The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-08-22
rhe Victoria Bridge Canada.
PRO0sssS AND POSITION OF TIE 0RnAT WORK.
HISTORY or THE DIFFICULrIB8-THB 0BBAr RAHf'

rhe Victoria Bridge Canada.
PRo0ssss AND POSITION OF THE 0RAAr WORK.
nIsToRY or THE DIpFICuLrus-rHs aBRAr RAsT'
From the Hontsesl CITY Guide for August OF
This stupendous work, now 80 near its compile
ton that it is confidently expected to be ready tor
public accommodation in the ensuing autumn, VIII
render the railway from the seaboard to the upper
lakes one unbroken line, one continuous route from
POI tland to Sarnia.
1t is no stretch of boldness to claim superiority
for the st. Lawrence. More than two and a-half
times the length Of the Danube, one-fourth the ex
tent greater than the Mississppi-the Amazon but
a few miles exceeding it-where is there a stream
TO be found with greater variety Of scenery, or
climate of greater saubrity than the st. Law
renee? The lakes which form continuation of it
are inland SEAS bearing thousands of craft Of eve
ny description, and Of every variety of build and
tonnage. They bid fair to be the seat Of 6sh-
miles in this fertile valley now dwels busy, ener-
getc population, marked by high civilization,
who have pushed up to its very source. The tribu-
taries are in themselves second only in magnitude
to the parent stream; and the area thus drained
large cities have risen up, each year increasing in
opulence and magnitude, while the waters which
flow by them are as clear as crystal and supply
every want
ITS HISTORY. 1l
in examining into this part of the subject it is
necessary to go back some twelve years, when an
effort was made to commence the ST. Lawrence and
Atlantic Railway. As one turns to those days, IL
At that period the railway from Laprairie to St.
Johns-which was worked only daring the summer
months, and that at the rate of twelve miles per
hour-and the six miles Of railway to Lachine,
formed the whole of our railway system.
In those days travelling was considered an effort
in 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 OF
tawa and St Lawrence TO Montreal, passed through
the State of New York to the commercial capital of
the Union. In this position of affairs the mercan-
tile community Of Montreal projected the st. Law
renee and Atlantic Railway. Then arose the ques-
ton, can the st. Lawrence be bridged? And here
it is our pleasing, az we believe it to be our i'm
perative, duty, to inform the reader that to dis
tiDguished merchant citizen of Montreal, the Hon.
John Young, belongs the merit of having first re-
cogpized, sgitated and urged the commercial ne
cessity Of this work
In the year 1853, under the large and liberal
financial administration of Inspector General
Hincks (now Governor General Of the Windward
islands,, the Victoria Bridge was included in the
government policy for the construction of the
Crank Trunk Railway. At this eventful period Mr..
Young's labors began rapidly to fructify, and now
the great idea Of his practical brain had assumed
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 fu
ture.
To Alexander N. Ross, Esq, the chief engineer
of the Grand Trunk Company, is due the c0ncep-
ton Of the design and plan Of the present magni-
Next we have to introduce the name of Mr.
james Hodges, the engineer who acted on the
part OF the contractors, Gessrs. PetO, Bras
sey y Belts. Commencing in 1854, il will
progress has been mpeded by the monetary crisis,
which has affected the affairs of the company, for il
might have been fully two years earlier completed.
Thus the amount Of work performed in 1856 was
equal to that effected in 1854 and 1855. In 1857 but
very trifiing addition was made to the amount of
the previous year, whereas in 1853 as much work
was done as in the two preceding years. When we
say that the cost of the bridge is 000 we give
only faint idea of the responsibility of directing
great work. The very force on the river during
the last season small army It consists of six
steamboats,, seventy-two barges, besides several
small craft These measured about IL 900 tons.
The steamboats, were ia the aggregate $50 horse
power
In the two stone quaIries were ........ 450
On various works, engaged as artisans and
laborers.. ..................2, 09O
Total aborers and artisans. ....... .3,O40
To this strength must be added l42 horses, va
riously employed, and four locomotives the amount
Of wages being daily S. 900.
In round figures there will be 3,O00000 cubic feet
Of masonry, 10000 tons of iron in the tubes;
1000, 900 rivets, each one fastened by peculiar
process, and l68 acres of painting. The tubes
being painted four times in oil and color and each
coat giving 81 acres.
We must not omit to state that during the last six
years the water has been carefully marked in it
daily height and temperature. The temperature
the atmosphere and all meteorological phenomena
have been carefully observed.
THR BRIDGH-DEsCRlPTION.
The bridge contains Is openings of 242 it., with
the exception Of the centre span, which is $50 #.
hence the length of the tube is $500 IT,, approach
ed by entertainments, the Montreal end being 1000
IT, the southern shore of 500 #. which, including
the abutments, make total of 1904 #. or Ii miles
nearly. The abutments are at the base each 278
it. long, divided into cells of "a it,, with intervening
tewalls of IT,, but at the top they correspond ex
and indeed are carried up to the same height, the
cells being filed with gravel. To resist the thrust
of the ice both the abutments and piers furnish
ed with a cutwater which meets the pier proper
thirty feet above summer water, the whole height
of the abutment being SO #. above summer water,
the centre pier being go IT, hence the bridge rises in
grade of in 1872 or 40 it. to the mile, the centre
again being pure level The centre pier is "A f. in
width, the remaining piers are but l6 feet. These
dimensions directly under the grder, for at the
foundation the piers are ~ feet in width, and at
summer water l6 feet. Transversey the piers are
SO feet under the girder. Thus the dimensions at
the junction with cutwater is 1898 feet, extending
outwards to the foundation up stream makes the
area Of the course whence the cutwater is COM
menced l6X90 feet. For the foundations vary. In
some cases they were as low down as % feet below
the water, and to obtain good and perfect founda-
tions was work of very great difficulty.
1t 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, consist Of boulders packed with
gravel and that material called hard PAM an indu
rated clay mixed with stone varying from six to
ten feetin depth. Nor must we omit mention OF the
quick sand which INTERVIEWED frequently. All this
had to be taken out, that the bed proper of the
river--the rock could be reached, on which the
foundations had to sbe commenced. This was the
crisis of the work. for until the masonry was above
water the parties ]abored night and day. 1t must
be recollected that during this period the current
was running past the works at ten and twelve miles
an hour: for, owing to the cOntractions Of the
ter way by the Golfer dams, the speed of the river
was thus accelerated. These dams were of two
kinds-foating dams and the ordinary Golfer dams
DAMS.
Before entering upon the subject of the dams,
few words about the mode of laying of the work
are necessary.- We have alluded to the elaborate