This postcard shows the site of Cornwall’s worst river disaster, when, on September 6, 1898, pier #2 literally disappeared into the rushing waters of the St. Lawrence River, bringing two of the bridge spans down just as the workers were nearing completion of the bridge. Seventeen workers lost their lives, six of whom were buried in two Cornwall cemeteries. Monuments commemorating the losses were placed in St. Columban’s Roman Catholic Cemetery and Woodlawn Cemetery.

Following the collapse, it was discovered that while the north side of the river had a fast current, because of the Long Sault Rapids, the south side did not. The swift current had scoured the northern riverbed to rock bottom.

On the south side, the only testing done to ascertain the composition of the river bed was to send a diver down with a crowbar to probe the river bottom. Based on this “test” it was believed that the riverbed on the South side was also rock, but the collapse of the bridge proved this assumption–tragically wrong.

The wreckage was cleared, the O&NY bridge was rebuilt, and on October 1, 1900, the first train made an official crossing over the bridge, linking the rail lines on each side of the border. Cornwall Island had its very own station called Uscan, the name being a combination of the U.S.A. and Canada. A second bridge was built by the Americans linking Cornwall Island and New York.