New Britain herald., 1916-09-11
Heavy Loss of U Feared When SO
 Ton Steel Link Fa Into Water.
TWENTY-FIVE DEAD
 IS EARLY REPO

Completion of Greatest Cantf
 Bridge in World, Which Would N
 200 Miles on Trip From HaIifa@
 Northwest, Will Be Indefinitely E
 Iayed Through Accident-WreM
 Mass May Never Be Raised Ag& Quebec, Can, Sept. 1.-The
 central span of the Quebec bridgea largest cantilever suspended in world, collapsed and fell into th# Lawrence river while being hoM into place today with @ probable x of life. Observers on shore saw r
 bers of workmen struggling in H water.
 The bridge was being constru
 at a cost of $17, 7,000,000 in orda& shorten the railway journey from M | flax to the Canadian northwest 200 miles. The bridge stands on the siteH | the structure which collapsed l August 29, 1907, with a loss of sey8 | lives. The central span which fell tM l weighs more than 5000 tons anH 1 $40 feet long. The collapse occI& l when the span was about fifteen in the air. Early indications that the loss of life would be hdS for there were ninety men on structure when 1t fell. Some of tS have been rescued. | Boats from among the hundred 1 craft on which spectators had ga@
 ed were rushed to the spot wherdR span disappeared.
 Span May Never Be Raised.
 The fallen structure sank 200
 to the bottom of the river, and
 gineers who witnessed the collapse
 pressed doubts as to whether it VI
 ever be brought up again. Observers said that the span bE
 in two places-first one of the
 ners appeared to give away, this!
 ing followed almost immedia <
 by a break in the center as we9
 The span had been constructed
 pontoons a few miles east of the brl site and was lowed into position E mediately under the gap left inI l anchor arms of the structure. 1 Chains with links thirty incheI ! diameter, together with girders, \ then attached to the span and S| 1 ton hydraulic jacks began the stui dous tack of lifting the span l place. Lifted Few Feet An Hour. This work could be acoomplisl only at few feet an hour, and the distance from the floor of bridge to the level of the river 150 feet the engineers had not cot ed on completing the operations \ the end of this week or later. bridge was to have been compll and ready for train service N spring, marking an important n1 stone in Canada's engineering < way history.
 The juggling of 5000 tons of sS under unprecedented circumstancea the Dominion attracted to the ed today several thousand spectators, k cluding members of parliament newspaper men gathered on vesH furnished by the Canadian govd ment. K
 Members of the Dominion caba witnessed the collapse from the "A of 8 government vessel while Amk can tourists crowded hundreds other boats of all classes. EmarN American authorities on bridge bud ng and members of the AustraN parliament returning home a8 visiting in Europe also were at scene, and river traffic for oce# going steamships had been temgM arily suspended.
 Collapsed Before in 1907. M
 The project interrupted today
 ginated In 1853, when at the reqlH of the Quebec City council, N
 Tor kengineer submitted plans % estimates. Courage and capital w# lacking, however, and it was not uH E 1882 that the scheme again was gi N serious consideration. The cantilef plan of bridge building was at tE time becoming generally used K distinguished Canadian engineers tained a charter at Ottawa and aiz many years of delay the building N begun, only to have it terminate l. in the collapse of the finished structure in 1907.
 Canada's federal railway depaE ment then decided to reconstruct and the undertaking was placed the hands of a commission which cluded some noted American bri(M builders, among them Ralph MH jeslti of Chicago and c. c. SchneifH of New York. The plans for A bridge provided for 8 channel spK longer than that of any existing tod8 anywhere, Its length from shore shore when completed would be 8, zS feet, and the space between the aE chor butresses is 1,800 feet. md
 (Continne6 On EIauap4H uau.N K