Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE GREAT ZAMBESI BRIDGE. 91 “ THIS GRAND FREAK OF NATURE.” ally the loftiest, in the world ; and third, because it is the most notable feature of, and the link most difficult to forge in, a notable scheme—the Cape to Cairo Railway. We may add that from the purely engineering aspect it is of the first interest as regards its design and its erection in a locality so remote from a base of supplies. During the great Boer War the engineers of the Rhodesian section of the Cape to Cairo Railway pushed north- wards manfully, heedless of dis- asters in their rear. Railhead was already within a few hundred miles of the great Zambesi when the relief of Kimberley enabled Mr. Cecil Rhodes to give his consideration to Alternative Sites for the Bridge. the question of carrying the rails across the river. The choice lay between a long, many- spanned bridge some few miles above the Falls, near Livingstone Drift, and a much shorter arch bridge flung boldly across the canon below the Falls. Mr. Rhodes desired that travellers on the railway should have on their passage a good chance of seeing and visiting the cataract ; and as financial con- siderations pulled the same way, decision was given in favour of the arch bridge, though voices were heard exclaiming that the intru- sion of a giant structure of steel would ruin the natural beauty of the spot. The site finally selected was surveyed in the years 1900-1901. It is situated in the first arm of the canon, about 700 yards below the