Poteau River Iron Bridge (Beale Bridge) 1860
Photo
Route of Beale road in Eastern Oklahoma
Shows the Beale road to Fort Smith across the Poteau river.
BH Photo #232847
Description
Much of the history of this bridge, and the other 5 Iron bridges on the Beale road west of Fort Smith is unknown. What I know I have included in my essay. It appears to have only been in use for a year or so. Location is vague.Essay
Written by Gene McCluneyPOTEAU RIVER IRON BRIDGE NEAR FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS 1859
In the 1850’s, an improved Central route to California was surveyed from Fort Smith, Arkansas by Lieutenant Edward F. Beale along the 35th parallel as a federal project. Drawing on the previous work of Marcy and Whipple, this survey attempted to improve on routes already in use. It was determined that 6 iron bridges would be needed for the route in Eastern Oklahoma. Iron was chosen because of the threat of saboutage by the Native Americans toward wooden bridges.
An article by “Wanderer” published in Boston on October 5, 1859 says, “The bridges are of iron. They were manufactured in Philadelphia, upon Murphy’s improved Whipple plan, by the contractors, A. P. Roberts & Co., and are being put up by J. R. Nevins, assisted by Messers. Van Anden and Everett, also of Philadelphia. One is to cross the Poteau river near Fort Smith, Arkansas.”
An article in the Van Buren Press (Van Buren, Arkansas) from 1859 says, “Messers James Green and Alexander Graham of this county (Crawford) have contracted for building the substructure for the first six Iron Bridges to be erected on Beale’s road on the 35th parallel to California. From the well known character of Messers Green and Graham, the public interested may rest assured of the work being done in a satisfactory manner. The streams being bridged—Beale’s route to California, will undoubtedly be the favorite way to be traveled by immigrants, as it presents great advantages over any other route as regards wood, water and grass, the three most essential requisites for immigrants, besides being the shortest road.”
I believe that these bridges were of the Whipple (patent) Bowstring Truss design, as the few remaining examples (on the east coast), show a modular construction of the arches, which are bolted together from smaller castings, and with the exception of the Poteau river bridge, all bridge parts would have had to be transported by wagon to their destination. The iron castings of this design were small enough to be crated and shipped in practical size crates, which could be transported by wagon. The wooden floor beams and decking would have been milled locally. The piers and abutments would most probably have been hand cut or natural stacked stone. The Poteau river flows into the Arkansas river at Fort Smith, and it is believed all the bridge parts were shipped via the Arkansas river to Fort Smith. “Wanderer” says, in the October 5, 1859 story, “Miccos-chiefs-large and small, and warriors, gewgawed off in all the absurdity of savage pageantry, assembled upon the banks, and held a pow-wow over the boxes and their iron contents “Henry B. Edwards, Esq., Fort Smith, Arkansas” the direction upon the boxes was eagerly seized upon as giving some clue to the mystery.”
In an article by “Wanderer” in the Philadelphia Press from October 15, 1859, he says, “Mr. Edwards has his men now engaged upon the double span bridge over the Poteau, which will be completed ere long. The Choctaws have commenced to improve the road over the Winchester Mountain, and a project is afoot to turnpike the road from the bridge through the fearful boggy bottom of the Poteau and Arkansas to the village of Skullyville.”
This might indicate that the Poteau River bridge could be a double-span Whipple(patent)bowstring truss. If not a bowstring, then what is known is that it was Iron, and double-span. Precise location of this bridge is as yet unknown. One story has it at “the point at which the Poteau becomes unnavigable.” Further research is needed, and unfortunately the Federal Government documents on this project are missing.
By 1861, due to the civil war, all the bridges (it seems) were made impassable. Whether this was done by demolition, or by removing the wooden plank floor is unknown.
On December 18, 1896, W. J. Weaver wrote in the Fort Smith Elevator newspaper, “Large caravans finally came from the lower towns on the Rio Grande. They passed along west of Fort Gibson, en-route to Independence and West Port (now Kansas City). Their best freight for exchange was silver bullion on its way to the Missouri river towns. (This) drew the attention of the merchants of Fort Smith and Van Buren, (a)nd an effort was made to draw the Mexican trains here, and by congressional influence and the cooperation of the War Department, Iron bridges were built over the large streams on the route west from Fort Smith through the Choctaw Nation……Some of these bridges have disappeared for want of care (remember this is 1896 writing). They were built in 1859, and were used for local and military travel, but the war of the States closed all the Rio Grande traffic with our frontier.
During its brief period of use, The Butterfield Stage used this bridge as its crossing from Fort Smith into Oklahoma.
I am extremely indebted to Mr. Jack Beale Smith for his research and enthusiasm regarding all of the Beale Road bridges. I apologize for not mentioning his name when I first posted this essay. If it weren't for him, I would not even know this bridge (or any Beale road bridge) existed. This little essay is not in any way intended to take any light away from Mr. Smith's extensive research on the subject. Some of the quoted newspaper stories were provided to me by Mr. Smith, as well as additional newspaper accounts researched and provided by Joe Wasson. One quote was from a story in the Fort Smith Historical Society JOURNAL magazine.
If Mr. Smith makes any corrections of the above data and essay in his comments, I would take them as being the most accurate data known to date.
Facts
- Overview
- Lost Iron through truss bridge (possibly Bowstring design) over Poteau River on Beale Road
- Location
- Sebastian County, Arkansas, and Le Flore County, Oklahoma
- Status
- No longer exists
- History
- Built in 1860 as part of the Beale road project funded by the federal government.
- Builders
- - A & P Roberts Co. of Pencoyd, Pennsylvania
- Everett
- J. R. Nevins
- Pencoyd Bridge & Construction Co. of Pencoyd, Pennsylvania
- Squire Whipple of Albany, New York
- Van Anden
- Design
- Iron Through Truss possibly of Whipple (patent) Bowstring style
- Also called
- Beale Bridge
- Inventory number
- BH 52597 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- November 11, 2012: Updated by Gene McCluney: Updated data, updated essay, added major contributor credit.
- June 1, 2012: Updated by Gene McCluney: expanded name
- May 31, 2012: Essay added by Gene McCluney
Sources
- Gene McCluney - gmacfilm [at] live [dot] com
Comments
Six Beale Wagon Road Whipple Bowstring Arch Truss Iron Bridges in Indian Territory, 1859-60
1. Poteau River, 7.4 miles south of Fort Smith, just below the mouth of Cedar Creek (two-100 ft. spans), [ 35 17.00 N, 94 27.90 W ] [North lat., West long., degrees+minutes.]
2. Red Bank Creek, 4.6 miles west of Spiro (50 ft. span), [ 35 15.14 N, 94 42.13 W ]; (site found by Kyle Burch, Spiro OK in 2020)
3. Otter Creek, 1.4 miles southwest of Keota (50 ft. span), [ 35 14.45 N, 94 56.37 W ]
4. Sans Bois Creek, 0.6 miles northwest of Iron Bridge (100 ft. span), [ 35 14.54 N, 94 58.02 W ]
5. Emachaya Creek, 0.8 miles west of Whitefield (50 ft. span), [ 35 14.90 N, 95 15.07 W ]
6. Little River at Edwards Trading Post (100 ft. span), [ 35 0.44 N, 96 23.28 W ]
Very Cool!
ALTHOUGH THE POTEAU RIVER BRIDGE WAS TWO SPANS OF 100', THERE WERE A FEW 50' SPANS INCLUDED IN THE SAME DEAL. THE 100' SPANS WOULD HAVE BEEN NINE PANELS. 50' IS A LITTLE UNDER THE EXPECTED RANGE FOR A SEVEN PANEL TRUSS WHICH WAS 55' TO 75'. THE FIFTY FOOTERS IN THE BEALE ROAD PROJECT MIGHT HAVE BEEN FIVE PANELS. THERE WERE NOT VERY MANY FIVES. THERE WERE A FEW ON THE CHENANGO CANAL. THE WHIPPLE ARCH IN JAPAN IS FIVE PANELS.
IN 2012, I INPUT SOME INFO. TO LOCATE THE BIO. NOTICE OF JOHN W. MURPHY WHICH DID NOT PRODUCE RESULTS DIRECTLY. I APOLOGIZE FOR THAT.
J. OF THE FRANKLIN CONSIDERED VOL. 67 TO BE JAN-JUN OF 1874 AND VOL. 68 TO BE JUL-DEC OF 1874. DEPENDING ON THE SOURCE LIBRARY THESE TWO VOLUMES MAY HAVE BEEN BOUND AS A SINGLE VOLUMES. THUS A SEARCH FOR MURPHY WOULD FIND THE PAPER.
THE PAPER IS IN VOL. 68, NO. 5, NOVEMBER 1874, PAGES 303--310.
JFI IS ON LINE AT MORE THAN ONE SOURCE (GOOGLE BOOKS, HATHI, ETC.
GOOD LUCK. PLEASE, LET ME KNOW IF THIS WORKS.
Correction to caption in Photo above which now states:
"Route of Beale road in Eastern Oklahoma
Shows the Beale road to Fort Smith across the Poteau river."
Correction to caption:
"Route of Beale Survey of 1858 in Eastern Oklahoma (Indian Territory). Shows Beale's survey route from Fort Smith across the Poteau river."
The important point is the map shows the route of Beale's survey not the finished wagon road from Fort Smith to Skullyville. I spent several months incorrectly thinking the map showed the Beale Wagon Road following the Butterfield Trail route, using the downtown ferry across the Poteau. The actual Whipple Iron Bridge crossing of the Poteau was nearly seven miles upriver (south) of the ferry site.
As of Feb. 2019, my research indicates that the site of the two-span Whipple Bowstring Iron Bridge completed in 1860 for the Beale Wagon Road crossing of the Poteau River was located just below the mouth of Cedar Creek. This location is about 400 yards west of the Tri-State Speedway, along the north side of US 271, OK 9 & 112, about 1.73 miles into Oklahoma from the Arkansas state line (at the Choctaw Pocola Casino) in southern Fort Smith (extension of I 540).
This Whipple Iron Bridge was destroyed in April 1861, probably by Federal cavalry as they evacuated Fort Smith and headed west on the Beale Wagon Road into Indian Territory, and later to Kansas. It appears that a second iron bridge was built at the same location sometime after 1870 and served until near Oklahoma statehood.
Ongoing investigations by Jack and myself and friends seem now to indicate the bridge was completely in what we now know as LeFlore county in Oklahoma, about 7 miles south of Fort Smith on the Texas road. We are still researching.
BIO. NOTICE OF JOHN W. MURPHY, C. E.
J. OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, JAN--JUN 1874, PAGE 305
http://books.google.com/books?id=Azo0AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA305&l...
SEEMS TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT THE BEALE ROAD BRIDGES WERE WHIPPLE BOWSTRINGS (ARCHES) AND NOT WHIPPLE-MURPHY BRIDGES.
FOR DISCUSSION OF THE WHIPPLE / WHIPPLE-MURPHY / LINVILLE TRUSS, SEE PAGE 10 OF THE LINK BELOW
http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/75-r...
ALSO FIGURE 7 AT THE TOP OF PAGE 12.
THE DISTINCTION BASED ON C. I. + W. I. VERSUS ALL W. I. FREQUENTLY IS NOT OBSERVED. (ANY PRATT TYPE TRUSS WHERE THE MAIN DIAGONALS CROSS TWO PANELS FREQUENTLY IS CALLED A WHIPPLE OR A MURPHY-WHIPPLE TRUSS OR A DOUBLE INTERSECTION PRATT TRUSS.) THESE TRUSSES WERE FOUND THROUGHOUT THE U. S.
THE WHIPPLE BOWSTRING AKA WHIPPLE ARCH WAS FOUND IN NY, OH, IND, AND ONTARIO, CANADA. FIGURE 8.
THE DOUBLE INTERSECTION TRUSS GENERALLY IMPLIES A DEEP, THROUGH TRUSS. THE BOWSTRING GENERALLY WAS A PONY TRUSS WITH SOME VERSIONS HAVING OVERHEAD BRACING AT THE MID-SPAN PANELS.
ALTHOUGH THE WHIPPLE-MURPHY TRUSS DOES NOT SEEM TO HAVE A PATENT, IT IS ILLUSTRATED IN WHIPPLE'S TEXT BOOK.
I am indeed greatly indebted to Jack Beale Smith for his tremendous research on the Beale Road bridges. It is a fascinating and nearly "lost" part of early pioneer history. I have not used any writings by Mr. Beale in my essay, however I did use some quotations from a scanned newspaper article he sent me, as well as other newspaper mentions found and provided to me by Joe Wasson (whom I did credit). While there "may" not be a Whipple Bowstring category, the most likely type of bridge (in my opinion) would be the Whipple (patent) bowstring style bridge, as it is made up of Iron castings that are individually smaller than the full length of the arch, thus easier to transport to the site without rail, or river access. While the Poteau River site was close to the Arkansas river, and I'm sure the parts arrived via riverboat, the more remote bridges in Oklahoma would have to be transported overland at least some of the distance.
In the first comment below, I have links to bridgehunter pages showing Whipple (patent) Bowstring bridges still extant, which give very clear views of what I believe was the design of this bridge. Mr. Beale and I disagree on this point, but there is plenty of room for further research.
Hmmmm....
This bridge page mentions the Whipple Bowstring Truss, so I went and looked at the 1841 patent, and found that the distinctive double intersection diagonals that distinguish a Whipple through truss are not a design element of the bowstring.
The interesting features of the Whipple bowstring design seem to be the double thin-section verticals and that the iron arch is made up of distinctive cast iron segments.
There is no Whipple Bowstring category, and no Whipple builder category that can be combined with bowstring on a Bridgehunter.com search.
Are there any bridges still standing which are true to the iron arch from Whipple's patent?
Thanks,
Don
Mr. Gene McCluney has done an excellent job on the background history of this bridge. However, He failed to inform the reader that almost all of the historical information came from my research done on the Beale Bridges which will be published soon. He had no idea where this information was until I sent it to him. I believed he was a scholarly person who would recognize those individuals who assisted in his search. As can be seen he mentions only his best friend as assisting him in this essay. Gene is incorrect in his date for the construction of this bridge. We found that it was not begun until January of 1860. Also this bridge was not a Whipple Bowstring Bridge. It was a Whipple Thru truss bridge similar to the later Pratt thru truss style.
If anyone wants to challenge me on this subject just look up Jack Beale Smith on Google or punch in Beale Wagon Road and it will tell them who I am and the amount of work I have done on the Beale Wagon Road. Just one other note of interest for the reader. Beale Wagon Road signs are being place along the Beale Road through Custer County, Oklahoma along with the sites of the 8 bridges that were constructed by Beale in the fall of 1858. If you wish to contact me you can through my email address Bealroad50@Msn.Com.
Here are a few links to Whipple bowstring bridges, the style and construction we believe to be similar or identical to the Beale Road bridges.
http://bridgehunter.com/ny/columbia/shaw/
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ar/sebastian/poteau-river-iron/
FOR STUDY OF THE WHIPPLE ARCH (BOWSTRING) BRIDGE SEE https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/ny0017/
IN PARTICULAR PHOTOGRAPHS 12 1ND 13. SELECT THE TIFF VERSION OF EITHER PHOTOGRAPHY AND USE THE ZOOM TO SEE THE DETAILS. THESE SHOW 72' AND 100' VERSIONS (7 AND 9 PANELS). THESE WERE IN THE 1859 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NYS ENGINEER AND SURVEYOR. THEY INCLUDE SOME ADVANCES OVER THE "FIRST EDITIONS". NOTE: SIDEWALK OPTIONS WERE NONE, ON ONE SIDE, OR ON BOTH SIDES. SIDEWALKS WERE PROVIDED DEPENDING THE SETTING -- RURAL MEANT NONE ETC. ALSO: FLOOR BEAMS WERE WOOD, 8 x 14 FOR EXAMPLE. OVER THE YEARS A LOT OF MAINTENANCE WENT INTO REPLACING THE FLOOR BEAMS WITH IRON.