Abstract
THE well-known Niagara Falls View Bridge across the Niagara River, just below the falls, a steel-framed structure in a single span of about 1,200 feet, weighing some 2,600 tons and erected in 1898 at a cost of £60,000, collapsed during the afternoon of January 27, under the pressure exerted by an enormous mass of pack ice which had accumulated at the foot of the Falls. By reason of the intense cold of the preceding weeks, the ice had piled itself in huge blocks as it was swept over the Falls, to a height not much less than the deck level of the bridge, which was 165 feet above the river, and the danger had been clearly recognized for some time previously, so that when, despite the efforts made to save the bridge with heavy timber fenders, the final collapse took place, the sight was witnessed by a crowd estimated at ten thousand. The broken bridge now rests in a tangle of twisted steelwork upon the surface of the ice, which continues to gather and fills the gorge for a distance of two or three miles. There is another bridge for rail and road traffic about a mile and a half downstream, and this will have to be utilized for pedestrians until the fallen bridge is replaced. The drift of ice towards Lake Ontario is causing concern lest damage should be done to the generating station and plant of the Ontario Hydro-electric Commission, which is a short distance below the Falls. As it is, there is serious interference with the supply of electricity due to the fracture of mains.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Niagara Falls Bridge Disaster. Nature 141, 237 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141237a0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141237a0