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Desjardins Canal disaster
A sketch of the Desjardins Canal disaster.
Details
Date	March 12, 1857 (1857-03-12)
Location	Hamilton, Canada West, British North America
Incident type	Train wreck
Cause	Bridge collapse
Statistics
Trains	1
Passengers	90
Deaths	59
Injured	18

The Desjardins Canal disaster was a rail transport disaster near Hamilton, Canada West. The train wreck occurred at 6:15 p.m. on March 12, 1857 (1857-03-12) when a train on the Great Western Railway crashed through a bridge over the Desjardins Canal, causing the train and its passengers to fall 18 metres (60 ft) into the ice below. With 59 deaths, it is considered one of the worst rail disasters in Canadian history.

Recovery and rescue

The train had ninety passengers. Most in the last train car survived but others on the train either drowned or succumbed to injury. Locomotive lamps and fires were built to illuminate the scene to aid in rescue efforts. Ropes and ladders were lowered to bring the dead and wounded out of the train cars. One car, partially submerged, was accessed with axes by rescuers.

See also

• List of rail accidents in Canada
• List of rail accidents (before 1880)

References

1. ^ "Desjardins Canal Disaster". Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. 1857-04-04.
2. ^ "10 of Canada's worst train accidents". Maclean's. 9 July 2013. and one of the deadliest bridge collapses in history.

Further reading

• Bonikowsky, Laura Neilson (March 12, 2013). "Great Western Rail Disaster". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
• Freeman, Bill (2006). "Chapter 3: The Railroad Town (1840 – 1865)". Hamilton: A People's History. James Lorimer & Company. ISBN 978-1-55028-936-7.
• McIver, Don (2013). End of the Line: The 1857 Train Wreck at the Desjardins Canal Bridge. Toronto: Dundurn Press. ISBN 9781459702226.

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v t e Railway accidents in the 1850s
1853	Andover, Massachusetts, US (6 January) Wheeling, West Virginia, US (27 March) Chicago, Illinois, US (26 April) Norwalk, Connecticut, US (6 May) Valley Falls, Rhode Island, US (12 August) Straffan, Ireland (5 October)
1854	Bapiste Creek, Canada (27 October)
1855	Burtlington, New Jersey, US (29 August) Gasconade, Missouri, US (1 November)
1856	Aspinwall, Panama (6 May) Potsdam, Germany (29 May) Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, US (17 July) Schiedam, the Netherlands (10 August)
1857	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (12 March) London, UK (28 June)
1858	Dudley, England (23 August)
1859	South Bend, Indiana, US (27 June)
1860s

43°16′47″N 79°53′27″W / 43.279611°N 79.890904°W / 43.279611; -79.890904

• 19th century in Hamilton, Ontario
• Railway accidents in 1857
• Bridge disasters caused by collision
• Railway accidents and incidents in Ontario
• Passenger rail transport in Ontario
• 1857 in Canada West
• March 1857 events