Rating:
3 votes

Midland Valley Canadian River Bridge

Muskogee County, Oklahoma, and Haskell County, Oklahoma

Photos 

Midland Valley Railroad Bridge (Abandoned)

Crossing the Canadian River, North of Whitefield and Southeast of Briartown, OK.

Photo taken by John Cross in February 2010

Enlarge

BH Photo #154596

Map 

Description 

5 Span Parker Through Truss plus approaches, part of the abandoned Midland Valley Railroad. This Railroad bridge (Crossing) shows up on maps that I have seen as early as 1904 & 1905. The name plate states 1907. Near by (to the NW) Briartown had a switch and loading dock prior to 1910 but a depot wasn't added until 1911 when forced by the Corp. Commission.

Missouri Pacific bought Midland Valley in 1964, combining it into their Texas & Pacific brand. Now owned by Union Pacific.

Facts 

Overview
Abandoned parker through truss bridge over Canadian River on Abandoned Midland Valley Railroad
Location
Muskogee County, Oklahoma, and Haskell County, Oklahoma
Status
Abandoned
History
Built 1907 by the Pennsylvania Steel Co. Steelton PA
Builder
- Pennsylvania Steel Co. of Steelton, Pennsylvania
Railroads
- Midland Valley Railroad (MV)
- Missouri Pacific Railroad (MP)
- Texas & Pacific Railway (T&P)
Design
5 main Parker through spans, NW trestle approach and SE approach is missing and was likely a trestle approach as well.
Also called
MoPac - Canadian River Bridge
T&P - Canadian River Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+35.28187, -95.21117   (decimal degrees)
35°16'55" N, 95°12'40" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/298904/3906543 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Stigler West
Land survey
T. 9 N., R. 20 E., Sec. 5
Elevation
490 ft. above sea level
Inventory number
BH 44052 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Abandoned (4,043)
Built 1907 (784)
Built during 1900s (7,989)
Canadian River (45)
Haskell County, Oklahoma (16)
Midland Valley Railroad (25)
Missouri Pacific Railroad (425)
Muskogee County, Oklahoma (71)
Oklahoma (2,052)
 Owned by railroad (14,332)
Parker through truss (1,458)
Parker truss (1,858)
Pennsylvania Steel Co. (172)
Railroad (17,179)
Texas & Pacific Railway (53)
Through truss (19,326)
Truss (38,718)

Update Log 

  • April 14, 2014: Updated by Luke Harden: Added builder
  • February 7, 2010: Added by John Cross

Sources 

  • John Cross - jcrossiam [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Luke
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Comments 

Midland Valley Canadian River Bridge
Posted April 14, 2014, by Keiv Spare (keiv [at] keivspare [dot] com)

Here is a photo from the bridge looking south along the line

Midland Valley Canadian River Bridge
Posted February 15, 2010, by J Lance (bugo [at] hotmail [dot] com)

This bridge is visible from the OK 2 Canadian River bridge.

Midland Valley Canadian River Bridge
Posted February 7, 2010, by Cliff D (clif30 [at] hotmail [dot] com)

This isn't scientific but the Google Earth historical imagery shows the tracks are still cleared and the right-of-way is very clear for miles in either direction in the 1995 satelite image. So I'd be willing to bet the line was still active or in or shortly before 1995. Compare the 1995 images to the 2003 images and you'll see what I'm talking about.