Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1851-05-29

France, where he ended his days.
The scene Of the following noble work
OF mechanical genius is now within day S
ride Of Montpelier, via the Vermont Cen
trail and OGdensburgh Railroads, aud the
Lake Ontario Steamers
From the ST. Caiharine's Constitutional
The Queenston and Lewiston
Suspension Bridge,
The opening Of this bridge to the public
took place on the ooh of March, 1851 and
was observed as holiday at the towns on
each side of the frontier. Fifteen years a.
60 the project Of throwing chain bridge
across the river at this spot was first agita-
ted-a charter was obtalned-amd bank
established at Queenston for the purpose of
carry ing out the scheme but the bank and
the bubble burst together. 1t remained for
gentleman, then STRIPPING eleven years
of aye, 90 achieve the second honor Of uni.
ting with bands of iron the two most pow
erful nations of the globe, of the same orr
gin, the same laws aud the same language,
by the construction OF this bridge. The
chief engineer, Capt. l.. w. Serrell, is an
Engllshman 10y birth and the son of gen.
tleman who has acquired an uudying repu-
tatlou 10y the erection Of the far famed Gro
tOm water works of New York
Capt. Serrcll was educated for his profess
sion ia the neighboring republic, aud has
tened nome from the survey of the ship ca
nal across The lsthmus at Panama, to com
pete successfully, for the honor of construc-
tlt I'll.
sion bridge OH the earth. To such Of our
readers as have II N their power to visit the
beautiful Niagara river, and the scenery
connected VITA II, so enriched by nature,
aud made SO interesting by geological re-
search and historic aud sangulnary recoliec-
tons 1t NAV be unnecessary TO enter into
the minutiR Of the construction of the
bridye-bui to those al distance, who are
declared from seeing this new medium o:
communication thrown across the deepest
and most rapid rlveF IN the word-hangIng
like a cobweb Of thousand feet, betW cen
two rocks, as high as the monument of Lon
dun--to such, the details Of It's erection,
and the difficulties and dscouragemeuts the
engineer had to overcome, will prove inter-
esllng The situation of the bridge is i'm
medately under the spot where the battle
of Queenslon was fought on the 18th Of
October, 1912 On the eliminating point
of these heights still rears It's shattered head
the column erected to the gallant Brock,
who fell on that occasion, beloved by his
friends aud respected 10y ms enemies. In
medialely North of the Bridge, on the Can
ada side, is a large fragment of limestone,
known as Father Heunipen's rock, which
tradition tells US was the landing place of the
first white navigator who attempted 10 as
cend the river
The tower on the British side is II feet
high, and built of magnetism lime stone
from Thorold. The tower on the Amerl-
can side i of the same dimensions at the
base, but four feet higher, to bring 1t to the
level Of that OF Queenslon, and Is built of
stone from Lochpou. These elegant tow
ers are erected on a rock of sliceous lime
stone abou, % feet thick. and il is into
these solid rocks that the anchors are inge-
uiously aud securely fixed, aud from them
that the whole weight OF the bridge is sus-
pended. There are Of course two towers
on each side OF the river the h0ri=Oatal
distance between which is l040 feet, but
the cables, from the dip required, are much
longer. The bridge Is supported by 10 Ca
bles-heing ) from each tower-each cable
OF $50 strands of No. 10 iron wire. These
$50 wires are served with anneaed wire of
about the same thckness-or to avoid tech
meal terms they are bound together by the
wire twisted around them. The very inge-
NOUS instrument by which the wire was
served round the cables, which are about
, 81 inches IN diameter, was invented by
Mr.. Il, NJ. Griffith, the assistant engineer
of the work. The wire used in the con-
slruction of the cables was manufactured
by Messrs Cooper a. Hewelt, of New Jer-
sey, and is made Of the size of crow quill
iii length IT is upward of ! 200 feet.
The extreme length of the deck of the
bridge is $40 feet, and 10 feet in width
IL is "a feet above the river, which is sup
posed at this point to be 24O feet deep. The
IRON rods or suspenders by which the bridge
is attached to the cables are manufactured
from Ulster iron 3-sx3-4 of an inch ia thick
ness, aud vary in length from 4 to 81 feet.
1t is, we believe, the first time that iron
wire has been made OF such an enormous
length as 1900 feet, and each strand of il
was severely tested as to ITS strength before
being put IN the cables. BY multiplying
the length of each strand by the number
composing the ten cables, we observe that
there are nearly seventy miles of wire IN the
cables alone, the weight of which between
the towers is about 10 tons. Ii is estima-
ted that this gossamer bridge-for such at
birds eye view It appears to be-ls capable
of sustaining at once distributed weight
of $50 tons. Capt. Serrell has SO consiruc-
ted the iron saddle plates on the top Of the
towers that vacancies are left in each for
additional cables of 400 strands should 1t
be necessary to give additional strength for
the passage Of locomotive carriages.
la removing large quantity of earth aud
rock on the West cliff, to obtain secure
anchorage on the siiiceous lime stone, the
excavators arrived at the same stratum Of
rock that occurs under the great sheet al
the Falls of Niagara-indicaiing thereby
that the dip Of the strata is toward Lake
Erie, and ahording. we suppose, ground
work OF curious speculation, as 10 the Pc
Rod when these agonized waters will wear
,nd wend their troubled way to the Upper
Lake. The Chief of the Chippewa. Ma
ZION, when visiting the Bridge last week ),