EEYIE"WS — REPORT 0~S YICTORIA BRIDGE. 479 



who has seen the locality fail to appreciate the fitness of the structure for the sin- 

 gular combination of difficulties which are presented. 



Your Eugineer, Mr. Alexander Ross, has personally examined the Niagara 

 Bridge since its opening, with the view of instituting, as far as is practicable, a 

 comparison between that kind of structure and the one proposed for the Victoria 

 Bridge; and as he has since communicated to me by letter the general conclu- 

 sions at which he has arrived, I think I cannot do better than convey them to 

 you in his own words, which are subjoined below: 



" ' I find from various sources that considerable pains have been taken to pro- 

 duce an impression in England in favour of a Suspension Bridge in place of that 

 we are engaged in constructing across the St. Lawrence at this place. This idea, 

 no doubt, has arisen from the success of the Niagara Suspension Bridge, lately 

 finished by Mr. Roebliug, and now in use by the Great Western Railway Compa- 

 ny, as the connecting links between their lines on each side the St. Lawrence, 

 about two miles below the great ' Falls,' of the situation and particulars of which 

 you will no doubt have some recollection. I visited the spot lately, and found 

 Mr. Roebling there, who gave me every facility I could desire for my objects. 

 Of his last report on the completion of the work he also gave me a copy, which 

 you will receive with this: I have marked the points which contain the sub- 

 stance of his sf.ateni3nt. I also enclose an engraved sketch of the structure. Mr. 

 Roebling h< s succeeded in accomplishing all he had undertaken, viz.: safely to 

 pass over railway trains at a speed not exceeding five miles an hour ; this speed> 

 however, is not practiced, — the time occupied in passing over 800 feet is three 

 minutes, which is equal to three miles an hour. Tha deflection is found to vary 

 from 5 to 9 inches, depending on the extent of the load, and the largest load yet 

 passed over is 328 tons of 2000 lbs. each, which caused a depression of ten 

 inches. A precaution has been taken to diminish the span from 800 to *700 feet, 

 by building up, underneath the platform at each end, about forty feet in length 

 intervening between the towers and the face of the precipice upon which they 

 stand ; and strut3 have also been added, extending ten feet further. The points 

 involved in the consideration of this subject are, first, sufficiency, and second, 

 cost. These are, in this particular case, soon disposed of. First, we have a struc- 

 ture which we dire not use at a higher speed than three miles an hour; iu crossing 

 the St. Lawrence at Montreal we should thu3 occupy three-quarters of an hour ; 

 and allowing reasonable time for trains clearing and getting well out of each 

 other's way, I consider that twenty trains in the twenty-four hours is the 

 utmost we could accomplish. When our communication is completed across the 

 St. Lawrence, there will be lines (now existing, having their termini on the 

 south shore) which, with our own line, will require four or five times this accom- 

 modation. This i3 no exaggeration. Over the bridge in question, although 

 opened only a few weeks, anil the roads yet incomplete on either side, there are 

 between thirty and forty trains pass daily. The mixed application of timber and 

 iron in connection with wire, renders it impossible to put up so large a work to 

 answer the purposes required at Montreal ; we must, therefore, construct it en- 

 tirely of iron, omitting all perishable materials ; and we arc thus brought to con- 

 sider the question of C03t. In doing which, as regards the Victoria Bridge, I find 

 that, dividins it under three heads, it btauds as follows : 

 First, — the approaches and abutments, which together extend to 3000 



feet in length, amount in the estimate to £200,000 



