This bridge will be moved to the Washakie Museum & Cultural Center. Newell Sargent Foundation has agreed to allow the bridge to be located on land it donated to the museum, on the south side of the museum, next to the parking lot. Construction start expected October 2022.
https://www.wyodaily.com/story/2022/10/20/news/historic-brid...
Attached is a report about this bridge.
The image here is of the bridge built in 1878.
This is a duplicate of BH 57994
Even though this bridge is listed on the National Registry, it is almost inaccessible. I had to drive about a half mile on a muddy dirty road. The deck is almost destroyed. I did walk across it but was pretty nervous. It would surprise me that a big snowfall in the next few years, pulls it down. Beautiful bridge, glad I took the time to see it.
The through truss seen in each of the two photos is different. Pic #1 (next to the 1886 pony) is a 7-panel span, while pic #2 has 5-panels. Also, unless the bridge was relocated to replace the pony truss, a pinned span wouldn't have been built in 1942.
According to article in the Billings Gazette the bridge was built in 1886 for $1930.
https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/...
Some good photos of this nationally significant rare surviving remnant of a monumental George Morison bridge are on Google Maps. https://goo.gl/maps/jxiDXh2f5XDd74Yc7
While Google Maps has significant numbers of photos of bridges and other things that are not readily available elsewhere, it is an absolutely horrible platform because they provide no way whatsoever to contact the photographer (such as to arrange permission to use a photo). Also, while the Google Maps servers store the Original / Full Size photo, the website code displays only a fraction of the potential resolution (mouse wheel zoom in does NOT load the full resolution). Only way to gain access to the original is to "Report a Problem" then save the image or open the image in a new tab. This gets you the photo with full detail, but no way to gain permission to use. Although on the other side of the coin if the photographer cares so little about their intellectual property to allow it to be displayed in such a manner maybe they don't care about if someone steals the photo either.
Anyway, browsing thru these photos I did find a decent photo of the little Pratt through truss. Not as significant, but still unusual with lattice instead of cover plate on the top chord (but plate for the end posts). The Pratt truss looks to be about 105 feet.
Lastly two of the photos I believe belonged on the other page for the two span bridge that was demolished so I moved those here https://bridgehunter.com/wy/fremont/bh79982/
Clarification of my earlier post - the Wind River bridge is longer than the Popo Agie bridge, with two through trusses and a longer trestle section.
There was a pier about a two thirds of the way across the river from the Hudson side. The through truss was the longer span, on the Hudson side of the river. From the pier west to the opposite shore was a timber trestle. The bents of the trestle section were short enough that cross bracing between them was not necessary. There were at least five, and perhaps six bents.
This bridge was very similar to the one still in place just east of Riverton over the Wind River, which is also comprised of through truss and trestle sections.
This fun little gem was about 4 miles outside of Farson on dirt roads. The first 3 miles was county maintained but the last bit was pretty rough. If it has rained much, you better have 4-wheel drive.
We were here on the shortest day of the year at sunset. Easy to look around and imagine all the history there.
This appears to be a duplicate of https://bridgehunter.com/wy/sweetwater/bh95510/.
Melissa looked and so far hasn't found anything on the old bridge or a possible collapse. I did take a look at HA Imagery and there was indeed a 2-span truss bridge at this location.
This bridge replaced a bridge that collapsed about 1977.
Ah...Bridgehunter.com is not a government entity. You'll want to direct any asks for a drive-around route to WYDOT.
Not sure how likely it is that they'd oblige, but either way, this site has no ability to make anything like that happen.
Hello!
I wish you would offer a drive-around route.
Can you please build a road for claustrophobic people so we can still travel on I-80?
I can't go through tunnels. This one is long and narrow, so especially difficult.
Do you have a drive-around route?
Thank you,
Anne
Wait!
1. Can I get off at the I-80 Foothill Blvd Exit (east of the tunnel) and take Old Lincoln Highway? Follow it into town (thereby missing the tunnel), then go through town and around the tunnel?
OR
2. Can I get off at the I-80 East Flaming Gorge Way Exit (Is there one? It looks like it...east of the tunnel), follow that road through town, then get back on I-80 by Penny's Diner and where Hwy 374 breaks off?
OR take Hwy 374 at that point, going parallel to I-80, take a right near Love's Travel Stop (Rd 59?), under I-80, and left on to I-80.
OR do I need to take Hwy 374 until it turns right and becomes Hwy 372, goes under I-80, then take a left onto I-80?
Then do the opposite when traveling east? Does it work in both directions?
A Parker truss bridge named "Warren Bridge"-- :)
Current bridge was built in 1973.
When was this bridge bypassed?
Sadly, this bridge was destroyed in a a fire on May 20, 2020. Likely from a high school graduation party campfire.
A county commissioner said that although the bridge was in poor condition, it was beautiful and one of the oldest in the county.
Photo from the News artficle.
Very sad, in the context of Wyoming which probably has less historic bridges than almost any state except maybe Nevada this is a devastating loss! Unless it moved somewhere I found another truss in the county that was moved recently.
Sadly the bridge is gone. I drove out there on November 13, 2021 and it has been removed and replaced with an ugly cement bridge.
Make an entry for each one if you know the history.
There have been at lest 4 bridges at this spot.
I don't know who is adding entire builders within parenthesis, but all that does is create a new category.
To re-iterate from Nathan's builder post on July 13, 2021 (Currently page 7 of the forum.): "You may also enter short comments that will be displayed in the line but will not affect its listing in the correct category, this is done by adding a space after the the name of the company and enclosing the comments in parenthesis (). For example if you list Joseph Strauss and want to note he acted as an assistant engineer on a particular for example enter the following (no quotes): "Joseph Strauss (Assistant Engineer)"
Short comments, NOT the whole dang builder.
I came across it just looking around on google earth.
I found a study/report on this bridge, it would appear to be at risk for demolition and replacement. Report attached.
This looks like a rare aqueduct truss bridge!
Thanks, photo moved to correct page.
Photo is not of this bridge.
The correct builder is American Bridge Works, which at the time was commonly called the American Bridge Company of Chicago.
https://wyoshpo.wyo.gov/index.php/programs/national-register...
This is only the latest bridge to be damaged by a stupid truck driver incapable of safely operating their vehicle.
https://buckrail.com/red-bridge-to-astoria-closed-due-to-stu...
I would dub those "FrankenPortals".
Between 2014 and 2018 a few small ponies were replaced in the area, so it might be an altered form of https://bridgehunter.com/wy/platte/laramie-river/ , as it was replaced ca. 2017 or the bridge at Chugwater that was replaced in 2014 https://bridgehunter.com/wy/platte/DQC/
I'll let the rivet counters argue which one it is.
This bridge is way older than 1990. It may be a rehab date.
Thia bridge has to be recently relocated here. Any info will be great.
I think its original, JP. I took pics for ya, you be the judge!
Wow, kinda looks like a plate girder being used like an abutment. IT'S ALIVE!!!!
What is this?
Thanks Luke for entering this bridge on the site.
I see a tunnel near this bridge but I don't see it on Bridgehunter.Is it on Bridgehunter?
I see a pedestrian bridge next to this bridge.Is there any information on this bridge?Road closed sign at the end of 6th street said pedestrian bridge and that it was closed.
Likely a CCC footbridge like on the other bridge: https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMHXQ3_Tongue_Canyon_Tra...
Is that a manufacturers plaque I see on the pier in the picture?
In response to prior comment - When the new Boysen dam was built and the old one removed many years ago, the location of the dam and the level of the reservoir changed. These changes required a realignment of the railroad. The tunnel is just a vestige of the old alignment.
Dam began filling in 1924 so the 1923 build date in the NBI seems accurate.
The location is a guess.
I went and saw this bridge in March 2019. The road off the highway was pretty muddy so I parked my car and walked the 1.5 miles to the bridge. It was well worth it. Beautiful setting. Unfortunately there is a huge power line just north that made it hard to take pictures. Deck is bad, I walked across but wouldn’t recommend it. The Green River was shallow here, maybe 2 feet deep, but I’m sure it floods way out in this spot.
During the Federal Cavalry advance north from Fort Laramie in 1876 to attack the large Indian encampment on the Bighorn, the old Army Iron Bridge across the North Platte at Fort Laramie didn't look so nice and clean as modern pictures show it. Check out the running boards (planks) and gravel that the historic old army bridge had in the photo provided by historian Starley Talbott of Wyoming at:
https://books.google.com/books?id=tcMoFX_2B_oC&pg=PA40&dq=Fo...
This was the bridge that Generals Sherman and Custer saw.
Journey in “Faithfully” used these I-80 Twin Tunnels in Green River, Wyoming for their official music video.
This is a turntable with a pony truss design. I am not sure how many such structures might survive, most turntables I know of are plate girders. It was discovered and referenced by Vern Mesler in his newsletter which I am attaching here. Photos are in his newsletter.
Possibly a transposition error
Royce
Luke,if these 2 bridges are the same why are there 2 different build dates?
Nice article here on this bridge, with old photos. https://yellowstoneinsider.com/2016/06/13/yellowstone-histor...
Check HAER online for info on Yellowstone bridges. Google "haer yellowstone" for lots of pages on yellowstone structures.
here's Fishing bridge:
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/wy0109/
A page with general Yellowstone roads history info, the first page I found: https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/yell_roads/hrs2...
"During the summer of 1989, an Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) team, recorded the bridges and some road sections in Yellowstone National Park. Measured drawings were completed for seven bridges in the Park — Cub Creek, Crawfish, Fishing Bridge, one of the Gibbon River Bridges, the Army Bridge at the end of the Fountain Freight Road, the Army Bridge over Obsidian Creek, and the Gardner River Bridge east of Mammoth Hot Springs. These bridges and the remaining bridges built or designed 50 years ago were also photographed to HAER standards. The HAER documentation with original photographs will be sent to the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, Yellowstone National Park, and to the Library of Congress. A copy of the documentation will be sent to the Montana and Idaho State Historic Preservation Office."
I'll have to agree with you Dana and Kay.The article really didn't say much besides the name and what I posted earlier.
George believe this to be bridge. Not in NBI for details.....
It appears that this bridge is not original to the 1950s. I see some interesting riveted connections, which seem to indicate the bridge was rebuild from an earlier 1900s pinned through truss span. In addition, this design matches several CBQ spans from the late 1890s and early 1900s
Nice winter shots John, thanks for braving the elements!
Anyone have any history on this? There is a tunnel shown. Was this part of the RR?
Bing birds eye view shows no bridge but you can see where the bridge sat.
Yeah... I just didn't look hard enough!
Sure looks like a bridge to me, right under the red pin. The deck looks overgrown with grass.
Well, a couple of us humans looked, and a couple of us still couldn't see it.
If a human was to look at google earth or maps that human will see that the truss has been kept and is sitting on the ground just south of the new bridge. Hopefully, someone will get curious and go confirm this, but for now, my word has to stand.
A new bridge is shown in satellite imagery, was it relocated somewhere else?
This is the oldest remaining truss bridge in the state of Wyoming. It was not replaced in 2008.
Yes, please
I can take pictures of local bridges near Green River Wyoming and upload them if you are interested. How about railroad bridges? By the way, You have a great site.
Looks like it could be a king post pony truss or a roof truss bridge. Either way listed it just because it does look to have trusses.
This bridge looks to have been removed and set in a field. Not sure if it exists still or not.
My great grandmother was moving from Cleveland where she and her late husband had lived for many years. He was a civil engineer and frequently was gone from home on projects, including a railroad dock at Marquette on Lake Superior. He invented a mechanism for unloading ships. Of her journey west on a train she wrote the following about the Fort Laramie Bridge.
I deplored the conditions that nearly half my journey was enveloped in the darkness of the night; one desire was to view the old trail, where so many people had traveled thirty-five years previous to go forward to the Black Hills in search of gold, the panic of inspiration being almost equal to the old times of forty-nine when the great rush was to California for gold. Mr. S.- (Orsamus Sherwood) was at the time erecting a large bridge for the government at Fort Laramie where nearly all were obliged to cross that river, it being the Platte, and about the time the bridge was completed Colonel Crook's Army was ordered north to re-enforce Colonel Custer's, among the northern hills, but the army proper was not permitted to cross the bridge (as it was not yet accepted by the Government) but the Colonel was allowed to cross in his ambulance, he being an high officer. But their expedition was of no avail for Colonel Custer's army had been 14 massacred, almost to a man, and the news came back to Fort Laramie, very soon, that such was the case, one man escaped to bear the news of the terrible slaughter.
Its amazing what people will believe. Someone fooled a state with very few truss bridges to lose, that this historic truss was "too dilapidated to repair." http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/dilapidated-historic...
we visited this bridge last summer. it is closed to traffic. we walked out onto the deck and found huge holes across the span... I saw no sign of rehabilitation or construction. It's a beautiful spot, with lots of birds - a nice oasis in an otherwise sparse area.
Carol: I'd definitely be interested in any information or stories about the bridge you might have.
My Great-Grandfather was the engineer on this project. Is there anyone out there that wants more information on that?
Very interesting bridge. I don't know much about Wyoming aside from its striking lack of historic truss bridges. I would hope that this early rivet-connected truss bridge with the unusual multi-function three truss line design would be considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and a preservation plan is in place for the bridge.
According to Google Maps and a few other sources, the local (Perhaps official?) name is "Government Bridge"
Sources:
http://www.northplatteflyfishing.com/grey_govermentbridge.ph...
Maybe it was just abandoned by the county and is privately owned. It isn't shown in the National Bridge Inventory.
Um..........im going to go out on a limb here and say that this bridge still exists. The bridge is still shown on Google Earth and there are many references to it being there on the internet. I have changed the status of the bridge to "open to traffic" unless someone can confirm the opposite. Perhaps this is like events in the show "Lost" but less dramatic except to bridgehunters like us. Maybe in 1993 the bridge fell into another dimension, yet to us it is still there.........sends shivers up my spine.
Picture taken 6-24-13
My GPS N44 50.517 W108 25.708
Near Lovell, WY
Webmaster's note: The photo that was here has been incorporated into the main site.
BNSF Railway across I-25
Picture taken 6-19-13
My GPS N42 51.403 W106 17.650
Webmaster's note: The photos that were here have been incorporated into the main site.
Picture taken 6-16-13
My GPS N41 43.480 W106 19.118
(Long drive down a rancher's road)
Webmaster's note: The photos that were here have been incorporated into the main site.
Picture taken 6-15-13 in Saratoga, WY
My GPS N41 26.936 W106 47.825
Webmaster's note: The photos that were here have been incorporated into the main site.
Although I do not have any pictures of own of the Hermosa Tunnels, here are a few from online.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures%5C83439%5CDSCF3272...
http://erikclindgren.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures%5C70466%...
This link shows the bridge photo Dave found in full size
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/68647689.jpg
I think I see floor beams under there, suggesting the truss still functions. However, the unusual appearance may be because the deck stringers rest on top of the floor beams. Sometimes deck stringers were originally riveted to the web of floor beams, which would lower the roadway, and make the truss look normal. Not sure if this bridge was originally like that, its all speculation with only one photo to go on.
Actually, it kind of looks like they slapped those trusses on the side of a stringer bridge. And the deck surface sits kind of high in the trusses. It looks rather strange.
I've got a guess what they did in 1989/1990, but no clue why.
Both bridges just look wrong in streetview.
Dave King added another Barnum Road Bridge, with an NBI 1990 construction date, but which is clearly a riveted truss bridge.
This bridge is another Barnum Road Bridge, with an NBI date of 1989. Could this be another relocated riveted truss?
NBI gives a 1990 date for this bridge. Obviously, this is a historic bridge, so perhaps the bridge was moved here in 1990?
Not sure if this is the original railing for this bridge, but it looks like some awesome lattice railing to me.
Yeah, that would be a tall tunnel. It was a concatenation of 16'11" and 16'9", the vertical clearance of the two bores.
It's corrected now - and I found a webcam of the east portal. I added a link in "Sources".
You should check the vertical clearance. It seems that a decimal point might have been moved. When I ran the figure through a calculator, I got a clearance of more than 305 miles!
Bridge to be removed in Spring of 2013.
http://county10.com/2013/03/04/county-transportation-set-to-...
Beautiful Pony Truss Bridge on Old US 85. Still open to traffic, but no NBI data. Any info would be appreciated.
Current google imagery shows this bridge might be about to be reused.
Funny thing is, these Redneck bridges are still far more interesting than any modern UCEB! HA!!
