Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

-VICTORIA ■ This Bridge, designed by Messrs. Robert Stephenson and A. M. Ross, was considered the “Eighth Wonder of the World” after its opening in i860. It is one of the longest bridges in existence, and is notable also for the great difficulties that had to be overcome during its construction across the river St. Lawrence. IN the middle of last century the physical obstacle to communications imposed by the river St. Lawrence had attracted to itself the very serious attention of the leading statesmen of the Canadian Provinces. For a distance of 900 miles—from the Niagara Falls to the Atlantic Ocean—the river The was unbridged, and so set a Barrier of ... , ... northern limit to the rapidly ex- St. Lawrence, tending Grand Trunk Railway system. During six months in the year navigation of the river is stopped by ice, which may be crossed on foot as soon as the ice-bridge has formed. But at the seasons when this natural bridge is forming and breaking up, the passage of the river is attended by the utmost danger, and there are instances of people dying from sheer fright while essaying it on sleigh or in canoe. That the larger part of Canada should be thus cut off from the eastern provinces and the United States became intolerable. Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec demanded that something should be done to provide a pathway for the Bridge locomotive. In 1852 the Ca- nadian authorities requested the great firm of railway contractors, Sir S. Morton Peto, Brassey, and Betts, to examine the country and report upon the practicability of bridging the river. Mr. A. M. Ross, C.E., was dispatched by them from England to Canada. He chose for the site of the bridge a point just above the Note.—The photograph at top of page shows the NEW Victoria Jubilee Bridge which now replaces the old tubular bridge described in this article. It was erect,ed in 1897-8 without interfering with the traffic. {Photo, Exclusive News Agency.)