480 EEYIEWS — BEPOET O^ YICTOBIA BRIDGE. 



Second, — the masonry, forming the piers which occupy the intervening 

 space of 7000 feet between the abutments, including all dams and ap- 

 pliances for their erection £800,000 



Third, — the wrought iron tubular superstructure, 7000 feet in length, which 



amounts to £400,000 



(About £57 per lineal foot.) — ■ 



Making a total of £1,1 >o,000 



" By substituting a Suspension Bridge the case would stand thus : — The approach- 

 es and abutments extending to 3,000 feet in length being common to both, more 

 especially as these are now in an advanced state, may be s.ated as above at 

 £200.000. 



"The masonry of the Victoria bridge piers ranges from 40 to 7'2 feet in height 

 averaging 56 feet and these are 24 in number, the number required for a suspen- 

 sion bridge admitting of spans of about 700 f^et, would be 1U, and these would ex- 

 tend to an average height of 125 feet. — Thes; 10 piers, with the proportions due 

 to their height and stability, would contain as much (probably more) masonry as is 

 contained in the 2 4 piers designed for the Victoria bridge, and the only item of sa- 

 ving, which would arise between these, would be the lesser number of dams th .t 

 would be required for the suspension piers; bu: this I beg to say, is moie than 

 doubly balanced by the excess in masonry, and the additional cost entailed in the 

 construction, at so greatly increased a height. Next as to the superstructure, which 

 in the Victoria briege costs £57 per lineal foot, — Mr. Roebling in his report states 

 the cost of his bridge to have been $400,000 which is equal to rling. 



Estimating his towers and anchor masonry at. £20,000 which 1 believe is more than 

 their due: — We have60,00n lefc for the superstructure, which for a length of 800 

 feet is equ^l to £75 per li leal foot, giving an excess of £1S per foot over the tubes 

 of which we have 7,000 feet in length. — Hy this data, we show an excess of nearly 

 10 per cent, in the suspension as compared with the tubular principle, for the par- 

 ticular locality with which we have to deal, besides having a structure perishable 

 in itself, on account qf the nature of the material- ; and to construct them entirely 

 of iron, would involve an increase in the cost which no circumstance connected with 

 our local or any other consideration at Montreal, would justify. We attain our ends 

 by a much more ecor.omic.il structure, and what is of still greater consequence a 

 more permanent one; and a3 Mr. Roebling says, no suspension bridge is safe 

 without the appliances of stays from below, no stays of the kind referred to could 

 be used in the Victoria Bridge, — both on account of the navigation and the ice, 

 either of which, coming in contact with them, would instantly destroy them. No 

 security would be lefc against the storms and hurricanes so frequently occurring 

 in this part of the world. 



" 'No one, however, capable of forming a judgment upon the subject, will dourt 

 for one moment the propiiety of adopting the suspended mode of structure for 

 the particular place and object it is designed to serve at Niagara. A gorge 800 

 feet in width and 240 in depth, with a foaming cataract racing at a speed from 20 

 to 30 miles an hour, underneath, points out at once that the design is most eligi- 

 ble; and Mr. Roebling has succeeded in perfecting a work capable of passing over 

 ten or twelve trains an hour, if it should be required to do so. The end is at- 

 tained by means the most applicable to the circumstances; these means, however, 

 are only applicable where they can be used with economy, as in this instance.' 

 "My own sentiments are so fully conveyed in the above extract from Mr. Ross' 



