Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1860-10-26

Trunk Railway would hardly have been
brought under the hammer--the almost Ger.
tain result of this wild cxtravagance.
1t appears chat the cost Of the masonry
the "a piers and two enormous abutments-
of the Victoria Bridge, was about Eve millions
of dollars. Nor would quarter Of the piers
and longer tubes have helped the matter
Mr., Fairbain estimates that tubes 300 to
1000 feet long would barely support them.
selves, without any load. But Mr.. Roebllng
is building suspension bridge of 1924 feet
span over the Kentucky River, and since the
strength Of q bridge in either case a matter
Of calculation, any one may see that six sus-
pended spans Of l 200 feet each, over the St.
Lawrence, would have answered every pur-
pose, while they would have reduced the
cost and weight of the superstructure, the
number of piers from "a to 8, and the total
expense Of the works from seven and half
to one and half--or, at most, two millions
of dollars. It is, Of course, necessary to limit
the speed Of trains on suspension bridges,
simply to avoid the excessive strain due only
to excessive vibration; but it is highly prob
able that all the traffic of the Grand Trunk
Railway, for the next fifty years, could be
got across the St. Lawrence at five miles an
hour. Besides, the interest on the money
that might have been saved, would have
erected new suspension bridge as often as
required.
The Victoria Bridge, however, is a mag
niHcent fact. 1t will survive all our discus.
sions; it will outlivc all our rotten tressles
as they drop into the abysses with midnight
trains; it will continue to grid two countries,
stretching from shore to shore in simple and
unchanging grandeur, lasting monument to
the skill and perseverance Of its builders,
however wide and deep the bankruptcy
which it may occasion. The Grand Trunk
Railway Company has something to show
for its money. And in all these things the
general public takes grim satisfaction
Besides, going out in blaze Of glory is elc.
CANT, if not sublime. Happy the institution,
which in the fullness Of time, with grace,
if it must pass away, is finally enclosed in SO
splendid coffin by silver rivet driven by
the Royal right hand of the Prince of Wales.
Such are the unfortunate but not ignoblc
results Of extravaganza. Our British cousins
know them by heart. And, indeed, so long
as they are willing to call the Victoria and
Britannia Bridges, the Thames and Box Tun-
ncls, and the Great Western Railway gener-
ally, nothing more than works Of art, we will
admire and praise these masterpieces, with
out limit
But our neighbors are not the only offen-
ders against engineering truth; Our railway
managers have little foible of their own,
and it is just the opposite Of the brilliant folly
Of our cousins. While our British friends
roll up for their works gigantic capital ac-
count on which they cannot earn an apprc-
ciable dividend, we deprive our works of
money enough to give them health and vigor,
and then they eat up not only their earnings
in expenses Of maintenance, but, too often,
| themselves besides. We have adopted the
equally insane doctrine that saving first cost
is economy; and we have hammered our
heavy engines and clumsy trains to pieces
over mud roads and poor iron--all very cheap
at the start-whcn the extra first cost of a
fair amount of drainage and ballast, and a
moderately good superstructure. would have
been saved out Of repairs and renewals in a
single year. Now, what have we to show
when such railways as these come under the
auctionecrs hammer? What royal ccremo.
malls lend unearthly splendors to their depart.
ing moments?
For the noble tuble of the st. Lawrence we
have lettering tressles; for permanent way
we have the debris ofjunk-shops; for light
ming expresses we have muddy cabooses hob
bling at twenty miles an hour; for ample
stalls Of sleek iron horses, VIC have leaky
sheds jammed full of rusty machinery. And
away in that lonely clump Of trees by the
river bank, far from the sight and hearing Of
men, as the alternate rain and sun eat up the
wooden fabric that spans the fatal gulf the
Prince Of Darkness is lowering, day after
day, to fulfill his terrible mission. Who Of
us will hear the crashes and groans Of that
ceremonial ?-N r. TINES.