Shoofly Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Abandoned Pratt through truss bridge over Indian Creek on Road
- Location
- Plumas County, California
- Status
- Derelict/abandoned
- History
- Built 1889; Abandoned 1983; Failed relocation 1986
- Builder
- - Kansas City Bridge Co. of Kansas City, Missouri
- Design
- 7-panel, pinned Pratt through truss
- Also called
- Indian Falls Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.05056, -120.96434 (decimal degrees)
40°03'02" N, 120°57'52" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 10/673641/4435353 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Crescent Mills
- Inventory number
- BH 74223 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- February 20, 2019: Updated by Tony Dillon: Added truss type
- February 20, 2019: New photo from Melissa Brand-Welch
- February 20, 2019: Updated by Luke: Added builder per forum comment; Noted build date per newspaper article
- October 31, 2016: Added by Daniel
Sources
- Daniel
- Luke
- Plumas National Forest (N.F.), Land and Resource(s) Management Plan (LRMP ... - Google Books - Book
- Feather River Bulletin from Quincy, California on November 25, 1920 · Page 1 - Thursday, November 25, 1920 d Cross Do It Today i n VOLUME 55. No. 1 1 QUINCY, PLUMAS COUNTY, CAL THURSDAY, November 25, 1920 Price 10 Cents. ESTABLISHED 1866 NEW LUMBER TOWN CALPINE IDEAL INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISE GRAEAGLE LUMBER PLANT TO BE RE-BUILT AN
- Feather River Bulletin from Quincy, California on February 12, 1986 · Page 10 - Wednesday, February 12, 1986 ruary 12, 1986 hospital'. faces mew future between November throuah hospital profits will go to the operating profit, but sense that thino will imorove. With By Sandra Qubel Eastern Plumas District Hospital (EPDH) en
- Melissa Brand-Welch - melissabrandwelch [at] msn [dot] com
- Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
Comments
Known as the "Shoe Fly Bridge". Kansas City Bridge Co. Pre 1900 I believe. Old stage road bridge then vehicles before state rte. 89 was connected at the Wye. Pvt. prop. on north side but short easy hike off to the side if you follow the trail. Longer drive from south on Quarry Rd. (Travertine quarry) Great swimming hole underneath.
Makes sense. I'd been thinking originally RR and then later converted to road, but you're right about being built too light.
I'm still confused by the topos. Does early 1890s sound reasonable?
The deck also has longitudinal runner planks, which is indicative of a road bridge. Also, the portal bracing is not high enough to accommodate rail traffic.
Too light to be RR
I had considered railroad bridge being the most likely scenario, but none of the topo maps show a rail crossing of the river here either.
It could be one, I guess a short spur from the rail line (which appears to always have been SE of the river here) to town or something.
How many tunnels are there on the UP rail system in this area and/or in this county?I was baffled just trying to locate them.Seems they're everywhere you look!
Looking at old topo maps...
1962 doesn't show a road, nor do 1955, 1950
1980 shows a road, including crossing the river
but going much farther back...
1893 shows a road crossing the river at about the right place
1891 shows a significantly different route for the river, which surprises me (it doesn't make it's jog to the south)
It seems unlikely that the river changed it's course that much. Looking at the contour lines there's no other reasonable path.
Am I missing something?
Any thoughts on age? 1893 seems possible, but I'd be surprised at topo missing a bridge like this.
Talk about your "Road less traveled"!
Nice find!
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ca/plumas/indian-falls/
From 1986:
"According to the Plumas County Road Department its proposed plan to move Shoofly Bridge to provide access to Greenville Park has been abandoned in favor of building a new steel bridge. The Road Department also considered purchasing a bridge from outside the county, but their efforts acquire an old bridge in Amador County met with the same resistance by historical groups there as the opposite by Plumas County's Historical Society to dismantle and move Shoofly Bridge."