Bigelow Bridge

This bridge was actually constructed for the Fourche River Valley & Indian Territory Railroad.

The following article by V. Andy Anders, Russellville, AR taken from "The Arkansas Scrambler" Vol 31 no 5, January 2018. ARKANSAS-BOSTON MOUNTAINS CHAPTER

NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY:

"To cross the Fourche River, the FRV&IT RR built an

iron bridge. Steamboat traffic farther up the river as

far as Perryville necessitated a center column swing

bridge. The 200 foot single track thru pin connected

swing truss span rested on one large cylindrical center

pier and pairs of cylindrical piers on each end. Total

cost for construction was $20,439.

After closure of the mill and removal of the rail line,

wooden decking was placed on the bridge structure

and the old roadbed utilized as a county road. Current

locals relate the story of certain individuals being dissatisfied with traffic and the subsequent willful burning of the wooden deck. An individual financed replacement, and residents again enjoyed use of the

bridge until about 1975, when an accidental fire again

destroyed the decking. Neither the county, nor any

individuals, stepped forward to finance repair, and the

iron structure sat unused. Sometime afterwards, thieves accessed the bridge from the southwest end

and began stripping metal for salvage. Before being

caught by the county sheriff, they had removed the

entire end of the bridge, leaving it as is seen today."

visited the bridge today with a friend from bigelow. spoke with a property owner and was told that in the early 70's the mill owner was burning some milk cartons from the school and caught the deck on fire. there was not enough money to repair it. shortly after that someone actually stole the now missing section and sold it for scrap.

According to the Google Maps, this bridge is still open to traffic.

As it shows the road to still exist.

checked out the bridge today and talked to a near by land owner (nice guy) aparently the bridge was brought down from michigan on a barge. there was aparently a mill there as well. you can see the foundations on the guys property. he said it was the old fourche river mill co. (finding info on that now)

Here's a distance shot of this bridge, only two weeks after Fred's pics.

Visited this bridge on 4 Feb '07. Had a hard time locating it and never really got close to it. I turned right at the water plant utility building and then the next left into a semi-dump site. The road to the left of the utility building was rutted real bad and sloppy so I could make it in my car. The photos I took were from about 100 yds. away.

Webmaster's note: The photos that were here have been incorporated into the main site.

This bridge is difficult to see, especially in summer. Both old road grades are overgrown with brush starting a good distance from the bridge itself. The easiest way to see it is to drive to it from the Bigelow side and turn right where the approach road ends by a utility building, and then take a left at the next turn. It takes you to a bluff/junkyard overlooking the river just north of the bridge. If the water is low, you can get to the bridge along the river bank, but there is a small creek near the bridge you will have you jump. The west end of the bridge is the damaged section.

a coworker of mine named Robert is a lifelong resident of Bigelow and he offered this bit of information:

in the mid 1970's, possibly 1976 - the bigelow bridge in a freak occurence ( a vehicle crossing it somehow ignited the flame ) caught fire and burned. it was then abandoned.

I'm not to far from Bigelow. I'd like to see it for myself. Email me with some more imfo!!

I was curious how long ago this bridge suffered its terminal damage....