The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-07 00:00:00

THE VICTORIA BRIDGE (CANADA).

(From the Montreal City Guide for .dugust.)
This stupendous work,now, so near its completion
that it is confidently expected to be ready for pub-
lic accommodation in the ensuing autumn, will ren-
der the railway from the seaboard to the upper
lakes one unbroken line, one continuous route from

Portland to Sarnia.
It is no stretch of boldness to claim superiority
for the St. Lawrence. Mora.than two-and-a-half
times the length of the Danube, one-fourth the ex-
tent greater than the Mississippi—the Amazon but
a few miles exceeding it—where is there a stream
to be found with a greater variety of scenery, or a
climate of greater salubrity than the St. Lawrence ?
The lakes which form a continuation of it are in-
land seas, bearing thousands of craft of every de-
scription, and of every variety of build and tonnage.
They bid fair to be the seat of fisheries—a com-
merce in themselves. For a thousand miles in this
fertile valley now dwells a busy, energetic popu-
lation, marked by a high civilisation, who have I
pushed up to its very source. The tributaries are
in themselves second only in magnitude to the
parent stream ; and on the area thus drained large
cities have risen up, each year increasing in opu-
lence and magnitude, while the waters which flow by
them are as clear as crystal and supply every want.
ITS HISTORY,
In examining into this part of the subject it is
nets zt to go back some 12 years, when an effort
was made to commence the St. Lawrence and At-
lantic Railway. As one turns to those days, it
seems that Providence has advanced a century. At
that period the railway from Lapr.aire to St. John's
—which was worked only during the summer
months, and that at the rate of 12 miles per hour—
and six miles of railway to Lachine, formed the
whole of our railway system.
In those days travelling was considered an effort;
in some months of the year the mails took six days
to pass from Toronto to Montreal, and really one
travelled at the risk of life, and the trade which,
before the days of railways, had turned by the Ot-
tawa and St. Lawrence to Montreal, passed
through the State of New York to the commercial
of the Union. In this position of affairs the mer-
cantile community of Montreal projected the St.
Lawrence and Atlantic Railway. Then arose the
question, can the St. Lawrence be bridged ? And
here it is our pleasing, as we believe it to be our
imperative, duty to inform the readers that to a
distinguished merchant citizen of Montreal, the
Hon. John Young, belongs the merit of having
first recognised, agitated, and urged the commercial
necessity of this work.
In the year 1853, under the large &nd liberal
financial administration of Inspector-General
Hinck,p (now Governor-General of the Windward
Islands), the Victoria-bridge was included in the
Government policy for
At the construction operiod f the Grand
Trunk Railway. thi
Young's labours began rapidly to fructify, and now
the great idea of his practical brain has assumed a
form and fixedness with which his name will ever be
associated, and which will mark his character for
intellect and energy, not only in his own time and
that of his children, but in the far distant future.
To A. M. Ross, Esq., the chief engineer of the
_ Grand Trunk Company, is due the conception of the
design and plan of the present magnificent work.
Next we have to introduce the name of Mr. Jas.
Hodges, the engineer who acted on the part of the
contractors, Messrs. Peto, Brassey, and Betts. Com-
mencing in 1854, it will be finished in 1859 ; but
undoubtedly its progress has been impeded by the
monetary crisis, which has affected the affairs of the
company, for it might have been fully two years
earlier completed. • Thus the amount of work per-
formed in 1856 was equal to that effected in 1854
and 1855. In 1857 but a very trifling addition was
made to the amount of the previous year, whereas
in 1858 as much work was done as in the two pre-
ceding years. When we say that the cost of the
bridge is 7,000,000 dollars, we give only a faint idea
of the responsibility of directing so great a work.
The very force on the river during the last season
was a small army. It consists of six steamboats,
72 barges, besides several small craft. These mea-
sured about 12,000 tons. The steamboats were in
the aggregate 450-horse power.
They were =tined by
In the two stone quarries were
On various works engaged as artisans
and labourers

500 men

450 „

2,090 „

Total labourers and artisans.. 3.040 „
To this strength must be added 142 horses, vari-
ously employed, and four locomotives, the amount
of wages being daily 5,000 dols.
In round figures there will be 3,000,000 cubic feet
of masonry, 10,000 tons of iron in the tubes ;
2,000,000 rivets, each one fastened by a peculiar
process, and 168 acres of painting. The tubes being
painted' four times in oil and colour, and each coat
giving 32 acres.
We must notr.omit to state that during the last
six years the water has been carefully marked in
it ; daily height and tempefature. The tempera-
ture of the atmosphere and all meteorological phe-
nomena have been carfully observed.

THE BRIDGE—DESCRIPTION.
The bridge contains 25 openings of 242 ft., with
the exception of the centre span, which is 330 ft.,
hence the length of the tube is 6,600 ft., approached
by embankments, the Montreal end being 1,200 ft.,
the southern shore of 800 ft., which, including the
abutments. make a total of 9,084 ft., or 11 miles,
nearly. The abutments are at the base each 278 ft.
long, divided into cells of 24 ft., with intervening
tie-walls of 5 ft., but at the top they, correspond
exactly with the length of a tube, 242 ft. in length,
and indeed are carried up to the same height, the
cells being filled with gravel. To resist the thrust
of the ice both the abutments and the piers are fur-
nished with a cutwater which meets the pier pro-
per 30 ft. above summer water, the whole height of
the abutment being 36 ft. above summer water, the
centre pier.being 60 ft. ; hence the bridge rises in a
grade, of 1. in 132 or 40 ft. to *the mile, the centre
againbeiog a pure level. The centre pier is 24 ft. in
width, the remaining piers are but 16 ft. These
dimensions are directly under the girder, for at the
foundation the piers are 22 ft. in width, and at
summer water 16 ft. Tranversely the piers are 33 ft.
under the girder. Thus the dimensions at the junc-
tion with cutwater is 16x23 ft., extending outwards
to the foundation up stream, making the area of the
course whence the cutwater is commenced 16x90 ft.,
for the foundations vary. In some cases they were
as low as 23 ft. below the water, and to obtain good
and perfect foundations was a work of very great
difficulty.
It had been supposed that the bed of the river
was rock, which the scour of the rapid stream had
kept clear from all deposit ; but it was discovered,
on the contrary, to consist of boulders packed with
gravel, and that material called hard pan, an indu-
rated clay mixed with stone, varying from six to
ten feet in depth. Nor must we omit mention of the
quicksand which intervened frequently. All this
had to be taken out; so that the bed proper of the
river—the rock—could be reached, on which the
foundations had to be commenced. This was the
crisis of the work ; for until the masonry was above
water the parties laboured night and day. It must
be recollected that during this period the current
was running past the works at 10 and 12 miles an
hour ; for,.owing to the contraction of the water
way by the coffer dams, the speed of the river was
thus accelerated. These dams were of two kinds—
floating dams and ordinary coffer dams.

DAMS.

Before entering upon the subject of the dams, a
few words about the mode of laying off the works
is necessary. We have alluded to the elaborate sur-
vey made on the ice by Mr. T. Rubidge in 1853, by
which the exact and precise depths of the river were
determined, and on the map the location of the
bridge was made, the usual reference points being
preserved, by which the exact site could be obtained
• on the ground. The working season of 1853, imme-
diately preceding the winter survey, was pissed in
preparation, and it was in the winter following,
1853-4, that the first steps were taken to lay off the
abutments and piers on the line already traced dur-
ng the summer. This work was done on the ice,
the distances being carefully measured, and on the
eart.tre of the pier being found, " guides" were
franvd so that a long iron rod could be rifted and
let fan in the one spot technically called " jumped,"
until a hole was drilled into the rock, into which a
bolt wag inserted and driven. By these means the
pre„llse centre of the pier was
established within a
practically
etwicaatlelvr
.few- inches,► for in all cases in pumping out
from the (lams the bolt was. found,
specking,, ishing sufficiently the
ablposition of
the pier. It .has been said that the dams were of
two kinds, each having its advantages and disadvan-
tap es. The floating dams were, in themselves, framed
.strt ctures of nu utean character, and consisted of
,two parts. One part, which, for the moment,. we
call three sides of a square figurc—the sides bing
le.,ren.;r thoot the head—the other piece forming the
squn re. But in order to turn off the current, the
hE tve,. of the square was formed of two minor sides.
to rued. to an angle up stream. They were carefully
an d strongly framed ; and being caulked, floated of
tin emselves. To place these darns in the proper po-
sition, the piece of three sides was taken by a steam
boat in tpw, and when the dam was approximately
in pc,sition, determined instrumentally from the
shore, a sla;ee gate was opened, and the water pass-
ing w ithin,it, it sank at the required place. Ihe
tail pi ece was subsequently towed into position.
ti eves; arily a great margin as to area had to be left,
in case •of want of success in sinking the crib at the
ex. act I spot. - At the foundation the piers were 22
by 90, whereas the cribs were 120 by 210, which
are aIA 'as of perfectly still water. Operations could
ace ord ingly at once be commenced. A dam proper