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Author Topic: Abandoned America  (Read 2694 times)

RoadKingLarry

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Abandoned America
« on: March 17, 2016, 06:13:53 PM »
Did a little exploring yesterday.  I'd first seen this bridge from the water 6-7 years ago when I paddled my canoe up this stream while fishing. Finally got around to finding it from the ground.
Best information I can find says it was built in 1930 but bridge aficionados say it looks quite a bit older. I haven't found anything on when it was abandoned. I did find site that listed an inspection report from 2007 that list the deck in "FAIR" condition.



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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

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Perd Hapley

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2016, 06:16:49 PM »
Quote from: RoadKingLarry on March 17, 2016, 06:13:53 PM
I did find site that listed an inspection report from 2007 that list the deck in "FAIR" condition.


Has it been downgraded a bit since then?
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RocketMan

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2016, 07:17:57 PM »
Quote from: fistful on March 17, 2016, 06:16:49 PM

Has it been downgraded a bit since then?

One would wonder.  There is that hole in the deck that looks pretty new.  One's foot could fall through that hole if they tried to walk across.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2016, 12:24:06 AM by RocketMan »
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TommyGunn

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2016, 07:48:50 PM »
Union - built, no doubt. :angel:
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230RN

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2016, 07:49:10 PM »
Izzat NRA Antique "Fair?"
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MechAg94

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2016, 08:38:14 PM »
Do I-beams make good knives?
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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2016, 09:43:03 PM »
Quote from: MechAg94 on March 17, 2016, 08:38:14 PM
Do I-beams make good knives?

No, but they would make a dandy building to make knives in.
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brimic

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #7 on: March 18, 2016, 07:40:36 AM »
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HankB

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2016, 08:16:36 AM »
Is there any pavement remaining on the roads that lead up to it?
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Kingcreek

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #9 on: March 18, 2016, 09:34:25 AM »
I'm surprised it wasn't stripped out when scrap prices were high.
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KD5NRH

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #10 on: March 18, 2016, 10:44:04 AM »
Quote from: HankB on March 18, 2016, 08:16:36 AM
Is there any pavement remaining on the roads that lead up to it?

Got one similar near here that there aren't even any road sections leading to.  As in, there's not even a swath of obviously younger trees where the road would have been in either direction.
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cordex

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #11 on: March 18, 2016, 11:17:51 AM »
There is a similar steel bridge near here that was absorbed by a local park.  It was built sometime in the 1870s.  The deck was mostly gone until the park rebuilt it.
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KD5NRH

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #12 on: March 18, 2016, 12:14:02 PM »
Of course, we've also got this one nearby: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluff_Dale_Suspension_Bridge

Actually got to ride across it in a car a time or two before they blocked it to vehicles.  Walking across, it's easy to get the whole thing swinging.

It's quite possibly the oldest surviving example of a cable stayed bridge design in North America.  Barton Creek Bridge was a year older, but there's not much left of it: http://www.thc.state.tx.us/preserve/historic-bridges-texas/suspension-bridges/barton-creek-bridge
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brimic

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #13 on: March 18, 2016, 12:44:06 PM »
Meh, you guys and your fancy newfangled metal bridges...
This one is about 4 miles north of where I live.
http://wisconsin-explorer.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-last-covered-bridge-in-wisconsin.html
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AJ Dual

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #14 on: March 18, 2016, 01:30:42 PM »
Quote from: Kingcreek on March 18, 2016, 09:34:25 AM
I'm surprised it wasn't stripped out when scrap prices were high.

Probably too big and too dangerous to handle without heavy equipment, whether it was an "official" sanctioned scrapping, or illegal. And presumably it's not going to be cost-effective to get cranes out there etc.

I don't think you could just show up with a torch and an angle-grinder and just hack away on the bridge, then there's the issue of getting the steel or iron out of there even if you did cut it up, or collapse the bridge in the most lazy/dangerous way possible.
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HankB

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #15 on: March 18, 2016, 01:49:10 PM »
Quote from: AJ Dual on March 18, 2016, 01:30:42 PM
. . .  collapse the bridge in the most lazy/dangerous way possible.
Detcord?
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Trump won in 2016. Democrats haven't been so offended since Republicans came along and freed their slaves.
Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain
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AJ Dual

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #16 on: March 18, 2016, 01:54:40 PM »
Quote from: HankB on March 18, 2016, 01:49:10 PM
Detcord?

Only if you can rig it to blow all the metal on a ballistic path to the scrapyard of your choice. I don't think even the most desperate tweaker is going to try dragging a couple tons of metal through the woods.
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Kingcreek

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #17 on: March 18, 2016, 02:33:47 PM »
A couple years ago the scrap gypsies were taking anything and everything with pickups and a torch set. Some of them would go to significant effort and had no reservations even if they only took the convenient parts.
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KD5NRH

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #18 on: March 18, 2016, 02:47:28 PM »
Quote from: AJ Dual on March 18, 2016, 01:30:42 PM
Probably too big and too dangerous to handle without heavy equipment, whether it was an "official" sanctioned scrapping, or illegal. And presumably it's not going to be cost-effective to get cranes out there etc.

Take it down during a drought, disassemble to man-liftable chunks and stack it on the banks.  Next good rain, raft it down to the nearest easy spot for a trailer.
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RoadKingLarry

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #19 on: March 18, 2016, 07:02:44 PM »
Quote from: HankB on March 18, 2016, 08:16:36 AM
Is there any pavement remaining on the roads that lead up to it?

The road that bridge was on was never paved. In dry times you can drive to within about 100 yds of it on the North side and a little over 200 on the south. From the north where I came in to it there  huge piles of ripped up asphalt on the old road bed to block access to the bridge  It's now on Corps of Engineer/Wildlife Management Area land.

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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

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Re: Abandoned America
« Reply #20 on: March 18, 2016, 09:32:50 PM »
Quote from: brimic on March 18, 2016, 12:44:06 PM
Meh, you guys and your fancy newfangled metal bridges...
This one is about 4 miles north of where I live.
http://wisconsin-explorer.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-last-covered-bridge-in-wisconsin.html
Got you beat by a few years. Local to me 1872.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Sergeant's_Covered_Bridge
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