During the pre-construction phase of the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge in 1848, engineers were stymied about how to get the initial cable across the gorge; ideas considered including fixing the cable to a cannonball or rocket, or towing the cable across the river with a ferryboat, then using winches to raise it to the top of the gorge.
Engineer Charles Ellet came up with the idea of organizing a kite-flying contest, offering a prize of $5 (roughly $200 today) to any boy who managed to fly a kite across the gorge and secure the kite string to a tree on the far side. 16-year-old Homan Walsh succeeded, and successively heavier lines were pulled across the gap.
Boru
Engineer Charles Ellet came up with the idea of organizing a kite-flying contest, offering a prize of $5 (roughly $200 today) to any boy who managed to fly a kite across the gorge and secure the kite string to a tree on the far side. 16-year-old Homan Walsh succeeded, and successively heavier lines were pulled across the gap.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson