Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge - Conception and Building

Conception and Building

In the middle of the 19th century, the hinterlands of the North American East Coast were opened up rapidly; colonists moved further inland, pushing back the wilderness and establishing settlements that grew into towns and cities. The growth of these centers of civilization was fueled by the increasing number of routes set up to facilitate trade among the settlements. Canadian entrepreneur and politician William Hamilton Merritt was a major contributor to the establishment of several trade routes in his country. His primary focus was on the lakes and the dredging of waterways to open up trade between the lake cities. He also showed interest in railroads, envisioning a network that connected cities on both sides of the United States–Canadian border from the Atlantic coast in the East to the new territories in the West. Merritt's dream would lead to the creation of a man-made structure, a railway suspension bridge, that spanned the Niagara River alongside the river's acclaimed natural feature, the Niagara Falls.

Merritt's vision for the Niagara Suspension Bridge was conceived at the Niagara River itself. In the summer of 1844 while taking a picnic on the river shores, near what was then the town of Clifton, Merritt read a letter from his sons to his wife. The younger Merritts were touring Europe and visited the town of Fribourg, Switzerland. Amazed by the Freiburg Suspension Bridge, they wrote to their parents, describing the wonders of the bridge in eloquent terms. Their writing had a profound effect on their parents, and the elder Merritts wondered if such a suspension bridge could be built across the Niagara. Merritt was driven to realize that vision, and he approached the relevant authorities, including the Queen of England, for permission to start the construction of the suspension bridge. His efforts were rewarded in 1846; the state of New York and the government of Canada approved the charters to form the Niagara Falls International Bridge Company and the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Company, respectively.

In the years before the first bridge was built over the Niagara River, the river was crossed entirely by boats. Powered by steam engines, vessels ferried people and carriages across the raging river at calmer points of the water. One of these vessels was the Maid of the Mist, the first tourist boat to ply the waters of the Niagara River. Named after a local legend, the steamer began service in 1846. Launching from a point 2 miles (3.2 km) below the Horseshoe Falls, it chugged up to the base of the falls, offering a close-up view of the natural wonder to its passengers, before moving to the opposite shore. The site for the Suspension Bridge was half a mile (0.8 km) from the Maid of the Mist's landings. The selection of the bridge site was based more on aesthetics than technical ease; it was the narrowest point of the gorge—800 feet (240 m) across and 230 feet (70 m) deep—that allowed a full view of the falls from the American side.

After the bridge companies were founded, they invited engineers to submit plans and cost estimates for a suspension bridge that carried a railway. The invitation was met with skepticism among the engineering community. At that time, there was not a suspension bridge that could allow a train to pass over it safely. While the Europeans were erecting suspension bridges by the hundreds, the Americans mostly ignored them out of safety concerns; in 1831 Sir Samuel Brown's Broughton Suspension Bridge in Britain had collapsed under the marching feet of a troop of soldiers, sending those on its deck into the River Irwell. Furthermore, many American bridges had collapsed without experiencing weight and pressure equivalent to railroad traffic, and American engineers feared that any railway bridge would likely fail—especially a suspension bridge.

Four engineers responded: Edward Serrell, Samuel Keefer, Charles Ellet, Jr., and John Augustus Roebling. All submitted designs for a suspension bridge. At the time of the bidding, Ellet and Roebling were acknowledged as masters of suspension bridge building in America. Roebling submitted two designs, a conservative single-deck suspension bridge and a double-decked version, both with meticulous calculations and drawings. Instead of relying solely on submissions, Charles Ellet, Jr. took a proactive approach. When he got wind of the project in 1845, he wrote to Charles B. Stuart, chief engineer of the Great Western Railway, boldly proclaiming that he could build a bridge for any likely purpose across the Niagara. After the charters had been obtained, Ellet helped Stuart to sell the bridge companies' stock and offered to buy US$30,000 worth of stock himself. His efforts earned him the $190,000 bridge contract on November 9, 1847.