Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1907 — GIANT BRIDGE FALLS [ARTICLE]

GIANT BRIDGE FALLS

ST. LAWRENCE RIVER ENGULFB EIGHTY.FOUR WORKERS. American Mechanics Hurled to Death by Collapse of RecordBreaking Span Near Quebec —Only Elsht Men Escape with Lives. A section of the new bridge across the St. Lawrence .River, five miles below Quebec, collapsed late Thursday, carrying scores of bridge workers and mechanics to death in the water. Of the ninety-two men at work on the structure only eight are known to have escaped. —t The bridge was about a mile and a half In length, and half of it, from the south shore to midstream, crumpled up and dropped into the water. The whistle had just blown at 5:30 for the men to quit work for the day, when there came a grinding sound from midstream. The men turned to see what had happened, and an instant later the cry went up: “The bridge is falling!” Workers Flee in Vain. The men made a rush shoreward, but the distance was too great for them to escape. The fallen section of the bridge dragged others after It, the snapping girders and cables booming like artillery. Terror lent fleetness to thp feet of the frightened workmen as they sped shoreward, but only a few of them reached safety before the last piece of Iron work on the south shore was dragged into the river. Near the shore the wreckage of the bridge did not go below the surface of the water, and eight workmen who remained above water were rescued and taken to the hospital at Levis. The steamer Glentnont had Just cleared the bridge when the first sec-, tlon fell. The water thrown up by the debris came clear over the bridge of the steamer. The captain at once lowered boats. The small boats plied backward forward over the sunken for half an hour, but there was no sign of life. The twisted iron and steel had its victims in a death grip. A few floating timbers and the broken strands of the bridge-toward the north shore were the only signs that anything unusual had happened. Sixteen Bodies Are Found. All the men drowned were employes of the Phoenix Bridge Company of Pennsylvania, and subcontractors of Quebec and Montreal. At 10 osclock at night sixteen bodies had been picked up. Of the eight men in the Levis hospital two were not expected to live through the night. The southern extension of the bridge which collapsed was rapidly nearing the zenith of the Immense steel arch which was to span the river. For 800 feet from the shore tlie massive steel structure reared an arch with no supports save the piers from the shore and one pier in the river about 100 feet from the shore, while the outward extremity was 18 feet above the water. The end of the half arch bent down a trifle and a moment later the whole enormous fabric began to give way, slowly at first, then with a terrific crash which was plainly heard in Quebec and which shook the whole countryside so that the residents rushed out of their houses, thinking that an earthquake had 1 ' occurred. 'V Wounded Pinned in Debris. The horror of the situation is Increased by the fact that there were a number of wounded men pinned in the wreckage near the shore. Their groans and shrieks for a time could be plainly heard by the crowds gathered at the water’s edge, but nothing could be done to rescue them or relieve their sufferings.

There Is scarcely a family In the village of St. Romuald and New Liverpool, which has not been bereaved, while In some cases five and six men of a single family have been killed. The bridge was remarkable In that It was to have been the longest single span cantilever bridge in the world the length of the span in the center be lng 1,800 feet, or 200 feet longer than that of the Firth bridge at Edinburgh, at present the world’s longest single bridge span. Built at Great Coat. The contract was let for the erectiox of the stone work to M. P. Davis & Co., and for the iron work to the Phoenix Iron Company of Phoenlxville Work was begun in 1900. The original estimate of the cost was In the neighborhood of $5,500,000, but this was found to be too small. The company finding Itself In difficulties and the government needing the bridge for the National Transcontinental Railway, an agreement was reached by which the government agreed to guarntee the bonds of the company up to $7,000,00ft Under this agreement construction hat been proceeding. When completed the bridge was to have accommodation for a double track railway, two lines of electric tramways and two roadway* tor foot and vehicle traffic. There lias been no bridge across the Bt. Lawrence below Montreal. At Quebec traffic was ferried across the river. This expense being held reqionslble for the failure of Quebec to grow, a number of citizens secured a charter from the Dotniulon government to bridge the St: Lawrence. A subsidy of $1,000,000 was secured from the dominion and another $650,000 from the government of the Province of Quebec while the City of Quebec gave a gt;gnt of $300,000. The promoters put up $850,000.