A NEW WORLD’S WONDER

THE ILLUMINATION OF NIAGARA FALLS AND WHIRLPOOL

Grand Trunk’s Preparations for the Formal Opening of the New Steel Arch Bridge

[Welland Tribune, 24 September 1897]

At the present time the eyes of the whole world are directed towards Canada. The remarkable successes which have attended the visit to England of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the premier of the Dominion, and the denunciation of Great Britain of important commercial treaties with such powerful neighbors as Germany and Belgium in order to meet the overtures of the colony, have caused the politicians of the old world to regard with a novel interest that portion of the new which Voltaire once sneeringly gibed at as “a few acres of snow and ice.” Nor has the interest been confined to countries of the old world, the people of the republic to the south having been startled by the announcement of the discovery of large quantities of gold within the confines of the Dominion.

Scientists and members of the learned professions have flocked to the country to hold their annual conventions, and examine for themselves its resources.

Among the many corporations which have done much to retain the interest thus aroused, the Grand Trunk railway system, under its new and energetic management, takes a foremost place. The work undertaken in connection with the substitution of a modern structure for the old Victoria tubular bridge over the St. Lawrence has excited the utmost interest among civil engineers the world over, while the completion of the Grand Trunk new single arch steel bridge over the Niagara river, which replaces the historic Suspension bridge, is the talk of railway officials from one end of the continent to the other. That the latter structure, which, at the time of its erection in 1855 was considered-and justly-a marvel of engineering skill, should have been entirely replaced upon exactly the same spot, without an interruption of even five minutes to the constant stream of traffic which passes over it, is without doubt a remarkable tribute to the advances which have been made by the engineering profession within the last quarter of a century. The new bridge is a single steel arch of 550 feet in length, supplemented by a trussed span at either end, of 115 feet in length, so that, with the approaches, its total length is a little more than 1100 feet, while the railway tracks are 250 above the water. It has two docks or floors, the upper being used for railway purposes exclusively, while the lower contains a wide central carriage way, double electric car tracks, and passage way for pedestrians.

Beautiful as it is in appearance, the bridge is of enormous strength, it having been designed to carry on each railway track a load of two locomotives and four pairs of drivers each and 40,000 pounds on each pair, followed by a train of 3,500 pounds per running foot, while on the lower deck is designed to carry a live load of 3,000 pounds per running foot. In a word, it will sustain a weight of over six times the sustaining capacity of the old bridge.

The opening celebrations in connection with this great engineering feat commenced yesterday and will be continued today and tomorrow, and the management of the Grand Trunk railway system has determined to give a carnival at the Falls which will long be talked of by those who take advantage of the remarkably low rates which are being put in force for this occasion.

This carnival, which will be held for the whole three days, will consist of open air variety entertainments from two large elevated platforms, one of which will be on the American, and the other on the Canadian side of the river, open air dancing to the strains of the best bands obtainable in the country, old English sports, climbing the greasy poles, sack race and egg races, etc., for which cash prizes will be offered. This evening and tomorrow evening an elaborate display of fireworks from the new bridge will be given, and will be without doubt the grandest display ever witnessed with possibly the exception of that given at the World’s Fair in Chicago. The illuminations and fireworks are under the personal direction of Mr. Henry J. Pain, the leading pyrotechnic contractor of the world.

The artists who have been engaged for the variety entertainment area all well known, and four of the most famous military bands in America have been engaged, to give concerts in the afternoon and evening of each day. During the three days’ carnival the bridge will be open for the free passage of the public to and fro as they please.

To those who have never visited that greatest of nature’s many marvels-Niagara-the extremely low rates which are being made from every point on their lines by the Grand Trunk system, should prove a temptation too strong to be resisted, while to those who have visited the great falls by day, the prospect of seeing them one blaze of electricity and colored light will appear, without doubt, successfully.