REVIEWS — EEPORT OS VICTORIA. BRIDGE. 



manner, and as it appears to us for no very sufficient reason, — he says 

 in his Report : 



"In all that has been said respecting the comparative merits of the different 

 systems of roadway, you will perceive that a complete wooden structure has not 

 been alluded to, because, ir. the first place, when the design for the Victoria bridge 

 was at first being considered, wood was deemed not sufficiently permanent; in the 

 second place, the structures alluded to in the report, as being inferior to that now 

 in progress, are proposed to be constructed of stone and iron work ; and as a third 

 reason, the construction of the tubular roadway is already so far advanced that any 

 alteration, to the extent of abandoning iron and adopting ivood, must involve mo- 

 netary questions of so serious a nature as to render the subject beyond discussion, 

 or even being thought of iu this report. 



From this it would appear that the construction of the tubes has 

 been so far advanced as to preclude all thought of any other descrip- 

 tion of superstructure now ; while wood was discarded in the pre- 

 vious consideration of the subject as not being "sufficiently permanent'''' 

 an assumption perfectly true where it desirable to emulate the build- 

 ers of the Pyramids, but not entitled to implicit faith when measured 

 by a commercial standard suited to these provinces. Mr. Stephenson 

 has probably omitted to draw the needful distinction between 

 England, where iron and capital are abuudant and wood scarce, and 

 Canada, where precisely the reverse of these conditions exists ; in fact 

 he appears to have adopted the same reasoning in relation to the 

 Victoria bridge as he did with reference to the Britannia, forgetful of 

 the innumerable opportunities afforded in this country for the em- 

 ployment of capital in a much more productive manner, and more 

 beneficially not only for the railway but for the country at large. 



In dealing with questions of stone and iron, however, Mr. 

 Stephenson has shewn himself quite at home ; and in comparing the 

 various methods of construction with those materials both he and Mr. 

 Ross leave nothing to be desired. We entirely adhere to the views 

 expressed by them. " The approaches " says, Mr. Stephenson : 



"Extending in length to 700 feet on the south, or St. Lambert side, and 1300 

 feet on the Point St. Charles side, — consist of solid embankments, formed of large 

 masses of stone, heaped up and faced on the sloping sides with rubble masonry. 

 The up-stream side of these embank -nents is formed into a hollow shelving slope, 

 the upper portion of which is a circular curve of 60 feet radius, and the lower por- 

 tion, or foot of the slope, lias a straight incline of three to one, while the down- 

 stream side, which is not exposed to the direct action of the floating ice, has a slope 

 of one to one. These embankments are being constructed in a very solid and 

 durable manner, and from their extending along that portion of the river only, 

 where the depth at summer level is not more than two feet, six inches; the navi- 

 gation is not interrupted, and a great protection is, by their means afforded to the 

 city from the effect of the "shoves" of ice which are known to be so detrimental 

 to Us frontage. 



