Canadian River Wagon Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Nineteen-span through truss with Two-span pony truss bridge over Canadian River
- Location
- Hemphill County, Texas
- Status
- Open to pedestrians only
- History
- Built 1916 by the Canton Bridge Co.; four additional spans added 1923; bypassed by new bridge in 1953; rehabilitated and opened to pedestrian traffic in 2000
- Builders
- - Austin Brothers Bridge Co. of Dallas, Texas/Atlanta, Georgia (1923 Spans) [also known as Austin Bridge Co.]
- Canton Bridge Co. of Canton, Ohio (Original Spans)
- Design
- Nineteen, 7-panel, pin-connected Parker through trusses
One, Pony truss - Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 155.0 ft.
Total length: 3,255.0 ft. (0.6 mi.)
Deck width: 16.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +35.93564, -100.37146 (decimal degrees)
35°56'08" N, 100°22'17" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 14/376289/3977679 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Canadian East
- Inventory number
- BH 36690 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- March 7, 2022: Updated by Mark Gonzalez: Updated Span Count
- October 19, 2021: New Street View added by Paul Plassman
- October 26, 2020: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
- October 30, 2013: New photos from John Scruggs
- April 16, 2012: New photo from Dan Crawford
- April 10, 2012: Updated by Dan Crawford: Added category "Pin-connected"
- October 4, 2011: New Street View added by Craig Philpott
- June 14, 2010: New Street View added by Nathan Holth
- June 10, 2008: New photos from Historic American Engineering Record
Sources
- Historic American Engineering Record
- Nathan Holth
- Craig Philpott - craigphilpott63 [at] gmail [dot] com
- HAER Documentation
- John Scruggs
- Geoff Hubbs
- Paul Plassman
- Canadian River Wagon Bridge - HistoricBridges.org
- Mark Gonzalez - markgonzalez0619 [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
Wondering if this bridge would qualify for the National Register of Historic Places.
Nathan you are correct! I cannot believe I didn't pay closer attention!
Mark,
There are TWO pony truss spans. What was once a single thru truss is today two ponies.
This bridge is 20 spans. Not 21. With one them being a pony truss.
high definition photo of this bridge, fully restored, is available on Canadian River page of Wikipedia. Someone more familiar with this site can probably upload, be sure to give credit of this pic to photographer Bill Hathorn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_River#/media/File:Woo...
Just to answer the how many spans question .... In May of 2012 one span could easily cross the river. I'm sure that's the way it is most of the time. I'm also sure there are times when the river is much, much wider.
This is the longest pin-connected truss in Texas. I wonder how it ranks in the country?
That is one crazy long bridge. Would like to know how many spans are actually over the river!
Would be great if someone would post a pic or two of this bridge all restored. Texas and Oklahoma has quite a collection of long multispan pony and thru trusses, most of which are still standing as shown on this site.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/tx/hemphill/canadian-river/
Yes, it would definitely qualify! Just need to get the powers that be to nominate it.