, 1865-02-03

aIILOuII rs LuC uuCIO Us Va WLAtCNSI SUM
might be required to construct the bridge.
An act of parliament was obtained, and
plans were advertised for. 1t was found
th"t the stone-bridg &c, contemplated would
cost ninety thousand pounds, and it was
resolved to abandoned stone for iron, as
being more suitable and cheaper. Plans
were supplied by many Of the chief engi-
neers of the day. The work TO be ac-
complished was extraordinary-the height
of the proposed bridge being PAS feet
above hi gh.water, and the distance 10 be
brldged over being about seven hundred feet.
Telf0rd, the engineer ofthe Menai Bridge,
was one of the competitors, and produced
a plan of remarkable beauty. He deemed
the distance across the chasm too great
to be crossed by a single span, and con-
sequentIy proposed to erect two Gothic
columns as supports 10 his bridge; hut as
each of these must necessarily have been
at least 245 feet high, the expense Of
these grand towers was held tn be fatal
to their adoption. Other plans were ex-
amined, the local committee bring assist
Ell in the work OF examination by mir.
Davies Gilbert, formerly President Of the
Royal Society; hut all were held. 10 be
inappropriate in some essential point,
except 0ne-that fortunate one bring a
design submitted hY Mr. Isanibard King
dom Brunei. Mr.. Brunpl's genius SEEM
ed to scorn everything that was not of
its kind gigantic. When other people
were content with river-steamers, he de-
signed the Great Western, the first steamer
that crossed the Atlantic /; and again, in
the Great Eastern, he left all rivals thou
sands of tons behind. So it was with re-
gard to railways. George Stephenson
was content with q guage Of 4 feet 81 in.
ches but Brunei would he satisfied with
nothing less than seven feet. The same
characteristic was displayed with regard
to Clifton suspensinn-bridge. TeItord
thought seven hundred feet too great a
distance for a single span, and there
fore dSigned his supporting towers or
piers; but Brunei, undlsmayed by dis
lance, proposed to cross the entire space
Ivy "a single span, taking for his supports
the natural rock on each side of the RE
yer. Brihgr-making was comparatively
IN lis infancy III 1880, and Bruncl's de-
sign made a great sensation. II was
considered "a very bold engineering work.
One of the least difficulties Of Brunei,
however, was that Of persuading people
to adopt his plans. There was a charm
in his 'reports'-a pIauSibility which, was
perfectly irresistible. His plan was ac-
cepted and in 1881, the great work,
which is 10 be finished this year, was
commenced.
The first stone was not laid butexcavated
in that year, in the presence of Mr. Bru.
mel /; ant the work was continued with
more or less interruption till, in 1886, 1t
received 81 new squirt Tie British AS
ISOLATION met at Bristol in 1886, and The
chairman OF the Association, the Marquis
of Northampton, laid the foundation.
stone of the abniment on the Somerset
shire side Of the river, the works np to
that time having been confined to the
Gloucestershlre or Clifton side. The
stone was laid with great ceremony.
Twenty-eight years have elapsed, and
the bridge is not yet opened. For eight
years after the Marquis of Northampton
had laid the foundations stone of The
Leigh Woods abutment. workmen and
The public in general were enst,led to
mass over the immense chaar1 hv mpana