Transcontinental.

Russell, Joining of the Rails at Promontory Point, 1869

On this day in 1869, a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.

From C-SPAN's American History TV, Stephen Ambrose on his book, Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869 ...

First.

Wright, Kitty Hawk, 10:35 A.M., 1903

On this day in 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful man-powered airplane flight, near Kitty Hawk, N.C.

Leonardo.

I highly recommend (have your journal handy) the latest documentary by Ken Burns, Leonardo da Vinci ...

Among the highlights is the presence of two historians mirroring the role of The Civil War's Shelby Foote, historians Paolo Galluzzi and Martin Kemp, who figured prominently in NOVA's 2003 masterpiece, Leonardo's Dream Machines ...

I'm grateful to Execupundit for signaling it's approach.

Withstood.

Airships.

Opened.

"Mighty Mac," the Mackinac Bridge, was opened on this date in 1957.

Lowell Thomas narrates The Five-Mile Dream ...

The Mackinac Bridge Authority is here.

Mini.

Mini .22 cannon ...

Imagine.

Imagine a society with so much civic pride that it builds its water towers like this. pic.twitter.com/j0B4UohKNp

— Culture Critic (@Culture_Crit) April 15, 2023

Happy Birthday, Herreshoff

Herreshoff, Westward, 1910

The Mozart of sailboat design, Nathanael Herreshoff, was born on this day in 1848.

Authenic: The New York Thirties, hosted by Walter Cronkite, narrated by Burgess Meredith ...

Opened.

Mighty Mac, the Mackinac Bridge, opened on this day in 1957.

A Dream Suspended: The History of the Mackinac Bridge...

Climbing to the top inside the south tower ...

Door.

Deck.

The Mackinac Bridge Authority is auctioning original, 60-year-old steel grating from the Mackinac Bridge deck.

Section of original steel grating from the Mackinac Bridge deck. Selling 5 individual, identical pieces of grating separately. THIS AUCTION IS FOR ONE PIECE. Pieces are approximately 5 1/2 feet X 38 feet and 5 inches deep. Condition is used with corrosion and section loss appropriate to steel that is 60 years old. Each piece weighs about 2 tons.

Grating was originally coated with lead based paint. Much of this is gone, but Buyer will have to sign a "Hold Harmless agreement" related to the lead paint and the structural condition of the grating. The Hold Harmless agreement is an attachment to the auction ad.

Seller agrees to cut the grating section into two shorter pieces for ease of shipping if desired. Price of this one cut is included in the bid. No other cutting or manipulation of the grating will be done by the seller.

Seller will load the grating for transport but is not responsible for securing, etc.

CONNECT

Longest.

Inside the MV Paul R. Tregurtha, a Great Lakes-based bulk carrier, the longest vessel active on the Great Lakes ...

Safely.

On this day in 1797, French balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin made the first parachute descent, landing safely from a height of about 3,000 feet.

Airy.

The BRIDGE at MACKINAC

In the land of Hiawatha,

Where the white man gazed with awe

At a paradise divided

By the straits of Mackinac

Men are dredging, drilling, blasting,

Battling tides around the clock,

Through the depths of icy water,

Driving caissons down to rock.

Fleets of freighters bring their cargoes

From the forges and the kilns;

Stones and steel – ten thousand barge-loads –

From the quarries, mines, and mills.

Now the towers, mounting skyward,

Reach the heights of airy space.

Hear the rivet-hammers ringing,

Joining steel in strength and grace.

High above the swirling currents,

Parabolic strands are strung;

From the cables, packed with power,

Wonder-spans of steel are hung.

Generations dreamed the crossing;

Doubters shook their heads in scorn.

Brave men vowed that they would build it –

From their faith a bridge was born.

There it spans the miles of water,

Speeding millions on their way –

Bridge of vision, hope and courage,

Portal to a brighter day.

Dr. David B. Steinman

Slow.

Hundreds of fans have attended a special kind of musical happening at a church in Germany: a chord change in an organ piece that is supposed to last for an entirety of 639 years.

The performance of the Organ/ASLSP (As Slow As Possible) composition began in September 2001 at the St Burchardi church in the eastern town of Halberstadt and is supposed to end in 2640 — if all goes well.

CONNECT

The Longest Piece of Music ...

Happy Birthday, L'Enfant

L'Enfant, Plan of the City Intended for the Permanent Seat of the Government of the United States, 1791

Pierre Charles L'Enfant was born on this date in 1754.

The plan of the city of Washington was designed in 1791 by Pierre L'Enfant, and mapped the following year; a design which remains largely in place. For nearly a century, the realization of physical changes to the original plan were gradual until the second important benchmark in the development of Washington's urban plan: the McMillan Commission and its 1901-02 recommendations. The McMillan Commission plans were implemented predominantly during the first three decades of the 20th century, and continued sporadically thereafter. For nearly 100 years, a legal height limit of 160' has preserved the broad, horizontal Baroque nature of the city, allowing light and air to reach the pedestrian level, and resulting in a picturesque skyline pierced by steeples, domes, towers and monuments.

On January 24, 1791, President George Washington announced the Congressionally-designated permanent location of the national capital, a diamond-shaped ten-mile tract at the confluence of the Potomac and Eastern Branch Rivers. A survey of the area was undertaken by Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker. Forty boundary stones, laid at one-mile intervals, established the boundaries based on celestial calculations by Banneker, a self-taught astronomer of African descent and one of the few free blacks living in the vicinity. Within this 100 square mile diamond, which would become the District of Columbia, a smaller area was laid out as the city of Washington. (In 1846, one-third of the District was retroceded by Congressional action to Virginia, thus removing that portion of the original district which lay west of the Potomac River.) In March 1791,the surveyors' roles were complemented by the employment of Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant to prepare the plan.

Major L'Enfant (1755-1825), a French artist and engineer who had formed a friendship with George Washington while serving in the Revolutionary War, requested the honor of designing a plan for the national capital. The fact that the area was largely undeveloped gave the city's founders the unique opportunity to create an entirely new capital city.

After surveying the site, L'Enfant developed a Baroque plan that features ceremonial spaces and grand radial avenues, while respecting natural contours of the land. The result was a system of intersecting diagonal avenues superimposed over a grid system. The avenues radiated from the two most significant building sites that were to be occupied by houses for Congress and the President.

L'Enfant specified in notes accompanying the plan that these avenues were to be wide, grand, lined with trees, and situated in a manner that would visually connect ideal topographical sites throughout the city, where important structures, monuments, and fountains were to be erected. On paper, L'Enfant shaded and numbered 15 large open spaces at the intersections of these avenues and indicated that they would be divided among the states. He specified that each reservation would feature statues and memorials to honor worthy citizens. The open spaces were as integral to the capital as the buildings to be erected around them. L'Enfant opposed selling land prematurely, refused to furnish his map to the city commissioners in time for the sale, and was reluctantly relieved of his duties by George Washington. Ellicott was then engaged to produce a map and reproduced L'Enfant's plan from his memory.

CONNECT

Great Courses Daily has more HERE and HERE.

Sail.

Every now and then it happens that ships are so light that they begin to sail through the clouds.

An account of the work of Luigi Prina ...

Treehouse.

Treehouse.