Hitchen Creek Bridge
Description
This bridge is on private property. As a courtesy to the landowner, please do not visit without permission. Landowner information will not be disseminated through this website.Facts
- Overview
- Pratt through truss bridge over Hitchen Creek
- Location
- Elk County, Kansas
- Status
- Open to private traffic.
- Design
- Five panel pin-connected Pratt through truss with two pin-connected Queenpost pony truss approaches.
- Also called
- Longton Hitchen Creek Truss Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +37.38872, -96.07790 (decimal degrees)
37°23'19" N, 96°04'40" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 14/758697/4142003 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Longton
- Inventory number
- BH 43709 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- September 27, 2017: Updated by Robert Elder: Updated status and status description. Open to private traffic.
- April 1, 2017: Updated by Christopher Finigan: Added category "Pin-connected"
- April 1, 2017: New photos from Nick Schmiedeler
- December 26, 2016: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited Description.
- April 30, 2012: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited Status and Status description. Confirmed extant!
- November 26, 2010: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited Status description - this bridge is very possibly extant.
- May 12, 2010: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited Name, Approach design (Queenpost pony trusses), and Design description. Status remains unknown.
- December 5, 2009: Updated by Robert Elder: Edited Design Description.
Sources
- Robert Elder - robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Nick Schmiedeler - nick [at] nickschmiedeler [dot] com
Comments
What a beauty! Just the Queenpost ponies are significant by themselves. Hats off to the landowners and managers who are maintaining this bridge.
I am not sure about the builder. P.E. Lane built a bridge somewhere in the county, but this does not look like a P.E. Lane, and the dimensions don't match the description in his catalogue.
The Wrought Iron Bridge Co.is a possibility, although I am not seeing some of their telltale features.
I would guess that this one was built ca. 1890 - 1900, but 1900 - 1910 is not out of the question.
Met up with some fantastic locals that allowed me access to this old beauty. Sounds like the bridge is well-loved and taken care of, and still used by both the property owner and the man that works the land also. Great experience reaching this one, and it seemed to give off a cool sort of vibe in a way, sure this old thing has some great stories to tell. People of Longton, KS very accomodating.
The latest Google Earth imagery confirms that this bridge was extant as of 28 February 2012! Great news!
Looks like it is still extant to me.....if it had been replaced in the satellite view there would have been many trees removed in the process.
I attempted to field check this bridge recently. The road to the bridge is fenced off and the road appears to be private now. I have not been able to inquire about the status of the bridge, but the latest aerial images do indicate that a narrow bridge exists here. For now, I think that there is a reasonable chance that this bridge is extant.
Another photograph of the bridge can be found here:
A photo of the bridge is available at http://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?tab=details&in=049-0000-...
This bridge may have been replaced. The 1996 aerial view on Terraserver appears to show the bridge still in place, but it is ambiguous.
The bridge in the more recent Google Maps aerial view does not appear to have a truss, but it is very narrow (usually Kansas will make a new bridge considerably wider then the original structure).
My suspicion is that the bridge is lost, but if anybody else wants to look at the aerial views, I say let the speculation begin!
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ks/elk/hitchen-creek/
Very cool indeed!