He did not want their advice or opinions, only their sanction. In view of "the magnitude of the undertaking and the large interests connected therewith," he had written, it was "only right" that his plans be "subjected to the careful scrutiny" of a board of experts. They studied his preliminary surveys and the map upon which he had drawn a strong red line cutting across the East River, indicating exactly where he intended to put the crowning work of his career. They gathered about the big plans and drawings he had on display, listening attentively as he talked and asking a great many questions. They met at the Brooklyn Gas Light Company on Fulton Street, where the new Bridge Company had been conducting its affairs until regular offices could be arranged for. With everyone present, there were just nine in all the seven distinguished consultants he had selected his oldest son, Colonel Washington Roebling, who kept the minutes and himself, the intense, enigmatic John Augustus Roebling, wealthy wire rope manufacturer of Trenton, New Jersey, and builder of unprecedented suspension bridges. They met at his request on at least six different occasions, beginning in February 1869.
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