Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1853-09-14
The Great Tabular Bridge.

IREsEUs, inlone Of his recent letters to the J'ew
York Obsercer, gives the following account OF
that most wonderful work, the Tubular Bridge a.
cross the Menai straits in Wales:
This regard as the greatest mechanical won.
; der Of the world, and if my admiration OF It had
been great when reading the many and graphs;
descriptions we have had fit, my wonder and
pleasure were greatly increased when ! came to
see it. The cars swept through the tube hfteen
hundred and thirteen feet in length, and we hsd
no other sensation than. that of passing through
any other covered bridge, but soon as We reach
ed Bangor and the train passed, left it, and let
it 90 on without me, while returned 70 study this
stupendous work The problem to be solved BY
the architect was this-to build bridge $40
feet over an arm of the sea, 50 high in air as to
permit the oftest mast to pass under 1t, and with
out piers to obstruct the navigation. The point
on the straits selected for the purpose was fortu-
nately provided with rock rising from the wa
ter, and nearly in the midst Of the straits This
was the base OF pier, but then the bridge, with
out draw, must stretch 472 feet to one shore,
and 460 to the other and at the height OF at least
hundred feet above the sea. Mr.. Stephenson,
the architect devised. and under his superlntend-
ence was executed this work, which promises To
stand an enduring monument OF ingenuity, enter
prise, and perseverance, under difficulties the most
disheartening, and to ordinary minds insurmonnt-
able. To the work he brought, as the first and
chief element of success, his own genius and cour-
age, and TO these he added 1900 men, for whom
cottages were built along the shore, as the LABOR
of years was before them. The bridge is to De oi
ron nothing else it is to hold itself up without
an arch. and without steel cables to bind II 10 tne
rocky shores 1t is to be built on the shore, TO 10
sl.1 onI
ary. and stretched horizontally from land to land
Can it be done? The world laughed, and wise
men said. no, it could not be done, and it would
fall of its own weight if it were done. The man
of science pushed on the mighty work. Plates OF
iron were riveted together, and tube, not round,
as most peope suppose, but square, or rather rec
tanguar. being thirty feet high and fourteen feet
wide. was built; the labor Of this army extended
through four and half years. Two millions OF
riyets hold these iron plates in their tenacious
GRASP. and the tubes weigh no less than eleven
thousand three hundred and sixty-six tons! Du-
ring these years. these shores presented the busl-
est and most exciting of peaceful scenes. Schools
and churches were built for the families gathered
here. The arts of life were drawn around tho
settlement and it was as if new city had been
suddenly planted on the straits of Menai. Sick
ness was rare, for the air is pure and healthful,
hut when it did come, and death with it, the con-
soatons of religion were not wanting to the dying
or the living. More were born than died. The
work went on, and at last it was done. Hydrau-
lie presses were made to raise the mighty weights,
and inch by inch they rose, till in three weeks
from the time they began to ascend, they were
planted on the lofty pier and stood sublime. They
did not break Of their own weight. They did not
bend. But would they bear the pressure ola
train loaded, laundering over this awful chasrn,
or would the mass of iron crush and fall IN ruins,
like rent world, when the first train of rail ears,
with its living burden, should thrust Itself on the
treacherous bridge. The train was ready, not
with a burden of live men and fair women, to re-
enact the Norwalk tragedy, (an event that dishon-
ors our country in the eyes Of all Europe but
loaded with iron and stone, to four times the weight
of any train that would ever be required to pass
over the trembling structure. Mr.. Stephenson,
the architect, mounts the locomotive himself, the
engineer and solitary passenger. He moves on,
and reaching midway of the longest tube, ne ar
rests the train and pauses there that the heavisss
pressure may at once be felt, and the grand exper-
iment he tested once for all. 1t was not a rash
and hair-brained feat. 1t was the calm conf
dence of a man of calculation, who knew whathe
was doing. and that he was safe. The sinking Of
that long line, with the tremendous weight 10
which it was there subjected, was less than half
an inch The experiment was tested. It cost
five millions of dollars, and was cheap at that
walked through it, and then by flight OF
narrow steps ascended to the top OF 1t and walked
ont on the flat roof on which the strain comes,
and when saw the power of those concatenated
nIates il was impossible to have the sensation Of
fear. while felt sure the structure will stand till
some convulsion of nature shakes the sea and
earth.