580 transactions of the american institute. 



New Bridge across the Hudson at Albany. 



Mr. Julius Adatns, C. E., of Brooklyn, has charge of the construction of 

 the railway bridge at Albany, crossing the river at right angles from a 

 point sixty feet north of Lumber street and passing the upper end of Van 

 Rensselaer Island, and resting upon a pier built out therefrom and touch- 

 ing the opposite shore a few hundred rods north of the Western Railway 

 depot. The total length of the bridge will be one thousand four hundred 

 feet. It will be of sufficient width for a double track, and the distance 

 from the floor to the roof will be 22 feet. It is to be finally constructed of 

 American wrought iron, upon what is known as the lattice system. A tem- 

 porary wooden structure will be laid upon the piers which will be used by 

 railway trains while the iron sti'ucture is^ being completed. The principal 

 permanent spans will be 172 feet each, and the two draw-spans will be 110 

 feet each, swinging horizontally upon one pivot-pier 32 feet in diameter. 



YosEMETE Gorge and Big Oak Grove, in California. 



The General Land Office has received the returns of the survey of these 

 wonderful developments of nature, probably the greatest natural curiosities 

 on the globe. The " Yosemete" is a cleft in one of the lateral spurs of the 

 Sierra Nevada. By some volcanic convulsion the mountains have been 

 torn asunder to the extent of some nine or ten miles in length and a width 

 varying from three to five miles, forming stupendous walls of granite, 

 with a valley at the bases of the same, through which flows the Merced 

 river. By a wise and munificent act. Congress by a special law has granted 

 this cleft to the State of California, to be forever dedicated as a public 

 resort for health and recreation. By the same act there is also granted to 

 the State what is known as the " Big Oak Grove," some thirteen or four- 

 teen miles south of the cleft. The grove contains 421 trees, from 275 to 

 400 feet in height, covering 2,589 acres. These mammoth trees are the 

 cone-bearing evergreen of the redwood genus, and known as the sequoia 

 gigantea, with bark on the largest of them of 18 inches thickness, and bear 

 two different kinds of leaves. One of the largest of the species which has 

 been hewed down indicates an age of from two to three thousand years. 



The Public Domain. 



The United States own upwards of 1,000,900,000 acres of public lands 

 susceptible of cultivation. They own at least 2,000,000 acres of gold and 

 silver-bearing lands. The arable lands are worth at least $1,200,000,000, 

 and the mineral lands are worth at least $8,000,000,000, making together 

 a total of $9,200,000,000. 



Metals of Michigan. 



Michigan yields about $7,000,000 worth of copper and $2,000,000 of iron 

 annually. 



What Cashmere Shawls are Made of. 



The cashmere shawl wool consists of the fleece beneath the undercoat of 

 the hair of the shawl-goats. The shearing is performed at the commence- 

 ment of the summer, which, in those Alpine regions, though short, is very 



