Life in the Clearings versus the BushMoodie, Susanna
History
Life in the Clearings versus the Bush
Moodie, Susanna
Frontier and pioneer life -- Ontario; Moodie, Susannah, 1803-1885; Ontario -- Description and travel
The cabman, we soon discovered, was not a member of the temperance
society. He was very much intoxicated; and, like Jehu the son of Nimshi,
he drove furiously. I felt very timid and nervous. Sickness makes us sad
cowards, and what the mind enjoys in health, becomes an object of fear
when it is enfeebled and unstrung by bodily weakness.
My dear husband guessed my feelings, and placed himself in such a manner
as to hide from my sight the danger to which we were exposed by our
careless driver. In spite of the many picturesque beauties in our road,
I felt greatly relieved when we drove up to the bridge, and our short
journey was accomplished.
The Suspension Bridge on which we now stood--surveying from its dizzy
height, two hundred and thirty feet above the water, the stream
below--seems to demand from us a greater amount of interest than the one
at Queenstone, from the fact of its having been the first experiment of
the kind ever made in this country,--a grand and successful effort of
mechanical genius over obstacles that appeared insurmountable.
The river is two hundred feet wider here than at Queenstone, and the
bridge is of much larger dimensions. The height of the stone tower that
supports it on the American side is sixty-eight feet, and of the wooden
tower on the Canadian shore fifty feet. The number of cables for the
bridge is sixteen; of strands in each cable, six hundred; of strands in
the ferry-cable, thirty-seven, the diameter of which is seven-eighths of
an inch. The ultimate tension is six thousand five hundred tons, and the
capacity of the bridge five hundred. A passage across is thrillingly
exciting.
The depth of the river below the bridge is two hundred and fifty feet,
and the water partakes more largely of that singular deep green at this
spot than I had remarked elsewhere. The American stage crossed the
bridge as we were leaving it, and the horses seemed to feel the same
mysterious dread which I have before described. A great number of strong
wooden posts that support the towers take greatly from the elegance of
this bridge; but I am told that these will shortly be removed, and their
place supplied by a stone tower and buttresses. We returned by another
and less dangerous route to the Clifton House, just in time to witness a
glorious autumnal sunset.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account