There is this famous
story about the first suspension bridge over the Niagara River. It is the tale
of a 16 year old kite flyer Homan Walsh and supervisor of building works
Theodore Hulett. As the legend goes, post the War of 1812, a conflict between
the United States and its allies
against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland and its own allies, the relation between the
USA and Canada had reached a bottomless nadir. But by 1847, the relationship
between the two huge North American countries had thawed enough due to two
reasons - a booming economy south of the Niagara River, and great economic
potential up north. A bridge spanning the gorge was envisioned to provide a
highway over the gorge and allow commerce and people to pass more freely
between Canada and the United States. A bridge was needed to span the
turbulent river that marked the border between the British Empire (Canada) and
the nation that had declared its independence from Great Britain just 70 years
earlier (USA).
An engineering firm was
hired to design the first suspension bridge over what was deemed an
unbridgeable and treacherous chasm—the Whirlpool Rapids, just above the famous
Falls. Charles Ellet, Jr. was hired to construct the bridge. At 800 feet
across, and 225 feet above the water, it was the narrowest point between the
two sides. Ellet and his colleagues held a dinner meeting at the Eagle Hotel in
the Village of Niagara Falls, to brainstorm the problem. Ellet proposed the use
of a rocket. A bombshell hurled by a cannon was also suggested. Local
ironworker, Theodore G. Hulett, suggested offering a cash prize to the first
boy who could fly his kite to the opposite bank. Depending on which version of
the story you prefer, supervisor of the building works Theodore Hulett either
personally solved the architectural puzzle of how the bridge could be built, or
else got his brainstorm from watching boys fly kites out over the Whirlpool
Rapids.
Hulett organized a
kite-flying contest for January, the coldest month of the winter, with the goal
of landing a kite—and its string—on the other side of the chasm. Dozens of
Canadian and American boys responded to the challenge, which included a prize
of $5, worth more than $150 in both Canadian and U.S. currencies today. One
talented kite-flyer, 16-year old Homan Walsh, crossed the river well above the
rapids and successfully landed his kite on the American side early in the
contest, only to have the string break. Marooned by bad weather on the Canadian
side of the Niagara for more than a week, Walsh finally retrieved his kite and
tried again two weeks later, letting out hundreds of feet of string as the
prevailing westerly Canadian winds carried his kite—symbolically named
“Union”—out over the swirling rapids. Toward nightfall, as the winds died down,
“Union” settled in a tree on the U.S., and the string was secured by Hullet’s
associates.
And over that string,
Hulett’s engineers drew a slightly heavier string, riding on a silver ring. And
over the slightly heavier string, an even heavier string. And over the heavier
string, a rope. And over the rope, the first, thin metal wire—until strand by
strand, one small step at a time, incrementally but irresistibly, the
foundation for the first suspension bridge over the Niagara River was built.
And it all rested on a
kite string.
Yes, let it be said:
there’s a string—a kite string—beneath all hopeful moments when our broken,
proud humanity makes peace with other broken, proud human beings. Someone
swallows hard, and deliberately puts aside the memory of the latest injury to
send an olive branch—or just a twig—to an opponent on the other side …..
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