Eric Jamieson

This was a good read, keeping in mind that my interest in the topic stems from a desire to learn more about local BC history. Jamieson really dives into the nitty-gritty details of bridge design and the details of the construction specifications like a forensic civil engineer. Some of the engineering details were a little over my head - I can appreciate the necessity for schematic numbering when building a bridge, but continual references to piers and what not by number had my non-engineering mind struggling a little bit to keep the image all straight in my mind. I now know more about cantilevered-truss bridge construction, cofferdams and falseworks than I ever thought I would know, which has a personal plus side for me in that I have a better appreciation for the current bridge work I walk past on a daily basis. If you are worried that this book is geared towards more engineering-minded individual, I can state that for like-minded readers like myself, the story nicely balances the construction details with the human interest side of the story: the workers involved with the bridge construction and that fateful day. I could never do an ironworker's job - I have a thing about heights - so I bow to the men, and women, who aspire to this type of construction high trapeze work. What really stood out for me while reading this story is how young certain members of the bridge construction team were and the horrifically low the ironworkers earned for such a high-risk job. Even taking into account that we are talking about 1958, 2 dollars and change an hour for such high risk, high skilled labour to construct a 1,292 meter long bridge with a centre span of 335 meters (1,099 ft) 6 lane bridge as a major replacement traffic artery between Vancouver, Burnaby and North Vancouver.

Overall, this is a well written, well researched and well documented book with numerous archive photos to help communicate the events as they unfolded. I can definitely recommend this one to civil engineer/bridge enthusiasts and to readers like myself who just want to learn more about the details of the bridge collapse, the findings of the royal commission after the collapse and a glimpse into part of BC's past.… (altro)

Browsing the second floor of the Chapters on Granville and Broadway one winter evening, trying out the SnapTell consumer product image recognition iPhone app, I happened upon Tragedy at Second Narrows: The Story of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge by Eric Jamieson. Having seen it at another branch of the Canadian bookstore conglomerate, and not content to buy a hardcover, I reserved the book at the library then and there. A few weeks later, it arrived. Books borrowed from the local book repository must be more urgently read than those borrowed from friends, so I set about its 300 pages of Jamieson's history of the Burrard Inlet's second crossing.

The book details the political machinations to sell the idea of the bridge, fund it, select the company to build the bridge, its initial construction and what led to its collapse while only half-built. After explaining the engineering mistakes and subsequent errors that led to 18 deaths of ironworkers, painters, and later, a diver, Jamieson examines the royal commission to investigate the collapse and the ironworkers strike and legal wranglings resulting from that strike. Some details, he concedes, he can only leave to mystery, such as who made a crucial correction to one of the calculation sheets and when.

Books like these I can really dig into. It relates to a subject about which I know very little at the outset, in this case, bridge building, and the author takes the time to detail the context in which a singular event happened. The stories of all involved, from decision-makers to the planners to the engineers to the ironworkers to the rescue teams to the judges and lawyers and union officials, all serve to bundle the entire narrative of why Vancouver landmark fell down. Jamieson never condescends the non-engineers by explaining the physics involved thoroughly yet rewards those who have a technical background by teaching the lessons future generations can learn. Every chapter contains several photos of the bridge and participants in the story of its making and destruction and rebuilding. Especially compelling are the photos of the rescue and recovery operation, which show the massive scale of the destruction and the urgency to find survivors.

I can't recommend this book enough to fans of Vancouver and its history. The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Bridge figures daily in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Lower Mainlanders who need to cross the Burrard Inlet in their travel mode of choice. Jamieson has done the city and the bridge's builders a great service in recounting a terrible day for British Columbia in its then-unprecedented period of construction growth.… (altro)