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Reshaw's Second Bridge
Description
History: In 1851 John Baptiste Richard (commonly pronounced "Reshaw") build a log toll bridge over the North Platte River about one mile west of Deer Creek near today's Glenrock. After this bridge was washed out in the spring of 1852, he and eight other partners built a sturdy, twelve-arch wooden toll bridge at a site near present-day Evansville. The structure was 835 feet long and 18 feet wide and was constructed of hewn timbers bolted together. It rested on 23 piers of cribs of hewn timbers filled with stone. By charging emigrants as much as five dollars a wagon during high water, the partners made $40,000 by the end of June 1853. This bridge ended the necessity of fording or ferrying what could be a very dangerous river. Richard bought out his other partners in a few years and operated the toll bridge sporadically from 1852 to 1865, serving emigrant trains and other travelers. This bridge put the Mormon Ferry out of business in 1853. When the Guinard Bridge was built at the current site of Fort Caspar in 1859, it in turn put the Reshaw Bridge out of business.
Facts
- Overview
- Timber stringer bridge over Platte River
- Location
- Evansville, Natrona County, Wyoming
- Status
- Removed but not replaced; Replica built
- History
- Built 1853
- Builder
- - John Baptiste Richard
- Design
- 23 piers of cribs of hewn timbers filled with stone
- Dimensions
-
Total length: 835.0 ft.
Deck width: 18.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +42.87022, -106.26721 (decimal degrees)
42°52'13" N, 106°16'02" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
- Approximate UTM coordinates
- 13/396493/4747182 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Casper
- Land survey
- T. 34 N., R. 79 W.
- Inventory number
- BH 56660 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- June 18, 2013: Added by Dave King