2-995-883 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Prince of Wales laying the last stone of the Victoria Bridge over the St. Lawrence - from a sketch by our special artist in Canada, G. H. Andrews, 1860. '...at the depot of the Grand Trunk Railroad...a great crowd had assembled to witness the ceremony of laying the cornerstone...The approach to the bridge was lined with seats, to which persons were admitted only by ticket. Inside the abutment were seats for the higher classes...while the gallery above was reserved for the families of the legislators. A scaffold was erected for the Prince near the comer-stone, which was slightly raised, together with an apparatus for lowering the stone...The Prince...having ascended the platform, the builder of the bridge (Mr. Hodges) handed him a silver trowel...The mortar having been placed under the stone by the masons, the Prince took a little mortar on the trowel and spread it under the stone. The stone was then lowered, and the Prince tapped it three times with a wooden mallet. The ceremony being completed, cheers and salutes thundered out upon the air. The Prince, having laid the last stone of the gigantic pier, entered the car and proceeded through the bridge to perform the second part of this...ceremony...[ clenching the last rivet]'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.