The companion piece “The letters” gives the correspondence of August 1907 about the first bent ribs. This piece gives the papers of the three days that followed the discovery, on the morning of Tuesday 27 August, that chord A9L of the anchor arm was bending in the body: Norman McLure’s letter to Theodore Cooper that evening; Edward Hoare’s letter of the Wednesday and his correction of it after the fall; A. H. Birks’s letter to Phoenixville, which reached there the day after the bridge fell; and the telegrams of the Thursday. They are given as the Royal Commission printed them in the eleventh appendix to its report, with the two telegrams of 29 August that were read into the evidence by the men who received them.

27 August: McLure to Cooper

“New Liverpool, P.Q., August 27, 1907.

“Dear Sir,—I inclose sketches showing condition of bottom chord sections No. ‘606-9 L’ of south anchor arm and ‘621-9 R and 8 R’ of south cantilever arm, as found from measurements made to-day by the Phoenix Bridge Company’s assistant engineer and myself, by stretching a line from batten plate to batten plate as indicated on the sketches and measuring from this line held taut, to each rib, top and bottom. It was noticed this morning that these chords were bent in this manner, as it is very evident to one walking over them, and as it looked like a serious matter, we measured them.

“Although a number of the chords originally had ribs more or less wavy, as I have reported to you from time to time, it is only very recently that these have been in this condition, and their present shape is undoubtedly due to the stress they are now receiving. Only a little over a week ago, I measured one rib of the 9-L chord of anchor arm here shown, and it was only ¾-inch out of line. Now it is 2¼ inches.

“In the sketches the red indicates straight lines, and black ones the ribs of chords. A top and bottom view is shown in each case. You will note that chords ‘606-9 L’ and ‘621-9 R’ have all ribs bent in same direction, while ‘621 8-R’ has its ribs bent in reverse curves. These bends had become so apparent by to-day that the gangs riveting at these points noticed them, and called Mr. Kinloch’s attention to them.

“This matter is being reported in this mail, with sketches from the same measurements, to the Phoenixville office, and the erection will not proceed until we hear from you and from Phoenixville.

“Yours very truly, N. R. McLURE.”

The Commission’s note on the letter: “The measurements were plotted (drawings Nos. 28, 29 and 30 have been prepared from these plottings), and were reported by mail to Mr. Cooper and to Phoenixville, these reports being delivered on the morning of the 29th. Owing apparently to anxiety already existing among the workmen (see evidence D. B. Haley) it was not considered wise to use either telegraph or telephone.”

28 August: Hoare to Cooper

Hoare’s telegram to Cooper that day read: “Have sent Mr. McLure to see you early to-morrow to explain letter mailed yesterday about anchor arm chords.” To the Phoenix Bridge Company: “Mr. McLure will call to-morrow to explain Birks’ letter re anchor arm chords, will see Mr. Cooper first.” His letter went by the night mail.

“Quebec, August 28, 1907.

“Dear Sir,—I wired you to-day as under: [the two messages above].

“Regarding this matter I thought it best for McLure to go at once to be able to explain matters and answer questions. He did not have much time for extended investigation before leaving.

“I have been at the bridge all day trying to get some evidence in connection with the bending of the ribs in this chord. Mr. Kinloch noticed it for the first time yesterday and all inspectors declare that no such pronounced distortion existed a few weeks ago. Mr. McLure made measurements yesterday afternoon and brought them to my house late last night, and stated that the erection foreman hastily concluded that he would not continue erecting to-day, which alarmed me at the time. Upon arriving at the work this morning he thought better of it and decided to go ahead, at the same time asking me if it would be all right. After ascertaining that the effects from moving the traveller ahead and proceeding with the next panel would be so insignificant I requested him to continue, as the moral effect of holding up the work would be very bad on all concerned and might also stop the work for this season on account of losing the men. From further investigation during the day I cannot help concluding that the metal received some injury before it was erected, as the corresponding chord in the same panel, and stressed the same, is in good condition. These panels are being stressed to-day, approximately, about ⅞ths of their maximum, and it is difficult to believe that this is the entire cause of the distortion. Now and again a rib in certain members is found to be a trifle longer than another, which, when compressed, might cause a trifling kink in it. There are a few examples of this. The chord in question, when being lifted to the cars in the storage yard broke loose from the grips, one end of which fell a distance of 6 feet on to timber sills, the other end fell a distance of 2 feet on to a block of eyebars. In falling it fell over on its side breaking one of its angles on the north end splice and twisting some of the lacing bars, all of which were renewed. After this the inspectors reported the ribs perfectly straight. On account of this chord falling on to two rigid higher points at ends, with no support in the middle but soft material, the conclusion would be that the deflection would be downward; as a matter of fact, the evidence shows that it was in the opposite direction. Since Mr. McLure left, Mr. Birks has made careful examination of the chord and states that the actual bending commences at the south splice and was not confined entirely to the lengths between the batten plates, where the lacing angles are used. As the foreman and inspectors declare that these defects were not noticeable until recently, perhaps the stress in this chord has made previous defects more pronounced. I thought I would give you the above story from further investigation by to-night’s mail to help you come to some conclusion.

“Yours truly, E. A. HOARE.”

28 August: Birks to the Phoenix Bridge Company

“New Liverpool, August 28, 1907.

“Dear Sirs,—I have made a further investigation of chord 9 A, and beg to report following additional data. The bend in the chord starts at the faced splice at the shore end and not at the edge of the splice batten. It appears from this that at least a large portion of the bend was in the chord when the top and bottom splice battens were riveted early in June. This and the fact that the lacing angles are not disturbed leads me to believe that the ribs were bent before erection in spite of the fact that Mr. Clark and Kinloch think all ribs were straight when the chord was repaired. From the evidence so far, I do not think we are justified in assuming it to be a fact that the ribs of any of the chords have buckled since erection, and Mr. Yenser has come to the same conclusion.

“Yours truly, A. H. BIRKS.”

The Commission: “His report to Phoenixville which was received on August 30 reads as follows”. And: “After careful discussion with Mr. Kinloch of what was then done we are forced to conclude that the sketch in Mr. Birks’ letter shows only his personal idea of the shape and extent of the existing distortion and cannot be considered as furnishing data on which to base engineering conclusions, as no actual measurements were taken.”

29 August: the telegrams

Birks to McLure, at Cooper’s office in New York, received at 9.45 a.m.: “I do not think we can state positively that chord has buckled since erection; the only definite evidence we have shows the contrary. See my letter with additional data in Phoenixville to-morrow morning.”

Deans to Hoare, from Phoenixville: “McLure has not reported here; the chords are in exact condition they left Phoenixville in and now have much less than maximum load.”

Cooper to the Phoenix Bridge Company, sent from the Western Union office at 12.16 p.m. and received at Phoenixville at 1.15 p.m.: “Add no more load to bridge till after due consideration of facts. McLure will be over at five o’clock.”

The Commission: “Mr. Cooper has explained in his evidence that he was not aware at the time that erection was proceeding, Mr. McLure having advised him to the contrary, and that he telegraphed to Phoenixville instead of to Quebec because he thought action would be more promptly secured by so doing. Mr. McLure had promised to wire Mr. Cooper’s decision to Mr. Kinloch immediately, but he did not do so.”

29 August: Hoare to Cooper

“Quebec, August 29, 1907.

“Dear Sir,—Mr. Birks has just called me up on the telephone from the bridge, and states that he has received a message from Phoenixville stating that they have positive evidence that the chord was not straight before it left the shops. This possibly clears up the mystery why the deflection was in the opposite direction to what it should have been, due to its fall in the storage yard. Mr. Birks has wired that information to Mr. McLure at your office. Mr. Birks further stated that he is positive that the chord ribs were more or less out of line when the splice at the south end was riveted up in the bridge.

“Yours truly, E. A. HOARE.”

2 September: Hoare to Cooper

“Quebec, September 2, 1907.

“Dear Sir,—I thank you for replies to all our messages. I am sorry that you are not well, and of course this appalling disaster has made you feel a thousand times worse.

“Mr. Berger will answer our purpose very well for the present. The investigating commission may find it necessary later to interview you in New York, due notice of which will be given you.

“I wish to correct a misstatement in my letter to you of the 28th August, which was written late and very hastily, to confirm telegram and conversation with Mr. Birks about the chord under discussion.” He quoted the passage of that letter from “Mr. McLure made measurements yesterday afternoon” to “losing the men”, and went on: “is to some extent a misstatement of facts and not clearly stated, due to too much haste, and which I wish now to correct as under:—

“‘Upon arriving at the work that morning the foreman told me that he had considered it during the night, and had already moved the traveller forward, asking myself, Mr. McLure and Mr. Birks if we thought that what he had done would do any harm. We all thought that it would not, as they stated it would only add 50 pounds to the square inch to the chord in question. We all thought at the time that to discontinue the work would entirely stop the work for this season, as the men would not wait and would go elsewhere to prepare for the winter. As stated in my last letter, strictly speaking, I did not request the foreman to continue the work, as he had already done so; at the same time we thought there was no immediate danger in adding so small a load.’ This latter more clearly states the conversation between us, and I am sorry that I have misstated, in my hurry, one or two points which would be more or less confusing.

“Yours truly, E. A. HOARE.”

Sources

• Royal Commission on the Collapse of the Quebec Bridge, Report, Sessional Paper No. 154, Ottawa, 1908, Vol. I, Appendix 11, pages 86 to 91, for McLure’s letter of 27 August, Hoare’s letters of 28 August, 29 August and 2 September, Birks’s letter of 28 August, Deans’s telegram, Cooper’s telegram and the Commission’s notes on each. archive.org
• Royal Commission, Minutes of Proceedings and Printed Exhibits, Vol. II, 1908: McLure’s evidence, in which he read Birks’s telegram of 29 August and gave the hour of its receipt in New York, and Hoare’s, in which he read Deans’s. archive.org