Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1857-01-09

,T,,. victoria Bridge at Montreal a Great Work.
A correspondent of Pittsburg paper gives the
foIIowing account of the Victoria Bridge now beng
bnt at Montreal to connect various railroads IN that
,ry and the United States " The Victoria Bridge
There il is to cross the ST. Lawrence Is two miles IN
idtb The current is very rapid and the water from
four 10 ten feet in depth along where the piers are to
he erected except in the main channel, where it is
from thirty to thirty feet deep. In the winter the
ice makes to a great thickness. and piles up with
deem SHOWS, under which the waters have to wear
thsir way on 10 the ocean. Spring comes the vast
bodies of SHOWS which have collected in all this rlV
or basin meet and pour into the common recepta-
Gle. The fooes and boulders of ice are driven
up in vast piles thirty and forty feet IN height,
through which the water roars and Dolls ana
surgea, driving them onward at fearful rate ana
crushing all before them. AS Tar as the eye can
reach up and down The river one sees nothing ouS
this raging food of ice grinding ana heaVIng ana o.
hind The floods pouring onward driving along trees,
rocks timber and debris which has gathered IN It's
lone iournev The quay of Montreal would not stand
agnins, this for hour, it not built in the most
substantial manner. Docks made for vessels IN
which thew are protected from the descending fury.
Well, the Victoria Bridge plants It's broad bases IN
the very midst of this ice movement 1t has to breast
all this fury The abutments and approaches at each
end occupy 600 feet in length, and are nearly COM
peted The abutmenis proper are of stone win mol,
low chambers and the approaches OF mixed earth and
stone. Nine piers completed Of the twenty-four
which will make up the whole number.
These piers hxsd to the river bottom IN the
following manner: Golfer dam is sunk steam
humps exhaust the water within it al! loose mate
rial is then removed from The bed Of the river thus
laid bare until the solid body OF rock is reached.
Tpon this hewn stones weighing from seven to four
teen tons are fixed. Through these are passed iron
bolts which 20 to great depth into the solid rock.
The next layer is fastened upon the first with cement
and bolts of iron, and to the top. The whole
il Tins made one mass of stone and iron. The whole
Titanic structure will be 10,294 feet in length, OF
nearly two English miles. AS we have remarked
above, about 5000 feet are made upon the shores
There remains therefore, for the bridge proper
1000 yfeet, or nearly mile and one-thiTd How
then, is this vast sheet of wafer flowing swift ant
sometimes piled to the height of 80 feet with huge
masses of ice, to be SPAWNED We ind "a stone
piers, standing 242 feet apart, perpendicular on three
sides, and sloping down to the waters edge In ex
ception, however, to this general statement, it shoulc
be observed that the centre span is 800 feet wide to-
the purpose OF navigation, and is bounded ny pler
much larger than The others Resting, without 9th
er support, on these piers, and running from abut
ment, is the bridge, consisting OF great hollow lror
tube, % feet high in the middle by Is wide
descending to ten feet high at the two
ends The Gel tire span is TO be 20 feet abov'
the average level of the water, thence sinking gra
daaly towards either end, foot n 1870, thus max
ing the height Of the abutment about 81 feet AnC
50, p these terminal masses of masonry, in thes
twsnyfour colossal piers breasting for all time tn
floods of the ST. Lawrence, in this enormous tube o
iron through which loaded trains will shoot like
weaver's shuttle-you have the Victoria Bridge, th
wonder of the world Statistics cannot enhance on
admiration, still we add that the estimated cost
over S. 900 0OO that the weight of iron in the tube
only will be 5000 tons and that the contents of th
masonry will De 100000 cubic feet The Who'll
will be complete in the fall OF $50, or IN the spring
go"