUCTION BEGINS] [Illustration: WIRE ROPE IN THE QUARRY]