THE VICTORIA RAILWAY BRIDGE AT MONTREAL. This stupendous enterprise, as we learn from the State of Maine, is now in active progress, and unless unforeseen circumstances should occur, it is intended that the first train of the Grand Trunk Railway Company shall go through the Victoria Bridge in the summer of 1858. For the following description of what has been not inappropriately designated the greatest work of modern times, we are indebted to JOHN A. POOR, Esq., the editor of the State of Maine, and one of the earliest and most efficient agents in bringing about the "annexation" of Canada to the United States by means of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad. This account was prepared by Sir C. P. Rooney, from data furnished by Mr. A. M. Ross, Chief Engineer of this great work, and may be relied upon as entirely accurate in all its details: As is already well known, the commercial reason given for the construction of the Victoria Bridge, is the necessity of bringing in the exhaustless products of Canada West, and of the Western States of the Union-such as Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, &c.--without break of gauge or of bulk, from the extreme Western point of British North America to the Atlantic seaboard. The promoters of the undertaking allege that, by means of the bridge, they will be able to meet the requirements of this traffic more cheaply and expeditiously than by any other existing route, whether of rail or of water; and they must be doubtless strong in the faith, as its cost is to be about seven millions of dollars, or about one seventh of the total expense of building the 1,112 miles comprising the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. The bridge is to be tubular, on the plan of the celebrated Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits, in North Wales. It will consist of 25 spans or spaces for navigation between the 24 piers, (exclusive of two abutments,) for the support of the tubes. The center span will be 330 feet wide, and each of the other spans will be 242 feet wide. The width of each of the piers next to the abutments will be 15 feet, and the width of those approaching the two center piers will be gradually increased, so that these two piers will each be 18 feet wide, or 3 feet more than those next the abutments. Each abutment is to be 242 feet long and 90 feet wide, and from the north shore of the St. Lawrence to the north abutment there will be a solid stone embankment, (faced in rough masonry towards the current,) 1,200 feet in length. The stone embankment leading from the south shore of the river to the south abutment, will be 600 feet long. The length of the bridge, from abutment to abutment, will be 8,000 feet, and its total length from river bank to river bank will be 10,284 feet, or 176 feet less than two English miles. The clear distance between the ordinary summer level of the St. Lawrence and the under surface of the center tube is to be 60 feet, and the hight diminishes towards either side, with a grade at the rate of 1 in 130, or 40 feet in the mile, so that at the outer or river edge of each abutment the hight is 36 feet above the summer level. The summer depth of the water in the St. Lawrence varies from 14 feet about the center to 4 feet towards the banks, and the current runs, at the site of the bridge, at a rate varying from 7 to 10 miles an hour. Each of the tubes will be 19 feet in hight at the end, whence they will gradually increase to 22 feet 6 inches in the center. The width of each tube will be 16 feet, or 9 feet 6 inches wider than the rail track. The total weight of iron in the tubes will be 10,400 tons, and they will be bound and riveted together precisely in the same manner and with similar machinery to that employed in the Britannia Bridge. The principal part of the stone used in the construction of the piers and abutments is a dense, blue limestone, found at Pointe Claire, on the Ottawa River, about 18 miles above Montreal, about 8 above the confluence of that river with the St. Lawrence. A large village has suddenly sprung up at the place, for during the last twelve months upwards of 500 quarrymen, stone masons, and laborers have been employed there. Every contrivance that could be adopted to save manual labor has also been applied, and its extent will be judged from the fact that the machinery at the quarry and the adjacent jetty has-including the cost of the jetty-involved an outlay of $150,000. Three powerful steam-tugs and 35 barges, each capable of carrying 200 tons of stone, have been specially built for the work, at a cost of about $120,000. These are used for the conveyance of the stone to the piers; and by the end of September next, a railway on the permanent line of the Grand Trunk track will be laid down from the quarry--close to which the permanent line will pass-to the north shore of the St. Lawrence, so as to convey along it the stone required for the north embankment and for the northern abutment. The piers close to the abutments will each contain about 6,000 tons of masonry. Scarcely a block used in the construction of the piers will be less than 7 tons weight, and many of them, especially those exposed to the force of the current and to the breaking up of ice in spring, will weigh fully 10 tons each. As the construction of "Pier No. 1" is already several feet above the bed of the river, the process of binding the blocks together can now be seen and appreciated. In addition to the abundant use of the best water cement, each stone is clamped to its neighbors in several places by iron rivets, and the interstices between the rivets and the blocks are filled up with molten lead. If the mighty St. Lawrence conquers these combined appliances, then indeed is there an end to all mechanical resistances. In consequence of the increased hight and width of the piers converging towards the center, the weight of stone in those that will bear the center tube will be about 8,000 tons each. The total amount of masonry in the piers will be 27,500,000 cubic feet, which, at 134 feet to the ton, gives a total weight of about 205,000 tons. Mr. Robert Stephenson and Mr. A. M. Ross are the engineers of the bridge, on behalf of the Grand Trunk Railway. The former gentleman visited Canada last year, and purposes returning again when the works have made further progress. The latter is permanently located in the province, not only for the superintendence of the bridge, but also as Engineer-in-chief of the railway company. The contractors are Messrs. Peto, Brassey, Betts & Jackson, and their representative in Canada for the Victoria Bridge, and for the railway from Montreal to Kingston, a distance of 180 miles, 18 Mr. James Hodges, a gentleman well known in connection with some of the most important engineering works in England. The coffer dams, (entirely on a new principle invented by Mr. Hodges,) for the northern abutment and the three first adjacent piers, have been some time successfully placed. The masonry in Pier No. 1, as has already been stated, is several feet above the bed of the St. Lawrence. It is commenced in the next pier, and is ready for a beginning in the abutment. The whole of these will be raised ten feet above the winter level of the St. Lawrence, which is 17 feet above the summer level, before the ice sets in in December, when all masonry work will have to be suspended until the spring of 1855. HOW RAILROADS INCREASE WEALTH. Inasmuch as at the present time there exists quite an outcry against some of the railroad enterprises of the day, we copy the following from a late number of the Cincinnati Railroad Record with the object of showing the influence of railways, and the increase of capital and the facilities of Commerce: Annual gain in transportation $7,000,000, which is interest on Aggregate value .... $50,000,000 85,000,000 51,000,000 100,000,000 15,000,000 $201,000,000 Deduct the original cost, and we have a clear gain of capital to the extent of 151 millions of dollars. Mr. Mansfield, the editor, thus comments: Try this estimate by any other test that can be applied, and it will be found to be within limits. Take, for example, the valuation of the State. In three years three hundred millions have been added to the assessments of the State, and the assessments are under valuation. Take Cincinnati as an example. In five years her Commerce has doubled. What has done it? Her bank capital is constantly diminishing, and her rates of interest are enormous. What has sustained her? But for the extension of her trade through the interior, by railways, the tyranny of legislation, and the equally bad municipal management, would almost have crushed her. The vastly enlarged facilities for trade, and also of manufactures, have borne her triumphant through the conflict. Whence, then, originates the absurd idea, that railways have absorbed commercial capital? Railways alone have saved the commercial community from bankruptcy. Whence, then, comes this cry? This is it-Railways as well as increased currency have immensely increased the business of the country. Hence, more money is required for a greatly enlarged business. Then extravagance, to a most foolish extent, has taken possession of the wealthy classes, and that demands money. Then comes a pressure. There is overtrading, export of specie, high rates of interest, and some failures. Somebody must be blamed. "Who? The most prominent, active, and public body is a railway, and he is charged with doing too much. It is the old Jack Cade cry of put down the men with the ink horns, because they can write; and arrest the progress of railways, because they make too much business! When you cease to make railways, the goose that laid the golden egg will be killed. INCREASE ON BRITISH STEAM AND SAIL MARINE. The steam marine of Great Britain originated in the year 1814. In that year two steam vessels were built with a combined measurement of 456 tons. In 1820 the registered tonnage of their steamships (excluding the colonial) was 7,243 tons, vessels 43. The increase has since been irregular, showing in 1850 an aggregate of 168,344. In the same period (36 years) the merchant marine increased from 2,414,170 tons to 3,565,133 tons. The increase at various dates is shown as annexed: In 1852, the number of new vessels built was only 712, notwithstanding the demand for shipping for Australia, California, &c., whereas in 1847 the number was 981; in 1841, 1,192, and in 1840, 1,448. In 1825, when the trade and business of Great Britain suddenly enlarged, and speculation rife, the number of new vessels built was 1,003, and in 1826, 1,151, being much larger than in 1852. This result may be in part attributed to the greater activity of the steam vessels. GALENA AND CHICAGO UNION RAILROAD. This road is 145 miles in length, the distance between Chicago and Galena. The seventh annual report of the president and superintendent exhibits its affairs as in a prosperous condition. The earnings of this road from all sources for the fiscal year ending April 30, 1854, were as follows: The Moniteur publishes the gross receipts of the French railroads for the first six months of 1854, and compares them with those of the corresponding period of 1853. There is an increase in the distance open this year of about 200 miles of rail, but the increase of the receipts is much beyond the proportionate yield of this added distance. The advance is about fourteen millions. If calculated by kilometres-four-fifths of a mile-the advance in yield of 1854 over 1853 is 2,300 francs per kilometre, or twelve per cent. This for France, and under the circumstances, is a creditable state of things. THE COLLINS MAIL STEAMERS. The average expenses of a voyage from New York to Liverpool and back have increased $10,984 a trip. The increased pay is $13,750; the increased expenses per voyage are $10,984-leaving the actual increase of pay, under the act, only $2,765. The increased speed on the Collins line since July 1st, 1852, has averaged two days each way over the speed made in 1850 and 1851; and this increased speed has created additional expense, together with the increased price of labor and wages. As, for instance, coal has advanced $3 per ton, making an increased expenditure of $5,500 per round trip to Liverpool and back-or $143,000 for the 26 yearly trips. The increased postage for 1853 over 1852 appears from the Postmaster General's Report to be 34 per cent. In 1852, $339,164; in 1853, $409,804. If this per centage of increase be taken as any criterion, the per centage of this year will be as follows: 1854, $650,578; and for 1855, $951,056-a sum greater than the amount paid by the government for the service. The increased postage of the Cunard line for the same time is 29 per cent. In 1852 $655,021, and in 1853 $845,553. Allowing the British postage to increase this year and the next at 29 per cent, the result will be as follows: for 1854, $1,090,764; and for 1855, $1,407,056. STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE, &c. THE VALUE OF LANDS IN OHIO IN 1853. The following table furnished for publication in the Merchants' Magazine, was prepared by Mr. W. D. Morgan, Auditor of the State of Ohio. It shows the number of acres sold, the prices at which they were sold, the average price per acre as sold, and the average price per acre as appraised, &c. SALES OF LAND AS ENTERED ON RECORD IN THE SEVERAL COUNTIES, BETWEEN THE 1ST DAY OF APRIL AND 1ST DAY OF OCTOBER, 1853. |