Niagara Falls Bridge Commission Scrapbook and Clippings, 1948, 1950, 1954-1960

he Niagara Falls Bridge Commission was created by a joint resolution of the 1938 U.S. Congressional Third Session. The Extra Provincial Corporations Act of Ontario, Canada licenses the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission. Canada and the United States are equally represented on the Commission by an 8 member Board of Commissioners. Canadian commissioners are appointed by the Premier of Ontario. The three Niagara bridges are the Whirlpool Bridge, the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge and the Rainbow Bridge.

Niagara Falls Park: Notice to Treat to Sutherland Macklem, Esquire, 1885

The Niagara Parks Commission administrative headquarters are located in Oak Hall which is on the cliff above Dufferin Islands. In 1798 this land was granted by the crown to United Empire Loyalist James Skinner until 1898. A century later it was the home of the Clarks, Streets and Macklems. These families controlled the mills of Bridgewater which was a pioneer industrial village located at Dufferin Islands. Then, it was known as Clark Hill. Colonel Thomas Clark, commander of the Second Lincoln Militia in the War of 1812 is the earliest known occupant of the house. When Clark died in 1837, the house went to Thomas Clark Street who was the son of the Colonel’s partner. Mr. Street was a bachelor and his sister, widow of Dr. T.C. Macklem, managed his household. Mrs. Macklem had 2 sons. The eldest son drowned in the Niagara River at the age of 8 and the younger son, Sutherland became heir to the estate. Mr. Macklem opened Cynthia Islands and Cedar Island to the public and had roads built to reach them. Two suspension bridges connected them to the mainland and tolls were charged on the bridges. The improvements to the land cost Macklem $18,962. He called the bridges “Bridge Castor” and “Bridge Pollux”. There was also an office built at the end of Bridge Castor. Macklem also spent $454 fixing up the Burning Spring Building (the burning spring is enclosed in a barrel which collects gas and lets it out through a tube at the top). Macklem received a yearly income of $56,378.79 from tourists and visitors. In 1887 Cynthia Islands and Cedar Island were deeded to the crown and became part of Queen Victoria Park. The name Cynthia was changed to Dufferin in honour of Lord Dufferin. Sources: www.niagarafrontier.com/parks.html www.niagarafrontier.com/burningsprings.html

Report on the Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge (1892)

Final Report of John A. Roebling, Civil Engineer, to the Presidents and Directors of the Niagara Falls International Bridge Companies.

Revision of the Niagara Railway Arch Bridge (1920)

From American Society of Civil Engineers.

Report on the Condition of the Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge (1860)

Final report of John A. Roebling, Civil Engineer, to the presidents and directors of the Niagara Falls Suspension and Niagara Falls International Bridge Companies, on the condition of the Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge.

Acts of incorporation and amendments of the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Co'y and the Niagara Falls International Bridge Co'y, also articles of association, leases, agreements, etc. (1900)

Contains "Acts of Parliament of Province of Canada and Acts of Parliament of Dominion of Canada."

Niagara Suspension Bridge Bank note, 1841

The Niagara Suspension Bridge Bank operated in Queenston in 1840. The bank issued notes in denominations of ten dollars, five dollars and one dollar, and featured a drawing of the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge, ten years prior to its construction. The notes are signed by the bank’s Cashier, Gilbert McMicken, and President, Joseph Hamilton. The bank failed a year after its establishment.

Thorold Tunnel opening ceremony photographs, September 18,1968.

Construction on the Thorold tunnel began in 1965 and was completed in 1967. It was designed by H. G. Acres & Company Ltd. and built by Pitts-Atlas, a joint venture of C.A. Pitts, General Contractor Ltd., and Atlas Construction Company Ltd. The tunnel replaced two lift bridges (Bridge 9 at Ontario Paper Co. and Bridge 7) that carried traffic over the Welland Canal. The majority of the construction occurred during the winter months, when the canal was closed to shipping. The water was drained and concrete sections shaped liked tubes were poured, creating the tunnel. During the summer months, the end sections of the tunnel were constructed so that shipping could continue uninterrupted. The 24 million dollar project was financed jointly by the Department of Highways and the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority. The tunnel was officially opened on September 18, 1968.

Henley Bridge blueprints, 1939 [photocopies]

Four pages of photocopied blueprints of the Henley Bridge on the Queen Elizabeth Way in St. Catharines, Ontario. A note below the title indicates the bridge was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth on June 7, 1939. Three of the pages are part of the same blueprint and can be fit together to recreate the complete blueprint. The remaining page is an incomplete blueprint drawn by William Lyon Somerville, Architect, and dated March 24, 1939.

Intemperance at Meredith Bridge, 1836

A document titled "Plain Facts, In relation to the state of intemperance at Meredith Bridge, ascertained by a committee recently appointed for that purpose". The introduction to the document reads: "The whole population of the village, embracing a tract of territory less than one mile from the Bridge, is nine hundred forty. The number of families within those limits is one hundred and sixty-six. Of the heads of these families, thirty-eight are intemperate, - seventy are temperate drinkers; the remainder abstain wholly from the use of distilled and vinous liquors. There are ninety-six children in those families,in which there is one intemperate parent. The number of children who have temperate parents is one hundred and fifty-nine. The other families have one hundred and forty-four children. Beside the above, there are thirty-seven young men. Of this number, twelve are decidedly intemperate; seventeen are temperate drinkers, and eight subscribe to the doctrine of total abstinate. In the whole Village, there are, at the least, fifty-two decidedly intemperate. There are sold in this Village, annually nine thousand gallons of spirituous liquors, at a cost not less than $6,750. Add to this the other cost attendant on the use of spirituous liquors, estimated to equal that of the liquor itself, and we have an item of expense of $13,500, occasioned by the use of intoxicating drink. The above facts are offered for the serious consideration of the citizens at Meredith Bridge. March 1836".

Steel Bridge View

The description reads "(1) General view of the Falls from the New Steel Bridge - 'Maid of the Mist' at landing - Niagara, U.S.A.". The reverse reads similar "General view from Suspension Bridge, Niagara Falls, U.S.A.".

View of Falls from Steel Bridge, Niagara, U.S.A.

The description of the image reads "(4)-8972-General view of Falls from new steel bridge - Maid of the Mist at landing - Niagara, U.S.A." The reverse of the image includes the description, "We are standing on the new steel bridge over Niagara River, 190 feet above the water and looking a little west of south, up the river towards Lake Erie. The high cliff at the extreme left, on the American side, is Prospect Point, where a crowd is gathered at this moment to view the Falls that we see just beyond Prospect Point. That dark, tree-covered mass of rock beyond is Goat Island; and just this side of Goat Island we see a bit of its precipice has been cut off separate from the rest by the powerful current of the waters - the smaller portion is Luna Island, and the Luna Falls go pouring down between the two islands. The face of the precipice curves inward beneath the Luna Falls leaving behind the 160 foot sheet of water the unearthly hollow known as the Cave of the Winds. Beyond Goat Island we see the gigantic curve of the Horseshoe Falls, 3,010 feet long and 158 feet high, reaching around through the clouds of spray to the farther Canadian shore. (The boundary line between British and American territory is in mid-stream.) It has been estimated that every minute 375,000 tons of water pour over these Horseshoe Falls, and they are wearing away the cliffs, moving back up the stream at the rate of 2.4 feet per year. It was probably only about a thousand years ago that they took their plunge just about where we stand now. Down there below us, at the wharf is the Maid of the Mist at the American landing taking on passengers who have come down the steep bank by the inclined railway. Its course takes it through those clouds of spray almost to the very foot of both Falls, - waters falling from 167 feet overhead, and water surging at least as many feet deep under the staunch little vessel. See special 'keyed' maps of Niagara pub. by Underwood and Underwood, also the Niagara Book by Mark Twain, W.D. Howells and others."