Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

208 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. BUILDING A PIER INSIDE A COFFERDAM. The difficulties experienced by the contract- ors during this season were not physical only. Among so large a number of workmen, un- hygienic Difficulties. inured to the climate, sickness soon appeared. In the winter they had been severely tried by the intense Canadian cold ; in the summer they were decimated by cholera. We are told that out of a single gang of 200 men, 60 were on the sick-list simultaneously, and that of these many died. Then there were labour troubles. The Eng- lish workmen, unaccustomed to such hard- ships, became disheartened and struck fre- quently, utterly disorganizing operations for a time. During the ingathering of the har- vest, when the great demand for hands caused farmers to offer very high wages, a large number of the men threw down their tools and made for the fields. One can realize the in- tense annoyance experienced by those in authority in the face of the fact that the period during which masonry could be laid was limited to sixteen weeks a year. It should be recorded, however, that all persons, such as the sub-contractors, who were indi- vidually responsible for a portion of the work, stuck to their tasks with the greatest possible zeal. When the winter closed in, autumn of unusual heat, a great age was done to the cribwork shove. The dams round No. 1 and No. 2 piers were carried away by the irresistible com- bined forces of over 124,000,000 tons of pack-ice, which groaned and ground its way along, presenting a scene too grand following an deal of dam- by the ice- Dams carried away by Ice.