A Disaster’s Toll

The collapse of the Quebec Bridge on August 29, 1907 (“A Disaster in the Making,” Spring 1986 issue) entailed considerably more than the ruination of Theodore Cooper’s career, steelworker Hall’s two fingers, and the lives of seventy-five men. Of those seventy-five men, no fewer than thirty-five were Mohawk Indians from the Caughnawaga Reserve in Quebec. Their deaths had a devastating effect on this small Indian community, altering drastically its demographic profile, its economic base, and its social fabric. Mohawk steelworkers would never again work in such large crews, opting instead to work in small groups on several jobs. Today, Mohawk high-steelworkers remain among the highest regarded and most skilled in their field.