Rating:
No votes cast

Cook's Dam Bridge

Hampshire County, Massachusetts

Photos 

Postcard

Enlarge

BH Photo #493716

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Lost Bowstring pony truss bridge over Mill River on Main Street in Leeds
Location
Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts
Status
Replaced by a new bridge
History
Replaced a similar bridge destroyed in the Mill River Flood of 1874
Design
Bowstring pony truss
Approximate latitude, longitude
+42.34772, -72.70076   (decimal degrees)
42°20'52" N, 72°42'03" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/689382/4690944 (zone/easting/northing)
Inventory number
BH 92505 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (8,304)
Bowstring pony truss (346)
Bowstring truss (664)
Built 1874 (108)
Built during 1870s (1,254)
Hampshire County, Massachusetts (69)
Leeds, Massachusetts (6)
 Lost (28,364)
Massachusetts (1,203)
Northampton, Massachusetts (13)
Pony truss (17,004)
Replaced by new bridge (19,289)
Truss (35,365)

Update Log 

  • April 21, 2021: Updated by Chester Gehman: Restored 1874 date-Different bridges, same location. See comments
  • April 19, 2021: Updated by Art Suckewer: corrected build date - Images are pre-1874 flood
  • March 28, 2021: Added by Chester Gehman

Sources 

  • Chester Gehman - gehmanc2000 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Art Suckewer - Asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com
Post a comment here

Comments 

Cook's Dam Bridge
Posted April 19, 2021, by Chester Gehman (gehmanc2000 [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Art S:

I believe you are in error here. All photos are of the same location, known as "Cook's Dam" up to the present day. The earliest was a wooden covered pony truss (BH 92799) that was replaced in 1872 by an iron bowstring. In 1874 a dam upstream failed and both the bridge and the gravity dam were destroyed. Photo #3 is a stereoscope slide taken 1872-1874 ("similar bridge, different dam.") Photos 1 & 2 are post 1874 and show a different bowstring and an arch dam. All three photos are labeled "Cook's Dam." I didn't make a separate entry for the 1872 bridge since I only located the one picture of it. Incidentally, the bridges crossed Main Street. Spring Street intersects with Main south of the bridge. Sorry for the confusion.

Cook's Dam Bridge
Posted April 19, 2021, by Art Suckewer (Asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

My suspicion is that the single truss line bowsting is a different bridge at a lotion upstream of the curved 'Cook's Dam' at a point called Dam Path. The dam is still present and seems to match.