The Argus at KellyGang 20/11/1873 (4)
This structure has 11 openings, each 42ft in width. Like the Goulburn bridge, it is built upon cylinders. The quantity of cast iron in it weighs 86 tons. The rush of water in this creek is sometimes very great, for the stream is fed direct from the neighbouring ranges. The bridge over the Broken River is perhaps the most difficult work on the whole line. Its length from abutment to abutment is 804ft. It has 16 openings, each 40ft wide, and one over the main branch of the river 120ft wide. The quantity of cast iron in the bridge is 228 tons, and the cylinders, if placed end to end, would measure 2,118ft. Some of them have had to be sunk 45ft below the surface of the river bed.
In sinking, large logs of dead timber, chiefly redgum, were met with, in some cases 12ft or 15ft below the present level of the bed of the river. They had to be cut through with a chisel by a diver. It would appear that the bed of the river must originally have been very much lower than it is at present. The cost of this bridge is about £30,000. The girders for it were supplied by Messrs Miller and M'Quistan, of Melbourne. It will not be completed for some time; and, in the meantime, a temporary wooden structure is used. The Broken River, when flooded heavily, sometimes forms a body of water two miles wide at Benalla. The floor of the bridge is about 6ft. above the highest known flood mark. The river takes its name from the number of different channels into which it forms itself. The main stream has quite a network of creeks on either side of it. Most of the ballast required for the line was obtained from the gravel pita situated a few miles to the north-east of Seymour. It was of such excellent quality that some of it is now being used in Melbourne. A good many of the sleepers were cut from the red gums which grew on the banks of the larger creeks. This was a great convenience to the contractors, and saved the expense which the contractors for the first section were put to, of sending to Echuca for sleepers.
Between Seymour and Benalla, the country is for the most part very flat and uninteresting. Glimpses are occasionally obtained of steep ranges, but for mile after mile nothing more striking is seen than an interminable succession of gum trees. Very little cultivation is observed, the good land lying back from the line. Avenel bids fair to become a great centre for agricultural produce. A large quantity of land has been taken up along Hughes's Creek, and the soil is said to be admirably adapted for the growth of wheat. The Negambie and Mangalore districts will most probably send their produce to this station. Already it has been found necessary to enlarge the accommodation there. From Seymour to Euroa the line passes through especially dull country, but from Euroa to Benalla a decided improvement is perceptible. The Strathbogie Ranges, in the vicinity of Euroa, are very high and romantic looking. One of the curiosities of this part of the district is a large block of granite known as the Flat Rock. It is half-a-mile in length and 100 yards in width, and just crops out of the surface of the earth. It is entirely bare of herbage, and is as smooth as a billiard-table. It is estimated that along this section, owing to the flat gradients, an engine will be able to do twice as much work as it could over the first section. For instance, between Benalla and Seymour an engine could draw 30 trucks, when it could only draw 14 between Seymour and Melbourne with an equal expenditure of power. The line was, opened from Seymour to Longwood - a distance of 23½ miles-on November 20, 1872 ; from Longwood to Violet Town - a distance of 20¼ miles, on March 20, 1873; and from Violet Town to Benalla-a distance of 16½ miles-on August 18 of the same year.
The third and last section of the line is from Benalla to Wodonga, a distance of 66 miles. The contractors for this section were Messrs Cain, Dalrymple, and Holton, and the contract price was £350,100. The contract was signed on November 15, 1871 , and the date for completion was May 31,1873 , but various unforeseen events have occurred to prevent the opening of the line within that time. Between Benalla and Wangaratta, a distance of 24½ miles, there are no very heavy works, but a large number of bridges and small culverts have been erected. The largest of these is a bridge containing three openings, each 30ft. in width, over the One Mile Creek. On the other side of Wangaratta there are several works of considerable magnitude. A large iron bridge, consisting of 15 openings, has been thrown across the Ovens River . The main span is 120ft. in width. The approaches consist of 14 openings, each of 40ft. The estimated cost of this structure is £30,000. It will not be completed much before the end of the year, and a wooden bridge is used temporarily. Langlands' Foundry Company are making the girders.
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