Collapsed 1975 and Extant 1919 Bridges over Canadian River at Calvin, OK

1919: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

1975+1978: (Satellite) 1978 is my guess as to when the replacement bridge was finished.

I thought this was an bogus AI photo until I read the comments.

The collapse happened on May 21, 1976. [greenspun]

Note that the 1975 bridge stood for just a year or so before it fell down!

I thought this photo was bogus because there is no pier between the middle two collapsed spans. I guess the bridge collapsed because the pier disappeared. But how does a pier disappear?

Lunna Lucky posted
Bridge collapse Calvin OK

There were two fatalities.

newspapers, paycount of 5

I can't find any information about the cause of the collapse. 

"On May 28, 1976, the Commission authorized the Highway Department to contract with consulting firm Modjeski and Masters to perform an independent and unbiased investigation into the cause of the US-75 bridge collapse north of Calvin." [odot]

Has ODOT scrubbed all copies of that report off the internet?

1913 Bridge

I'll bet the locals were really glad that they didn't quickly tear down the old bridge after the new one was built. They at least had this old bridge to use while the new one was repaced.

Street View, May 2022

This view shows that the river was rather high in the above view. It also shows that the bridge has four spans.

Street View, Jan 2026

When I zoomed in to confirm that the bridge is pin connected, I noticed the bridge in the background. It is an abandoned railroad bridge.

Street View, Jan 2026

And the river is even lower in this photo.

OKbridges, this webpage has more photos
"This bridge was one of the earliest state-standardized designs built in Oklahoma, and other bridges exist similar in design. The state-standardized designs represented a trend towards heavier bridges than the ones commonly built from the catalogs of bridge companies."

Street View, Jun 2013

1907-72 Aban/B&O/Coal & Coke Kingsville (#1) Tunnel

(B&T; Satellite)

West Portal:

B&T
B&O abandoned the tunnel in 1972.

East Portal:

wvrailmuseum 
"As stated in Mr. Clarke's book, Kingsville Tunnel is 834 feet [254m] long, of medium sandstone, shale and four-foot coal seam, with 1907 sandstone facades (surviving on the east end, the west end having the elegant 1924 facade added by the B&O); sandstone walls and partial brick arch."

Facebook Reel
Linda erroneously claims the tunnel was built in 1924 instead of 1907 because the number 1924 is in the west facade.

I could not find Kingsville. B&T says "The Coal & Coke Railway (C&C) is a former railroad between Charleston and Elkins, West Virginia." It was fully merged into B&O in 1934. B&O started abandoning parts of that route in 1941.

Rumsey, 1948

1913-1984 3,350' (1,021m) Allegheny River Trail/Pennsy Tunnel in Kennerdell, PA

(Satellite, the map pin is not positioned accurately. The trail marking is accurate.)

Harmony, Dec 2024

The tunnel has a curve, so the above photo was taken after they travelled past the curve.

Facebook Reel
The tunnel opened in 1913, and it was abandoned in 1984. It is 3,350' (1,021m) long.

1963/65 Kennerdell Quad @ 24,000

I started with an older map, but the tunnel wasn't built until 1913.

1911/44 Franklin Quad @ 62,500

I included the scale in this image because the above video says it eliminated 14 miles of travel. It looks like about a couple of miles to me.

Satellite

Hennepin Canal Bridge #4 east of Tiskilwa, IL

(Satellite)

Hennepin Canal Overview

Hennepin Canal State Park posted
Today's Throwback Thursday picture was taken in 1970 and features Bridge #4, east of Tiskilwa.

It has been replaced with an embankment and culverts.

Street View, Aug 2023

1906-75 Western Maryland Stickpile (GreenRidge) Tunnel

Geographic North Portal: (Satellite)

Geographic South Portal: (Satellite)

When I entered Stickpile Tunnel in Google Maps, it took me to Indigo Tunnel. Fortunately, a USGS map took me to the correct location.

The black blob in the upper-left corner of this view from the C&O Canal Towpath Trail may be the south portal of the tunnel.

Street View, Apr 2016

The tunnel was, and still is, framed with timber.

HAER MD-175-81
Interior of Tunnel No. 1356, Stick Pile Tunnel showing timber framing and missing posts, looking northeast. - Western Maryland Railway, Cumberland Extension, Pearre to North Branch, from WM milepost 125 to 160, Pearre, Washington County, MD

Facebook Reel
It was built in 1906 and abandoned in 1975. It is 1706,5' (520m) long.
Linda encountered a strange streaming fog about 3/4 of the way through. She also recorded some weird noises.

Steve 1828 Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) via OnlyInYourState

Note that Steve's photo below has a much smaller gate than Linda's video above shows. It was taken on June 4, 2011.

Steve 1828 Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) 

Stickpile Tunnel is in the upper-left quadrant of this image. I included the B&O Stuart & Randolph Tunnels and the abandoned C&O Canal to document that we are in the B&O Paw Paw Bends.

1950/67 Paw Paw Quad @ 24,000

I zoomed into the Stickpile Tunnel because it shows the southern portal to be further inland than my satellite location. Fortunately, before I deleted my street view at the top of these notes, I did some more research. I think the topo map is wrong. I normally don't see errors like this in the topo maps.

Digitally Zoomed

River Explorer agrees that the portal is south of Kasecamp Road rather than up by Carroll Road.

RiverExplorer

And I found a couple of Google Earth images that show the portal is near the C&O Canal.

Google Earth, Apr 2025

Google Earth, Apr 2008

1888 Miller Farm Road Bridge over Oil Creek near Pleasantville, PA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

I could not determine if this bridge was made with iron or steel. 

HistoricBridges
The span is 150' (45.7m).
"Bridge Status: Previous plans for demolition were changed and now the bridge will be rehabilitated."

Photo by Janis Ford via BridgeHunter

Facebook Reel

1873+1896+1946+1948,1985 US-67 Bridges over Rock River at Milan, IL

1873 North Channel (Sears Mill): (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter)

1873 South Channel (Milan): (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter, could not find link.)

1896 Swing Bridge over Hennepin Canal: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

1948 North Channel: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

1948 South Channel and Hennepin Canal: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

 The 1873 bridge also carried interurban traffic. (Some sources call it trolly traffic.)

ArchivedBridgeHunter_North_Channel_1873 specifies a built date of 1873, but BridgeHunter_North_Channel_1873 specifies a date of 1881. I'm sticking with the 1873 date in these notes.

The 1946 date in the title is for a temporary Bailey bridge that was used until the 1948 replacement bridge opened.

1873 North Channel (Sears Mill Bridge)

Retro Quad Cities posted two photos with the comment: "On March 18, 1946, at 7:07 pm, one span of the Rock River Bridge between Milan and Rock Island collapsed.   Milan and the rural surrounding areas lost power due to the high voltage line on top of the bridge getting severed.  Illinois Bell also lost phone service and, with the aid of a gun from the Arsenal, shot a line across the river to pull a phone circuit to Milan."

Tom Barris: The bridge was built in 1895. It was replaced by the current bridge in 1948, and that bridge was rehabilitated in 1985. [So we now have the built dates of 1873, 1881 and 1895 for this bridge.]

Bob Schaechter: I remember that...And single lane Bailey bridge that replaced it.

Retro Quad Cities shared

1

Miles W. Rich: This picture was taken from the Rock Island side next to the Power Dam toward Vandruff's Island.

[Note the interurban/trolley tracks on the bridge.]

2

John Elmo Wright commented on Retro Quad Cities' share
Looking north towards RI. What remained of the old bridge on the left. New (current) 11th Street Bridge on the right, under construction.
[That must be the Bailey bridge on the right.]

BridgeHunter_North_Channel_1873

1946 photo by The Dispatch via BridgeHunter_North_Channel_1873

Mar 19, 1946, photo by The Dispatch via BridgeHunter_North_Channel_1873

1873 South Channel (Milan Bridge)

Upper Mississippi Valley via ArhivedBridgeHunter_1873 South Channel
[The lattice-truss bridge in the background was the original Rock Island Bridge.]

1946 Bailey Bridge

Apr 27, 1946, photo by The Dispatch via BridgeHunter_North_Channel_1873

Apr 26, 1946, photo by The Dispatch via BridgeHunter_North_Channel_1873

1896 Swing Bridge over Hennepin Canal

Archive Bridge Hunter and Bridge Hunter agree that this bridge was built in 1896. 

Photo provided by John Vize via BridgeHunter_1896.
[The caption says that trollys used the railroad bridge in the background. I think that is wrong. That railroad bridge was built by the Rock Island. The Rock Island was a Class I railroad, and they would not have messed around sharing their tracks with light rail services (interurban, streetcar and/or trolley). As I noted in Photo 1 above, I think the light rail services used this road bridge.]

2012 photo by Gene Smania via BridgeHunter_1896
The caption comments: "section of rails still visible on south approach.]

Old Road

I had trouble figuring out the location of the old bridges on a satellite image. That is because the old road zigged and zagged much more than I thought it would. It is easy to locate the swing bridge because the central pier is extant. And I think that today's North Ave. was at the south abutment of the 1873 North Channel (Sears Mill Bridge).

1944/58 Milan Quad @ 62,500