"A suspension bridge, Roebling calls it! How much chance do you think a flimsy thing hanging on wires, like a spiderweb, would have against a good stiff gale?" Ferry Captain Carter’s wrath explodes as he and his passengers huddle around the coal-burning stove inside the cabin. It is 1867, and the ferry lies locked in the ice flows on the East River between Brooklyn and New York City. The heated debate about the bridge continues through the night. In the morning, eleven-year-old Peter Schmidt and his father leave the stranded ferry and walk home to Brooklyn over the ice. For Peter, the unusual experience of walking over the frozen river makes the idea of a bridge seem even more exciting. But engineer John Roebling’s task is not an easy one. From the start, difficulties and tragedy plague the project through accidents, lack of funding, caisson disease, and general animosity. The work nevertheless moves forward, and young Peter closely follows its painstaking developments until he himself is old enough to work on the big bridge to Brooklyn.
           Frances Williams Browin uses fictional characters to tell a true tale of engineers John Roebling, his son, Colonel Washington and Washington’s wife, Emily Roebling. The author shows how accomplishing a great plan requires sacrifice, determination, and many helping hands.

From the Bethlehem Books edition