The Victoria Bridge, constructed in the mid-19th-Century in British North America, is a famous Canadian landmark that set the stage for the beginning of the industrialization phase of Canada and more specifically, Montreal. It would eventually “play a vital role in the growth of the city and the country”.
The overall location of Montreal would lead to large transportation problems for the city. More specifically, the fact that Montreal was an island made it difficult during the fall, spring, and winter for transportation of goods, such as flour, timber, etc. The only positive aspect was that the St-Lawrence river would freeze during the winter months and therefore, this would benefit “local traffic” given they would use the “frozen surface
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The growth of the railroads would then lead to the improvement of the transportation networks. Moreover, it was obvious that the railroad system would be a large structural, engineering and financial feat and given Canada was not in the best position to afford such a system, “the promoters [of the railway, therefore] turned to Britain” and the United States for help in funding the railway system (including the Grand Trunk Railway and the Victoria Bridge). Given Canada’s economy was not strong enough to fund the entire railway system, they scrambled for capital to finance it and politicians also passed laws that guaranteed companies who invested in them would be funded.
On May 24, 1854, construction began of the Victoria Bridge. This was a difficult task for the workers given the size of the bridge (“almost two miles in length from shore to shore” ) was the largest construction project during this period of time. Moreover, the construction of the bridge did not cease during the winter months. Therefore, many of the workers on the bridge would continue even while the St-Lawrence River froze underneath their
The Trans-Canada highway act was passed down by the parliament in 1949 , which is the year after St-Laurent was elected as the prime minister of Canada. The act offered the provinces a 50-50 split on the cost of building a highway from coast to coast to reduce the federal money and decreased the needs of taxes. Moreover, as one can see from its name, this act's purpose is to approve the establishment of the Trans-Canada Highway. As a matter of fact, Trans-Canada highway is extremely advantageous for Canada and is the world's longest national highway as it stretches from Victoria, British Columbia to St. John's, Newfoundland, connecting all 10 provinces together. Before this transportation systems existed, passengers and goods have to cross Canada by horse wagons or boat, which could take months to reach the planned destination. However, this significant project allows companies to ship Canada's abundant natural resources across the wor...
A privately owned company constructed the current Peace Bridge in 1927. It became a link between Fort Erie, Canada and Buffalo, New York. The bridge is over one mile long, 5,800 feet, and holds three lanes of traffic. The center lane may go north or south depending on the volume of traffic. In 1934, the Great Depression caused a change. The Peace Bridge became publicly owned. As a result there were no taxes to be paid, and financing for projects could be obtained by issuing bonds at a low interest rate. The publicly owned bridge instituted a board of governors called the Peace Bridge Authority, PBA. The board, which made all decisions, was made up of six Americans and three Canadians. Fr...
Railroads were America’s first big business and contributed a great deal towards advancing industrialization. Beginning in the early 1870's, railroad construction in the United States expanded substantially. Before the year 1871, approximately fourty-five thousand miles of track had been laid. Up until the 1900's another one-hundred and seventy thousand miles were added to the nation's growing railroad system. This growth came about due to the erection of transcontinental railroads. Railroads supplied cities and towns with food, fuel, materials, and access to markets. The railroad system made way for an economic prosperity. The railroad system helped to build the physical growth of cities and towns. It even became another means of communication. Most importantly, it helped to produce a second
The economic progress Canada made after the war lead to the growth of the country. New industries emerged from innovations of products like automobiles, radios, television, digital computers and electric typewriters (Aitken et al., 315). Canadians quickly adapted back to the “buy now, pay later” strategy rather than careful budgeting during the Great Depression (Liverant). Almost everything that Canadians did was influenced from new inventions; television was the most influential. Canadians conversations, humour, and lifestyle were influenced from television (Aitken et al., 315). Trade relations between the United States and Canada had become more efficient due to the St. Lawrence Seaway. The mass development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, in 1954, was to provide a large wate...
The first and most challenging problem associated with building the Mackinac Bridge arrived long before the bridge was even designed. Financing such an enormous project was no easy feat. In 1928, the idea of connecting the upper and lower peninsulas was proposed to Congress for the first time (Brown 4). At the time, the suspected bridge project was very much under government scrutiny and control. In fact, the initial boost in interest in pursuing the construction of a bridge came about due to the depression. The Public Works Administration (PWA) had been created under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal economic plan which would fund certain construction projects with th...
Lawson, Mary. The Other Side of the Bridge. Vintage Canada ed. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2007. Print.
The area of where the bridge was to cross the Ohio River was said to be one of the hardest places to build but came with some advantages. The section of the river had a solid rock base for the supporting pier to be built on. Since the engineers knew they could build a pier that would not settle they decided on a continuous bridge design. This design type distributes the weight so the steel trusses could be smaller and riveted together. This alone saved an estimates twenty percent of steel that was originally thought to be need to make the bridge cutting down the cost. The two continuous trusses span a collective 1,550 feet across the water. With addition of the north and south approach viaducts, for trains to go under the bridge, the superstructure’s total length is 3,463 feet. The bridge was made to hold two sets of tracks making the width 38 feet and 9 inches. The design called for 27,000 cubic yards of concrete and 13,200 tons of steel with some members being four foot square beams that span a distance of seventy feet. The design was the first step in a long process that would take several years to
The Capilano Suspension Bridge was built in 1889 across the Capilano River by a Scottish engineer named George Grant Mackay in the city of Vancouver. The bridge was initially constructed from hemp ropes and cedar planks, which were later replaced with more durable steel cables in 1903. Over time, the bridge has exchanged ownership several times and has undergone a series of renovations. This is a paper on the Capilano Bridge. Special focus is given to its history, construction, and impact in its locality.
The impact of the CPR is huge in Canada because the railway helped import and export goods and foods from destination A to destination B, building materials and other everyday items from Canada West to Canada East and vice versa. There were also bad impacts on the Canadian Pacific Railway for example the CPR costed a lot for the parliament and the government, even though Donald Smith and Hugh Allan made the finances tough for few years for Canada. This drop lead to the Great Economic Depression. But in the end of the drop of this economic depression, everyone was happy with the Canadian Pacific
The railroad played a major role in forging the history of many countries including the United States of America. The railroad began to bring people to places that before then where only accessed by weeks of dangerous travel over harsh and deadly terrain. The industrial revolution had ushered in a completely new era. The new era was one of mass production, supply and demand, and new requirements of industry. The growth of industry had created new demands for transit, trade, and more robust supply lines. The railroad boom across the U.S. had spread and proceeded to grow the economy quickly therefore, many people began using the rail roads just as quickly. The rail market continued to grow and by the 1860’s all major cities within the United States were connected by rail.
Roads had been paved, parking lots and filling stations had drastically increased in number, and millions of new jobs had been created in Canada8, impacting, for the better, lives all across North America. No longer was travel, like communication, an issue for Canadians. Instead of having to walk or take public transportation, purchasing a car was the obvious and more efficient solution. This invention had impacted Canadian lives and would continue to impact them until
Britain no longer provided the colonies with the guarantee on market and its material from other countries for lower prices. This was a signicant disvantage to them because that means no jobs and they needed someone to buy their goods and products. Upper Canada was loyal to English crown. Lower Canada and the maritime need the marker aces to upper and Lower Canada. Upper Canada used market to keep ties with England stand on their own their own. In Canada East, they would lose some French culture and language. The French Canadian hated the Canadian English, they dont get along well and rarely agree on the same idea. According to the French, english speakers wouldn’t speak a line in french, and didnt want to learn. Canadians were 2/5
Quebec Bridge is a riveted steel truss structure with 3,239ft long, 94ft wide and 340ft high. It was built on the main goal of connecting the lower Saint Lawrence River to the west of Quebec City, and Levis, Quebec in Canada. The bridge accommodates three highway lanes, one rail line, and a pedestrian walkway. Before the Quebec Bridge was built, taking a ferry or use the winter-time ice bridge is the only way to travel from the south shore of St. Lawrence in Levis to the north shore in Quebec City. The St. Lawrence River was the main channel of trade for Quebec City during the summer, but it filled with ice during the winter. This situation cut off all the trades entirely between the city until the river iced over and travel was possible again
Before the Quebec Bridge was constructed the only way to reach the north shore at Quebec City from the south shore of the St. Lawrence River was by boat. The bridge was to be a feat of engineering and would greatly increase the efficiency of crossing the river. In 1903 a six million dollar bond was passed for the construction on the bridge to begin. The first mistake made was choosing an inexperienced engineer, Edward Hoare to lead the project. Although he was a distinguished engineer he had never worked on a cantilever bridge that was longer than 90 meters and the Quebec Bridge today spans about 987 meters. Eventually Theodore Cooper replaced Hoare as chief engineer.
...beginning of the growth of a nation. The first two decades of railroading were a period of experimentation and rapid industrial development. They soon became a must for the rapidly developing world. They were used for employment, the carrying of freight, and transportation in all parts of America. Americans became dependent on railroads and they were improving them whenever they could. It can be said that Americans would never know a world without railroads again. The invention of the railroad drastically changed the way the United States came to be. The railroad, like any other great invention, evolved from something small to a technological advancement. Railroads started out going about 5 miles an hour, and now go an average of 80 to 100 miles an hour. The evolution of trains wasn’t just then; they are still in the process of getting better and better every day.