The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-27 00:00:00

The fr_
temporary :
Sir,—lt may be interesting to the public to learn,
through the medium of your columns, that one of
the greatest works of engineering science—the Vic-
toria (St. Lawrence) 'Bridge, at Montreal—is now
within a very short stage of completion, and the
close of the present " fall" will witness the opening
of that magnificent bridge.
The Grand Trunk Railway, which traverses
1,200 miles of the richest parts of Upper and Lower
Canada, connecting as it does the different depen-
dencies of the British crown, is indeed a great boon
to that country, yet without the connectinc, link
between the north and south shores of the St.°Law-
rence; this railway is very.imperfect.
The St. Lawrence is for five mouths out of the
year frozen up, and all communication with Canada
by ships or steamboats is entirely suspended during
that period. The intercourse with the United
States, at that period also, is of the most frigid
character; but when this all-important bridge is
opened, the Grand Trunk Railway will command
tne whole external intercourse of. Canada.
The tide of immigration which sets in chiefly
through the United States will then pass along that
railway. In fine, the Victoria-bridge will be the
means of changing the hitherto almost imprisoned
and frigid life of the Canadian to one of freedom
and geniality.
For a long time the difficulties of bridging the
St. Lawrence were deemed all but insurmountable;
the width between its shores, even at the narrowest
crossing, being very considerable, the velocity of
the current very great, and the' headway and water-
way required for the navigation of steam vessels
and huge rafts of timber were also extensive ; but
far more formidable than all these was the effect of
the." breaking up of the ice." This phenomenon,
in itself one of tie mo4.wonderful operations in
nature, has been the theme of various writers, and
sad are some accounts of its terrible force. The
whole field of ice, extending nine miles in length
and of the entire breadth of the river, to a
,depthof
from three to five feet, becomes one floating mass.
Its velocity, though slow at first, increases to a
frightful extent through the influence of the melt-
ing snow, until it " breaks up," when the detached
masses are driven with fearful violence against any
impediment, and, when effectually obstructed, it
" packs" layer upon layer to the height of fifty to
sixty feet. Buildings are prostrated by the
" shoves," and disasters of a most alarming nature
frequently occur ; indeed, so rapidly does the pack-
ing take place that vessels near the shore have been
frequently buried and crushed.
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of this difficulty, a bridge has been devised, and is
suc-
cess
too ; and in two or three months from the pre-
sent time a ceremony will probably take place in
on a grand scale are in contemplation for the
opening, and the city, it is expected will be inun- -
are expected from this side the Atlantic.
While reflecting on the magnitude of this im-
portant work, and the skill that must have been
brought to bear upon it, we turn naturally towards
the author of so great an undertaking, and we find
that the same mind that conceived a means of
overcoming the difficulties of -bridging the Menai
Straits has also solved the difficulties of the St.
Lawrence. To Mr. Robert Stephenson is due the
honour not only of designing. the Victoria-bridge,
but of determining the possibility and applicability
of a bridge at all across the St. Lawrence. lie
visited Canada in 1853, on purpose to make him-
self conversant with all the facts necessary to form
an opinion, and he decided that a bridge was prac-
ticable, and having disposed of the more unimpor-
tant difficulties enumerated, he did not flinch from
the task of contending with the ice. He well con-
sidered the different schemes proposed by various
parties to resist this moving mass, most of which
were similar to those adopted in Norway, the struc-
tures being composed of framed timber ; but Mr.
Stephenson rejected them, because he had deter-
mined—while designing such a stupendous bridge
as that across the St. Lawrence must of necessity
be—to make it durable in every sense, and there-
fore ice breakers of timber were discarded on ac-
count of the perishable nature of the material, and
the belief he had that timber would offer but a frail
resistance to the moving ice. In this last respect
his views have been carried out to a verity, for in
the timber temporary breakwaters and cofferdams
used by the contractor during the construction of
the bridge, the effect of the ice has been singularly
destructive. Whole balks have been disintegrated
into mere fibres, and the.pores of the timber have
been frozen through and impregnated with ice.
Mr. Stephenson determined upon the adoption of
stone for the piers and icebreakers, the latter form-
ing a part of the former, and being in the form of
sloping cutwaters on the up-stream side, their
fronts presenting an angular face to the ice. The
object of this arrangement was not to stop, or defy
the ice, but to coax it as it were, to climb to the
top, when the overbearing sides of its mass would
gravitate, parting it in the middle, and the two
halves would pass harmlessly away through the
openings. This very effect has already taken place
proving Mr. Stephenson's theory to be again cor-
rect, and during the four years the bridge has been
in course of construction the stone ice-breakers
have stood the severest test of the " breaking-up"
without injury.
The superstructure, Which is to the spectator the
most interesting object, is similar in construction in
almost every respect to the Britannia-bridge, the
difference being that while the centre Britannia
tube is 460 feet span the central span. of the Vic-
toria-bridge is 330 feet, all the others being 242
feet. The Victoria tubes also differ from the Bri-
tannia in not being constructed on the cellular
principle ; indeed they are the largest tubular
beams ever constructed without cells. But the
great total length of the Victoria-bridge is its
striking peculiarity. There will be a line of iron
tubing a mile' and a quarter in length, stretching
from shore to shore. This immense iron viaduct,
even in its present incomplete state, viewed from
either side, or better still from the river, is truly
magnificent.

The effect of these twenty-five strides across the
broad St. Lawrence is difficult to realise—and is
alone worth a voyage across the Atlantic.
One peculiar circumstance connected with this
great work, which is worth bringing before your
readers, as it forms an example of the advancement
of science at the present day, is, that all the details
were arranged here, the designs being made under
Mr. Robert Stephenson's own eye, and the whole
being carried out under the supervision of his
relative, Mr. George Robert Stephenson, who at-
tended not only to the designs and construction of
the tubes, but even to the manufacture of the
iron at the various ironworks. Elaborate drawings
were made by that gentleman, and the dimensions
and strains for every plate and piece of iron were
calculated and given by him. The tubes were made
at Birkenhead, every plate being punched in
readiness, in fact all being done in this country ex-
cept the permanent rivetting, so that nothing but
skilled labour was required in Canada to sort out
the parts already marked, and permanently rivet
them together.

So determined was Mr. Stephenson to carry out
this work successfully that he undertook the
management of it in all its details in this country,
indeed so much so that neither contractors' nor en-
gineers' accounts in Canada or in England were
paid by the board of directors without his or Mr.
George Robert Stephenson's signature, so that the
world will have to look to Mr. Robert Stephenson
as being responsible for the success of this great en-
terprise; and it is believed that the worldge
tbhyusthis
time is sufficiently
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Imre.

The masonry in the piers, ice breakers, and abut-
ments, amounts to nearly 3,000,000 cubic feet, a
quantity which would cover an acre of ground piled
solidly to a height of about 64 feet, and its weight
220,000 tons. The iron in the tubes, weighing
about 9,000 tons, is held together by upwards of a
million and a half of rivets.
To Mr. Alexander M. Ross, who was app?inted
resident engineer to the bridge, great credit is due,
he having specially devoted himself to the masonry ;
to Mr. Hodges also, who has most efficiently and
honourably, from the commencement, represented
the contractors, Messrs. Peto, Brassey, and Betts,
and on whom has devolved the principal responsi-
bility of the work ; likewise to Mr. Stockman, who
in the early part of the present year went to
upon
Bidder, to
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cntiieodn
and report the works
emi-
nently calculated to satisfy the minds of the engi-
neers and the public.
It may be thought by some of your readers that
this statement is somewhat premature, as the bridge
is not actually completed ; but though incomplete,
it is of such vast importance that this notice of its
approaching opening will afford a great opportunity
to those who may be able and desirous of making a
transatlantic voyage in time for that ceremony ;
and a voyage to America coupled with such an ob-
ject would be to many too great a treat to lose, and
the opportunity, if let slip, would be ever after iv-
gretted.—l am, &c., CIVIL ENGINEER.
London, 26th August.