The Times Engineering Supplement: Societies and Institutions

Meetings and Papers of the Week

Institute of Civil Engineers

"The Boucanne River Viaduct."

A paper entitled "The Erection of the Boucanne River Viaduct, Canada," by Mr. P.L. Pratley, was read before the Institution of Civil Engineers. The author's object was mainly to describe the erection of some large towers and of a 150ft. truss span which formed part of the bridge.

The National Transcontinental Railway, he said, crossed the Boucanne river at a point 167.2 miles east of the Quebec Bridge, which was the St. Lawrence river crossing of the same line. Both crossings were situated in the Province of Quebec, in the B district of the eastern division of the railway.

PHILIP PRATLEY, 73,

A Bridge Designer

Montreal, Aug. 1 (Canadian Press)-Philip Louis Pratley, Canadian consulting engineer and co-designer of most of Canada's largest bridges, died today at his Westmount home. His age was 73.

Mr. Pratley, who was born in Liverpool, England, was a graduate of Liverpool University and came to Canada in 1905 as a designer-draftsman for the Quebec Bridge Board. Later he became chief engineer of the Dominion Bridge Company.

In 1921, Mr. Pratley went into partnership with the late C.N. Monsarrat of Montreal. Together they designed the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal, the Isle d'Orleans Bridge at Quebec City, the Canadian portion of the Thousand Islands Bridge at Gananoque, Ont., the Lions Gate Bridge at Vancouver, B.C., the Blue Water Bridge at Sarnia, Ont., the Ambassador Bridge at Windsor, Ont., and the Niagara Arch at Niagara Falls, Ont.

Recently, Mr. Pratley had been working on the plans for the Champlain Bridge across Nun's Island near Montreal and the International Bridge from Prescott, Ont., to Ogdensburg, N.Y.

He is survived by two sons, P.J. Pratley of Ottowa and H.H. Pratley of Montreal, and a brother.

Social News

Obituaries

Mr. Philip Louis Pratley, who was associated with the design of many of the larger Canadian bridges, has died at Montreal, Reuter reports. He was 73. He was born at Liverpool and went to Canada in the first decade of the present century.