was organized. Comprising Roebling and his son, as well as their fellow bridge engineers, generals, businessmen, and high society figures, the party toured the country to review four bridges Roebling had built before the civil war. The final item on their itinerary was Roebling's Niagara Suspension Bridge. At the dinner to commemorate the end of the bridge tour, civil war veteran General Henry Warner Slocum gave a toast and called the Suspension Bridge a symbol of inspiration for the United States in its rebuilding efforts. This sentiment was shared by the guests and was expressed at later dinners across the United States. The achievement of building a large suspension bridge over a gorge in the face of overwhelming adversity—constant put-downs by the professional community, American and European—gave the United States a sense of pride. Nationalism rose as the country lauded the bridge. The completion of the bridge that had been deemed impossible by the Western world gave Americans, who had lesser technical accomplishments than Europe at that time, a trophy that stood above any other. The Suspension Bridge became the American symbol to brave the toughest of challenges and do the impossible, pushing their drive for industrialization even harder. Charles W. Woodman specifically drew attention to the Suspension Bridge in his 1865 address to the United States Senate for approval to build a rail system to transport a ship out of the water and up around the Niagara Falls. Maintenance and replacement Budget concerns forced Roebling to build the Suspension Bridge primarily with wood; the cost of casting the components out of iron and transporting them "[way] out West" was exorbitant. The organic material decayed and rotted because of the moisture present around Niagara Falls. As the industrialization of the United States moved forward rapidly, the introduction of the Bessemer process greatly lowered the cost of the more durable steel and iron. By 1880, the Suspension Bridge's wooden trusses, beams, and flooring were replaced with steel. The wire cables were not replaced; their cores were still in pristine condition. The outer layer of wires in the cables was, however, lightly corroded and had to be replaced. Due to severe deterioration, the limestone towers were replaced in 1886 with steel framed versions. These renovations increased the bridge's strength and helped it handle heavier loads for a few more years. The weight of trains in North America had greatly increased by the