INDIANS' CANTILEVER BRIDGE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 29, 17 January 1912, Page 2

INDIANS' CANTILEVER BRIDGE.

Some interesting examples of Indian ingenuity are afforded on the River Skeona and its tributaries in North British Columbia. These waterways in their upper reaches flow very swiftly, and for the most part through deep ravines. As it is impossible for the Indians to cross by means of canoes they have resorted to bridging. Their bridges are interesting structures from an engineering point of view, inasmuch as the cantilever principle is adopted. A bridge of this design spans the Bulkeley River, where it is about 120 feet wide, and the height from the bridge to water level is about 80 feet.

It is built of wooden logs, the legs of the structure being, formed of single stout logs varying from sixty to eighty feet in length. , The task of lowering thonl into position must have demanded considerable ingenuity on the part of the builders.

They are buried about fifteen foot at their lower ends and anchored by the suporimposition of masses of largo rocks rolled and carried to the site. The longitudinal members of the shore spans are similarly buried in the ground and lashed to the ends of the diagonal legs. These main members corresponding to deck ■ girders are about 120 feet, in length, and to either end' the A members ,of the superstructure are lashed.. Elaborate cross bracing is resorted to in order to secure greater strength. . When the bridge, was first erected the different members were simply secured together by willow thongs, but when the British Columbian Government erected a more substantial suspension bridge lower down the river the Indians assembled and followed the white man’s operations with great interest. They observed how the thick wire cables were slung and anchored, and accordingly decided to introduce wire into their own structure.

They produced the material for this purpose from wherever they could, and. introduced it in a most fantastic manner. Also, when the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway engineers commenced working on their track near by the Indians procured odds and ends, such as bolts and spikes, from them, for introduction in their..bridge, so that now it is a strange looking piece of work, though the fundamental cantilever lines are still distinct.