Mystery Bridge Nr. 24: The Red Rock Bridges

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Jason D. Smith

One of the Red Rock Bridges (now gone) Source: http://bridgehunter.com/photos/24/95/249507-L.jpg

Our 24th Mystery Bridge profile (as I counted the unusual bridge type in a salty German city as nr. 23) features not only one bridge, but as many as five, all going back to Marion County, Iowa, which houses another landmark we’ll get to in a short bit. And all of this happened by chance, thanks to a local librarian who responded to an inquiry about this bridge:

The structure featured two-spans of an identical design: Camelback Pennsylvania petit with pinned connections and Howe lattice portal bracings, located NW of the Horn’s Ferry Bridge. This bridge used to serve traffic connecting two villages along the Des Moines River: Red Rock and Runnells- that was until they were both inudated by the Red Rock Dam and through the creation of the Reservoir, a project that was completed in 1969 after nine excrutiating years of construction. How excrutiating was it?

Swan Railroad Bridge, built in 1968. Now owned by BNSF. Photo taken in August 2011

The project required the relocation of hundreds of miles worth of highways and roadways, 80 miles of rail lines, plus uncountable amount of miles of utility and telephone lines. And it also required the construction of three vehicular crossings and a new railroad bridge: Hwy. 14 over the reservoir near Cordova Park, still holding the title as the longest and tallest bridge built in Iowa, but was built replacing an earlier bridge built in the early 1940s. Alongside that bridge was the Swan Railroad Bridge, a three-span Warren through truss bridge with A-frame portal bracings that is owned by BNSF Railways, built parallel to the Hwy. 316 Bridge built at the same time. And lastly, there is the Hwy. T-15 crossing above the Red Rock Dam, connecting Knoxville with Pella, which has been the lone link since the closing of the Horn’s Ferry Bridge in 1982. However, a half dozen communities were either partially relocated or completely innundated along the way, including Red Rock, Runnels, Whitebreast, Cordova and parts of Swan. And with that, went the bridges along the way. But why?

One has to look at the motive behind the construction of the Red Rock Dam and Reservoir, for the Des Moines River prior to 1960 was a wild river that flooded frequently. Six different major floods had occurred along the river, including the ones in 1851, 1859, 1903, 1944, 1947, and 1954. The last four floods wreaked havoc on the bridges that existed, including the Horn’s Ferry Bridge (the first bridge built over the river), this crossing (whose construction date goes back to either 1897 or 1899), the Rosseau Bridge (built in 1908), the Bennington Bridge, and the Hwy. 14 bridge (built in the early 1940s). After the floods of 1944 and 47, plans were underway to control the flow of the Des Moines River, which included the Red Rock Project, but to the dismay of residents who used these crossings frequently because of their convenience from point A to point B. Many residents wanted the bridges affected by the project- namely the Red Rock, Rosseau and Bennington Bridges opened to traffic despite sustaining substantial damage because of flooding. For the Red Rock Bridge, the north span was destroyed in the 1944 flood. The Rosseau Bridge sustained heavy damage to the approach spans despite having them rebuilt on two separate occasions. Other smaller river crossings that were affected by the flooding were also in the way of the project and needed to be dismantled.

Sadly these bridges were eventually removed as the project went forward, while some crossings affected by the project became low-water crossings, meaning they did not become part of the Red Rock Reservoir per se, but as the streams flowing into the lake become flooded, the road and bridge were simply impassable. The questions involving the bridges lost to the Red Rock Reservoir and Dam were what they looked like and when were they built. This applies to the Red Rock Bridge, whose construction date is either 1897 or 1899. Therefore, here are some questions to solve this mystery:

Which bridges in the Red Rock Lake region were built in 1897, 1899, 1908 and 1912, and where were they located?

What are some facts involving the crossings at Cordova, Swan (Hwy. 14), Red Rock, Rosseau and Bennington? This includes the railroad crossing, which was also relocated?

What about the other bridges that did not cross the Des Moines River but were affected by the project?

What did the Red Rock Lake Bridges look like before they were lost to flooding and the Red Rock Dam and Reservoir Project? Any photos to support it?

Were any of the bridges in the Red Rock Region relocated at the time of the project?

Any information about these bridges and the facts about the villages inundated by Red Rock Lake can be submitted via e-mail. Yet, you can also provide some information in person at the Historic Bridge Weekend, which takes place August 9-12, which includes a meeting at the Red Rock Information Center at 2:30pm on August 11. A bridge tour and dinner at Bos Landen Golf Course will follow.

 

Photo courtesy of Luke Harden from the historic collections

 Update on Horn’s Ferry Bridge Mystery:

It appears that the story of the Horn’s Ferry Bridge, the first bridge to cross the Des Moines River in Marion County may be solved after all. According to information from the local library in Pella, the eastern two spans of the bridge (as seen in the picture above) were lost to an ice jam in 1929, cutting off the link between Pella and Knoxville. A contract was let out to Wickes Construction of Des Moines to construct the replacement spans, and reinforce the remaining seven spans including the Camelback through truss main span. These two 1929 spans still remain today, serving as the primary observation point overlooking Ivan’s Campground. The question remains of whether the two eastern spans wiped out in 1929 were original spans or if they were built after 1881. The hunch is that they may have been replaced after the 1903 floods, but more evidence is needed to support this argument.  Stay tuned!

 

 

 

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Newsflyer: 15 May 2013

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Jason D. Smith

Wagon Wheel Bridge in Boone. Photo taken in September 2010 when the bridge was closed to all traffic. Recently it was rehabilitated and reopened to pedestrians only.

 

So far this year, it has been Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde when it comes to historic bridges being preserved in comparison to those that are on the way to the scrap heap. For the latter in this Newsflyer, it has more to do with stupidity than with natural disasters and structural deficiencies that are justified in their replacement. Yet there are some bright stories with regards to bridges being rehabilitated and reopened. Here are some of the headlines:
 

Bascule Bridge in Michigan Damaged by Drunken Bridge Operator.

Spanning the Rouge River in Detroit, the Jefferson Avenue Bridge features a double-leaf bascule design, whose truss type is similar to the ones found in Chicago, like the Clark Street Bridge. Unfortunately, the future of this bridge, built in 1922 by a Chicago bridge builder is everything but certain for it sustained extensive damage to the bridge deck. More peculiar is the fact that the damage was caused by the bridge operator who closed the bascule bridge as a barge was about to cross underneath it. The operator was taken into custody on suspicion that he was operating while intoxicated. The bridge is now closed and is in an open position to allow for marine traffic to pass underneath it. It will remain closed until further notice while inspectors will look to see whether the bridge can be repaired or if replacement is necessary. More information on the bridge disaster can be found here, along with information on this bridge. This is the second bridge to fall victim to carelessness this past weekend, for another bridge located in Iowa is on its way to the dumpster after a tree landed on it. The Chronicles has an article that you can see here.

 

Photo taken by James Baughn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quincy Memorial Bridge to be demolished and replaced?

“The bridge is more than 80 years old and has been on a priority list for replacement,” stated Roger Driskell, Deputy Director at the Illinois Department of Transportation.  It is ironic to say something about a bridge that has spanned the Mississippi River for over 80 years and appears to be in tip top shape, given its recent rehabilitation. But that is not enough for the Illinois DOT to proceed with plans to demolish the 1930 Warren through truss bridge built by a company based in New York. So far, $1 billion has been put aside for the planning and it is expected that an additional $3 billion will be needed to actually do the work, which is scheduled to begin in 2018. Since 1986 the bridge has served eastbound traffic of US Hwy. 24, while the Bayview Bridge, a cable-stayed suspension bridge carries westbound traffic. However, a long fight to save the Quincy Memorial Bridge is in the making, for the historic bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which means before construction begins on the bridge, Section 106 will be required, meaning alternatives to demolition will be brought onto the table and locals associated with the bridge will fight to ensure the bridge remains standing in use for another 80 years. The Chronicles will be keeping you informed on the latest in that story.

 

Worley Bridge Being Altered?

Located over the San Gabriel River west of Rockdale  in Milam County, Texas, this 1911 Pratt through truss bridge, eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was closed to traffic and was to be rehabilitated this summer. Yet, unlike some of the bridges that were rehabilitated using hot rivets, as was done with another county truss bridge the Sugarloaf Mountain Camelback Truss Bridge, Worley will be rehabilitated using field rivets and gusset plates. The difference can be seen in the pictures by clicking on the links above. How this will alter the truss bridge remains unclear, but it is expected that the project will take three years to complete, for the bridge will be taken apart, renovated in parts and built on new abutments to be reopened to traffic. More information and comments on the renovation plans can be found here.

 

The spans with the railroad viaduct in the background

Boone Bridge now open to pedestrians- part of Kate Shelley Tour on 12 August

There is some good news for another Iowa historic bridge that will be part of the tour during the Historic Bridge Weekend in August: The Wagon Wheel, the longest surviving pre-1920 vehicular truss bridge along the Des Moines River west of Boone is now open to pedestrians. Built in 1909 by the Iowa Bridge Company, the five-span through truss bridge, featuring one Pennsylvania, three tall Pratt and one smaller Pratt, sustained extensive damage during the 2008 Floods, as the east approach span was partially washed out.  Debate on the future of the bridge lingered on for the next two and a half years until a decision was made to convert the bridge into a pedestrian crossing.  Thanks to the opening of the bridge for pedestrian use, people can now walk across the bridge and see the Kate Shelley Viaducts again, without having to take several rather painful detours.

The Wagon Wheel and Kate Shelley Viaducts, together with the Madrid and Bass Creek Viaducts will be part of the 2-3 hour tour fn the bridges of Boone County and the life of Kate Shelley on the last day of the Historic Bridge Weekend, August 12, beginning at 10:00am. The venue will be the Boone County Historical Center in Boone (info on location here.) and after touring the exhibits devoted to Kate Shelley, a trip to the railroad and bridge remains at Moingona and the bridges will follow. If interested in participating in the Kate Shelley and Bridge Tours on 12 August, please contact Jason Smith at the Chronicles before 15 July, using the contact details provided here.

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Waldo-Hancock Bridge Coming Down

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Jason D. Smith

Waldo Hancock Bridge in Maine. Photo courtesy of HABS-HAER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the answer to the question of how the Waldo-Hancock Suspension Bridge is being demolished:

The moment the question for the forum was posted a week and a half ago, one of the readers jumped to the conclusion and answered the following: “The Bridge is Being Dismantled Going in Reverse.”  Now what does that suppose to mean?

The suspension bridge is being dismantled going in reverse order of how it was built in 1932. This means that the decking would be dismantled first, being cut up into segments and lowered onto barges. Once the roadway is removed, the suspension cables would be the next ones to go, where the vertical suspenders that connect the main cables with the decking would be removed, with the main cables being cut up and lowered onto barges for removal to follow. Once they are gone, the steel bridge towers will be deconstructed the exact same way as it was built in 1932.

However, not all of the bridge will be gone. The flagpoles that existed on the towers will be donated to both Waldo and Hancock Counties. They were the first ones to be removed when the demolition work started in November 2012. Sections of the main suspension cables will also be donated to local historical societies that have a connection with the suspension bridge. This also includes having a display of the suspension cables at the Penobscot Bridge park and complex, located next to the bridge. And finally, the piers that held the suspension towers will be preserved as a marker indicating its existence. Markers and other informational panels will be provided at the site.

At the present time, in its seventh month of the demolition process, both the suspension bridge towers and the main cables that used to support the roadway are still standing. While the project is scheduled to be finished by the end of June of this year, it is likely that it will be pushed back due to weather-related issues. But nevertheless, the Waldo-Hancock Bridge, the first suspension bridge built in Maine and the very first Penobscot River crossing ever built will be nothing more than a memory, with cut-up cables and former bridge piers serving as proof of its existence.

Links to the Bridge removal project:

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/08/11/news/hancock/state-receives-low-bid-of-5-35-million-for-demolition-of-waldo-hancock-bridge-to-start-in-october/

http://www.maine.gov/mdot/whbridgeremoval/removal.htm (includes updated photos of the bridge removal process.)

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Traer Bridge to be replaced by loggers.

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Jason D. Smith

Approaching the bridge and Traer from the north. All photos courtesy of J.R. Manning, used with permission.

102-year old truss bridge scheduled for replacement; lumberjacks provide county with head start.

Over 80 historic bridges will be the focus of the upcoming Historic Bridge Weekend in Iowa during the weekend of August 9-12. Sadly, this bridge will be gone well before the event.  The Traer Bridge, spanning Wolf Creek carrying Mill Street on the outskirts of the small community of 1700 inhabitants in Tama County is scheduled to be replaced beginning in July. Yet work on the 1911 riveted Pratt through truss bridge, built by the Clinton Bridge and Iron Works Company, has already started.  As you can see in the most recent photos taken by J.R. Manning, loggers have started to cut down trees at and near the bridge, signalling the plan to build the structure on a new alignment. This makes sense given the fact that the bridge can be reached through a pair of sharp curves, one on each end of the structure. Yet if there was a plan to keep the structure for recreational purposes, that was destroyed due to a tree falling onto the truss bridge itself, causing severe damage to the southern half of the entire structure. As parts of the tree is still hanging on the overhead bracing of the bridge, the structure is in danger of collapse.

Whether this was done on purpose to accelerate the process or if was done by carelessness remains unclear, but given its poor track record on saving the remaining historic bridges that exist, Tama County seems to be getting rid of them at the quickest possible convenience. Several key historic bridges, including the Toledo Bridge (another Clinton Bridge structure), two Lincoln Highway bridges in and around Chelsea and several pony truss bridges have been replaced since 2000. The LeGrande Bridge over the Iowa River was lost to flooding in 2008 and has long since been removed. In addition, a half dozen bridges, including another Wolf Creek structure at W-Avenue have been closed to through traffic due to issues of their own. A couple of them, including the Chambers Ford Bridge over the Iowa River have sustained damage thanks to vandals. The future of these bridges remain questionable. And this despite the fact that the county has numerous historic bridges still in use, including the famous Lincoln Highway Bridge in Tama, whose railings resemble the name of the 100-year old highway.

The damage to this bridge combined with its neglect since its closure should serve as a signal to the county and the community that more proper care is needed to ensure that the historic bridges in that county (and elsewhere) remain in use, even long after the Historic Bridge Weekend has ended in August. Otherwise, there will no longer be any examples of American history left for younger generations to see, and the number of people born after 1980 who are interested in these bridges have increased exponentially since 2000, which should give people in places like Tama County an incentive to save structures like this bridge, which unfortunately will not be one of the fortunate ones.

Note: The replacement bridge will not be made of wood, as many may wish. The replacement structure will be a 130 foot long concrete slab structure.

Photos:

North portal view, however…..

 

….TIMBER! Tree is down but onto the bridge!

Extensive damage to the south portal bracing and overhead bracing.

Behind what is left of the south portal bracing.

Wolf Creek Bridge at W-Avenue: Closed to traffic! Will this bridge be the next candidate for the scrap heap?

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Name that bridge type: A mystery bridge made of salt.

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Jason D. Smith

Photos taken in October 2011

Our next mystery bridge is also one whose bridge type is to be identified. But before mentioning anymore about it, let us clarify what this bridge is all about. First of all, it is not made of salt, nor was there salt used in building the structure.  After all, salt and steel do not mix as the former eats away at the latter when used for any purpose, which includes deicing the roads to ensure that no cars slide around and cause accidents. Second of all, the bridge is located over a river whose Sorbian name means “salt”, and it is in a (former East) German city that prides itself on the commodity that was once treated like gold during the Medieval era. The city still mines salt along the river today and markets products made from salt, but not as much as about 300 years ago at the latest.

Going back to the bridge itself, this was found by chance while touring this river in 2011 and 12 respectively. It is one of the oldest bridges over the river in this salt city, whose construction dates back to the 1880s. It used to serve a railroad leading to an industrial district on an island that was in service until shortly after German Reunification in 1990. While the rail line and the bridge were both abandoned when the manufacturing company went out of business, the city bought the line and later converted it into a bike trail, while at the same time, the bridge was rehabilitated and received a color of green for its color, which can still be seen while biking along the river today.  The design of the bridge however reveals one of the truss designs that eventually made its way to the United States even before the time of its construction, where one can see many examples today in the New England states, Pennsylvania  and Texas. This despite the fact that: 1. The truss bridge type was developed and patented before 1860 with the earliest example known to be built in Mainz and 2. The truss bridge type was developed by two different engineers, one of which led the efforts to build one of the key landmarks in Pittsburgh in 1883, which still exists today. The design resembles a parabolical, lens-like shape, resembling a combination of a suspension and an arch bridge, supported by diagonal truss beams. It resembles that of the Prince Albert Bridge in England, which was built by I.K. Brunel in 1859.   The design was later modified by another American engineer in the 1890s even though that design never bore fruit.

The bridge was one of the first to introduce welded and riveted connections, instead of pinned connections. Pin connections meant that truss beams are connected with a series of eyebars, nuts and bolts. They’re easy to assemble and reassemble. Yet the riveted connections imply that the beams are joined by gusset plates, where they slide into place and bolted shut by bolts. Welded connections do not require gusset plates but the beams are welded together, either with or without the use of bolts. With the exception of the riveted connections between the end posts and the upper chords, much of the bridge’s connections were welded, supported by bolts. Surviving World War II, the bridge represents one of the earliest surviving examples of bridges built with these connections.

Keeping this in mind, here are some questions for you to consider and answer:

  1. What is the name of the bridge, and where is it located?  To help you, please refer to sister column The Flensburg Files and the Christmas market series to help you. You can access the Files by clicking here.
  2. What truss bridge type is mentioned here?
  3. What do you know about the bridge’s history?  A murder of a well-known politician occurred on this bridge but he was dignified as a prominent figure by the East German Socialist Party (SED) during the Cold War. A plaque can be found on the trusses, which can be seen while crossing the bridge today.

Put your thoughts and guesses in the comment section both here as well as on the facebook page.  The answers will be revealed when a bridge tour of this salt city is given, which will be later in the summer, after the tour of the bridges in Schleswig-Holstein is completed.  Speaking of that state, the next article takes us back to the Grand Canal, where one will have a look at 10 finest bridges with over 130 years of history with it.

Photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Loving ode to bridge poets: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Jason D. Smith

Red Bridge spanning the Des Moines River in Des Moines. Photo taken in August 2011

Before we move on to the next bridge poem, here is a question to ask you readers: Who was your favorite poet when you grew up and what poems was he/she famous for? I’m completely sure you grew up listening to favorite poems by the likes of Gwendolyn Brooks, Nathaniel Hawthorn, Robert Frost and even Norman Brydon and having a few stuck in your heads thanks to your English teacher reciting them to you day in and day out.  Each country has it own set of favorite poets; German had Friedrich Schiller and Wolfgang Goethe, England had Jane Austen and Emily Dickinson. In the United States, we have the likes of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whose poem will be read in a short bit. Longfellow (1807-1882) is one of the most popular American poets whose works we still read today. He was famous for writing Paul Revere’s Ride (and his famous war cry “The British are coming!- the drumming of the War for Independence in Colonial America), Evangeline and the Songs of Hiawatha. He was one of the five fireside poets, popular 19th century poets whose general adherence to poetic convention consisted of “….standard forms, regular meter, and rhymed stanzas and the poems were made suitable for memorization and recitation in school and also at home, where it was a source of entertainment for families gathered around the fire.”  This poem, entitled “The Bridge” was one of the poems that Longfellow wrote during his lifetime, even though it was one of the less popular ones. As you will read in this poem, it takes place at night, when all is quiet in the city except for the forces of nature that had been quelled by people and traffic during the day but now has a chance to show its true colors at night, making the bridge and the surroundings more appealing to people willing to risk darkness just for some air and some time to relax and reflect on what happened earlier in the day and what is yet to come.

If you have an opportunity to do so and if you find one that is lit at night, go to a bridge, walk toward the center and then stop. Listen to nature and its calling and think about it. Gather some impressions and write it down on paper. Who know? Perhaps you can turn your impressions into a work of art like you will see from Longfellow.  Enjoy the poem.

The Bridge

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I stood on the bridge at midnight,
   As the clocks were striking the hour,
And the moon rose o’er the city,
   Behind the dark church-tower.

 

I saw her bright reflection
   In the waters under me,
Like a golden goblet falling
   And sinking into the sea.

 

And far in the hazy distance
   Of that lovely night in June,
The blaze of the flaming furnace
   Gleamed redder than the moon.

 

Among the long, black rafters
   The wavering shadows lay,
And the current that came from the ocean
   Seemed to lift and bear them away;

 

As, sweeping and eddying through them,
   Rose the belated tide,
And, streaming into the moonlight,
   The seaweed floated wide.

 

And like those waters rushing
   Among the wooden piers,
A flood of thoughts came o’er me
   That filled my eyes with tears.

 

How often, O, how often,
   In the days that had gone by,
I had stood on that bridge at midnight
   And gazed on that wave and sky!

 

How often, O, how often,
   I had wished that the ebbing tide
Would bear me away on its bosom
   O’er the ocean wild and wide!

 

For my heart was hot and restless,
   And my life was full of care,
And the burden laid upon me
   Seemed greater than I could bear.

 

But now it has fallen from me,
   It is buried in the sea;
And only the sorrow of others
   Throws its shadow over me.

 

Yet whenever I cross the river
   On its bridge with wooden piers,
Like the odor of brine from the ocean
   Comes the thought of other years.

 

And I think how many thousands
   Of care-encumbered men,
Each bearing his burden of sorrow,
   Have crossed the bridge since then.

 

I see the long procession
   Still passing to and fro,
The young heart hot and restless,
   And the old subdued and slow!

 

And forever and forever,
   As long as the river flows,
As long as the heart has passions,
   As long as life has woes;

 

The moon and its broken reflection
   And its shadows shall appear,
As the symbol of love in heaven,
   And its wavering image here.
Source: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/180811
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Waldo Hancock Suspension Bridge coming down- but how?

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Jason D. Smith

Waldo Hancock Bridge in Maine. Photo courtesy of HABS-HAER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It had served US 1 for 71 years and has been standing for a total of 82 years. Now, a piece of Maine’s history is coming down. The Waldo-Hancock Bridge, spanning the Penobscot River at the Waldo- Hancock County border was one of two bridges built by the American Bridge Company and designed by David Steinman. Built in 1931 over a year before Franklin Roosevelt dethroned Herbert Hoover in the Presidential Elections and introduced the New Deal to fight the Great Depression, the bridge was characteristic for its towers, its Vierendeel truss work used for its roadway and its stiffening wire cables that were used to support the roadway. The Dear Isle Bridge, also in Hancock County, and the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan are two other known examples of bridges built by Steinman. Nathan Holth wrote a detailed description of the suspension bridge, which can be seen here.

Maine DOT had originally planned to rehabilitate the suspension bridge in 2001, only to retract the plan when inspection revealed many cables and trusses rusting and corroding to a point of where the bridge was beyond repair. Therefore, in 2007, a cable-stayed suspension bridge was built alongside the Waldo-Hancock span, which featured an observation deck on the west tower of the span. While the state had planned to rehabilitate the old suspension bridge, it decided to demolish the structure last Fall. At the time of this posting, demolition is commencing, but in an unusual fashion.

As we have seen with many bridges, demolition contractors have used explosives to bring them down, and the time it took to remove the debris was in a span of between 2 days and 2 months, pending on the size and the boat traffic. This was the case with the Ft. Steuben Bridge over the Ohio River, when it was imploded in February of last year.  In other cases, the spans are cut up in pieces, brought down to the barges and hauled away to land, where they are cut up to pieces and hauled away. This happened to the Red Bridge near Dubuque in July of last year.

Given the environmental circumstances and its proximity of the cable-stayed bridge, there is another method that the contractors have taken and has been approved by Maine DOT. Can you take a guess as to how the Waldo-Hancock Suspension Bridge is being taken down?

Put your guesses down in the Comment section and the answer will be revealed next week at this time. Good luck. :-)

 

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Kentucky Bridge to be replaced- truss bridge for sale. Any takers?

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Jason D. Smith

Oblique view of the bridge. All photos courtesy of James MacCray, used with permission.

Hope for Mercer County Bridge built by a prominent Kentucky bridge builder

Subtracting Lexington, Louisville and Frankfort, the state of Kentucky is one of many US states that have only a handful of truss bridges left. Mercer County is one of many that have only one rare bridge left. And for the Deep Creek Road Bridge, spanning the Chaplin River south of Hwy. 152 west of Harrodsburg, it is unique because of the bridge builder and the truss design.

Built in 1915, the 244 foot long bridge features a pin-connected through truss bridge with A-frame portal bracings and Howe lattice struts that support the overhead bracings. A bonus is having a bedstead Pratt pony truss as an approach span. Bedstead trusses are different from normal trusses, where the end posts are vertical instead of being slanted at 45° or 60° angles, like we see with other truss bridges. Bedsteads are used mainly for pony trusses, and they are rare to see when combined with a normal truss main span. The Chaplin River crossing may be the only one left in the state and one of only a handful left in the country.

Furthermore, the bridge was built by an in-state bridge company, the Empire Bridge Company, located in Lexington, approximately 200 km northeast of the bridge. While the bridge was built in 1915 by this bridge company, it is unknown whether the company was associated with another Empire Bridge Company, located in New York City. The bridge builder there was a subsidiary of the American Bridge Company and was in operation between 1900 (the time of the creation of the conglomerate) and 1914, operating in various locations in New York state. Whether the company folded or relocated to Kentucky would require some research and inquiries. If the company was related to the one in New York, then this bridge would represent one of two examples of a piece of artwork designed by an illustrious bridge builder that exist in Kenticky. Another is the North Elkhorn Creek Bridge in Scott County, which was built in 1910 and has since been converted to a pedestrian bridge. According to James Baughn’s website, only three Empire Bridge Company bridges are left in the country, including one in Nebraska, which also has been converted to recreational use.

While the Chaplin River Bridge is located in a beautiful setting with many hills and forests and on a narrow road that is rarely used, the county wants to replace the structure with a new and modernized one. Yet both the county and the state agencies (consisting of the Department of Transportation and the State Historical Society) do not want to scrap the bridge because of its historic value. Therefore, the bridge is up for sale, and will be until the new bridge is built. Construction will not start on the new bridge until next year.  If you are interested in this bridge, please contact  Becky Barrick, environmental coordinator for the highway department’s Lexington office, at (859) 246-2355 .

If you know more about the Empire Bridge Company and its history, please contact Jason D. Smith at the Chronicles at flensburg.bridgehunter.av@googlemail.com, and the information about the company will be posted in a later article.  In the meantime, enjoy the photos below and via link that were taken by fellow pontist James MacCray during his visit in 2008, and whom the author would like to thank for the use of his photos for this article.

Link to the bridge: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/04/27/2617901/historic-mercer-county-bridge.html

 

Photos:

Bedstead pony truss approach span.

Transversal view of the portal and strut bracings

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Loving ode to bridge poets: The Unknown Bridge

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Jason D. Smith

Upper Paris Bridge in Linn County. Photo taken in August 2011

The Month of Bridge Poets

The month of dedicating our loving odes to bridge poets continue with another bridge poem that was discovered a few years ago. Unlike the previous post (which featured the first poem), this one is untitled and was written by an unknown soul. Yet the author wrote the poem about a bridge that had been serving people and traffic- in a form of horse and buggy- with a question of what stories the bridge may had had at that time. While it was most likely written in the 18th or early 19th century, the central theme has to do with bridges and their own history. Let’s have a look at the poem:

Untitled

What stories could these bridges tell

If they could only talk?

They’d tell us of the ones who rode

And those who had to walk.

The rich, the poor, those inbetween,

Who used their planks to cross

The soldiers, farmers, businessmen,

In buggies, sleighs, by “hoss”.

Like sentinels these bridges stand

In spite of flood and fire,

Their rugged, stalwart strength remains our

Future to inspire

Each bridge does have a collection of stories that may have been told by people who either knew about it from the stories told by their ancestors or who had visited the bridge, doing activities that were sometimes memorable, like a Sunday walk with family to catch-up on lost time, and sometimes not so memorable, like a getting into a brawl with archrivals or even worse.

With each crossing of the bridge, a mark is left on its planks, its metal beams and its ornamental railings that can tell of the times of joy and that of trial. Each bridge is part of a community of people wanting to know more about its history, let alone create history to share with the next generations. And therefore, this poem deals with bridges and the stories that are unknown and should be sought, their legacies and how it should remain in place, and their symbol as a structure that serves as an identity to their respective communities.

Author’s note: If you know of the title of this poem and the author’s name, please submit it to Jason D. Smith at the Chronicles and it will be added to the poem. 

Also, after reading the poem, here’s a question for the forum:  Do you have a bridge with a lot of stories that you heard about and/or would like to share with others? If so, please place them in the comment section here or via facebook. We’re eager to read them.

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Penning the loving ode to bridge poets

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Jason D. Smith

Pont de Chancy (Chancy Bridge) over the Rhone River west of Geneva, Switzerland. Photo taken in October 2006

A few years ago at Christmas time, my wife surprised me with something that she spent many months compiling but was one that was worth the project and I still read to this day: a collection of photos of bridges in Geneva, Switzerland, and with them, a collection of poems that were gathered and added, wherever it deemed to fit. The hub for various international organizations from around the world, Geneva, with a population of over 450,000 people (with 3 million inhabitants if counting the metropolitan area), is located at the southwest end of Lake Geneva, boxed in by the mountains of the Alps and situated on the peninsula surrounded by neighboring France. Over three dozen bridges of various types exist within a 20 kilometer radius of the city, most of them span the three rivers that slice the city into many different chunks: the Rhone, the Aire and the Arve. This includes this bridge, the Pont de Chancy, one of many bowstring arch bridges that feature riveted connections and the last crossing in Switzerland before the river enters France for good. All of them I visited during my three month stay in Geneva, working as an intern at the World Health Organization during the summer of 2006.

But Geneva is a topic that will be focused on in a different series of articles to come out soon through the Chronicles. I happened to run across a poem in the book that deals with bridge building and the reason why bridges are there, based on questions by many passers-by. Why do we have bridges at such locations and why do we replace them without looking at its unique value and past? There are as many reasons to build them as there are to tear them down and replace them. But there are just as many reasons to save them, as you will see in the poem called “The Bridge Builder”, by Will Allen Dromgool, written at the turn of the century:

The Bridge Builder

An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim, near,
“You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head:
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_Builder

Do you know of some poems that have to do with bridges, have created poems of your own, or would like to create one to be posted? If so, you are in luck! This upcoming May, the Bridgehunter’s Chronicles will be featuring some poetry on this topic, penning the loving odes to poets who made their bridges look beautiful through their writing. If you know of a poem that deserves to be posted (whether it is yours or someone else’s), please send it to Jason D. Smith at the Chronicles, at flensburg.bridgehunter.av@googlemail.com, and your poem will be posted. Bridge photos accompanying the poem are welcomed as long as it is cited. When using someone’s poem, please provide a source of citation (link, etc.) to avoid any issues with copyright laws, etc. You can post it in any language other than English, if you wish.

Let’s take pride in our bridges through poetry, for they go together like bridges and history go together.

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