Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1856-12-18
Grand Trunk Railway.

In sketch oil the Grand Trunk Railway,
just com pleted, we find the following:
The Victoria bridge and water works are wor
thy of more extended notice than has been given
OF them BY Telegraph. The bridge is being
built in the most thorough and substantial
manner The solidity of It's masonry is really
Surprising 1t is estimated that 100000 tuns
of stone and 1900 tuns Of iron will be used in
the construction of its twenty four piers and
two abutments = the length Of the abutmens
being 242 feet each. The contents of the ma
sonry will be three millions Of cubic feet The
bridge is to be Of iron, tabular in Iorm, and
the weight of the tubes will be eight thousand
tnns. The height above the summer water lev
el in the centre span, (at the channel will be
sixty feet. The dimensions Of the'tube will be
at the centre, % feet high, l6 feet wide; at
the ends 10 feet high, l6 feet wide. The depth
Of the water at the point at which the bridge is
being constructed, is highly favorable for such
an enterprise, being very shallow, except where
the channel is located. In some places it is
not more than couple Of feet deep, apparently.
The Grand Trunk Railway, of which this
bridge is to be "a grand perlecting link, is now
compased of the following sections
Montreal to Portland. 2o2 miles
Richmond to Point Levi, opposite
Quebec, st. rhomas, 1877 "
! MOntreu to Toronto 1888 '
! Toronto to Stratfurd SO 90
| Total $50 miles.
The water for the supply of the city of Mon
treal is obtained from the river st. Lawrence,
above the Lacine Rapi Is, and is conducted for
distance Of five hundred miles through an open
canal, to the river ST. Pierre. at the outskirts
OF the city. At the termination of the aqueduct
is spacious basin Three streams which in
intercepts are carried nnder the aquedhct by sy-
phon culverts, and one and Il halt miles of it il
cut through solid rock At the termination oil
the Aqueduct two iron water wheels, twenty
J feet in diameter and about thirty feet long
sre erected, upon the suspension principle, will
ventilation buckets Each wheel, by means o
a crank, works three pumps, the barrels o
which are twenty inches bore, with stroke O
four feet. Each pump is fed by an eightcel
inch feel pipe, under u twenty four feet hea'
OF water The three pumps are placed vertc
ally and work into an air chamber seven feet il
S diameter and fifteen feet high, from which, b.
atmospheric pressure. the water is forced thro
I II thirty inch main distance of two and thre
s fourth miles, under the Grand Trunk Railway
i the river St Pierre. and the Lachne canal, an
: some other similar Distractions to the hill bac
D of the city, where it is discharged into two rel
t eIvors. two hundred and FIVE ieet above Nor
$ treal harbor whence it is distributed through
out the city. Such is the mighty force of a
I. mospherlc pressure! What profound skill mu
8 have been requisite to calculate exictly the ne
l. essary force to deliver the water at such
l. point 1t was truly IL great triumph CT epgi
IT eerins
p The reservoirs are carved out of solid roc
r with water surface Of about ninety thousal
Ks square feet, and depth of twenty five feet. al
Is are by nature water tight Their combin
r length is 623 feet and width l73 feet Th
l. contain about fifteen millions OF gallons of "
'g ter, which Is sufficient to supply the city hc
II ten tie twelve days They N be filled by t
r two wheels in seventy five hours pumping, t
'g wheels also supplying the consumption of /
city during that period. The cost of the aq,
Of duct was about 4202 ,000 These-the brid
d, and the water works--ere two of the prime
f public works to be seen at Montreal, and ii
be justly excite the admiration of all beholders.
he o.