Two pedestrian Bridges over White Lick Creek in Plainfield, IN, and crane operation

North: (Satellite) 

South: (Satellite, it is too new to be on the map when I published. It is south of the restroom)

Facebook Reel

Scott Tucker: That " crane operator" is rough as a cob.

Kelly Rhudy: Scott Tucker yea cuz that’s an easy job ….

Joe Wallin commented on the above reel, cropped

This YouTube short explains the history of the 1920 truss. He confirms it's a pin-connected truss.

I was surprised how much the bridge was swinging back and forth in the above reel. Scott's comment above indicates I was correct to be surprised. I spent several days watching an LTM 1450-8.1 crane lift steel beams over the building below to construct a commons area in the Downers Grove South courtyard. As you can see, the boom is short, but the luffer jib is long. That luffer configuration allows them to lift the beams over the building and reach the far side of the courtyard by lowering the luffer. Since they use a short radius when hooking up to a beam in the parking lot, the cable is long because of the length of the luffer. It struck me that I never saw the load swing back and forth, even after it was slewed over the building. I watch the lift of several steel beams over the course of several days and every time the hook was lowered over the beam with no pendulum action.

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Then one day I got there early so that I could watch them raise the luffer for the workday. It took about 5 minutes.

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Since they were ready with the crane before the riggers were ready to work, the oiler got some time in the cab for practice. He demonstrated that the hook does want to swing back and forth. And he was unable to stop the pendulum action. When the operator got back in the cab, the hook immediately quit swinging. So, I agree with Kelly that it is hard to learn how to avoid swinging the load. But I agree with Scott, why would an operator that has not learned how to stop the swing be allowed to do an important lift. 

These two screenshots show how much the hook was swinging. It is now clear which object on the parking lot the oiler was aiming for.

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There was already a pedestrian bridge that connected the trails on both sides of the river. But the truss bridge allows them to easily get their lawnmower to the other side of the park.

Street View, Jun 2016 (Satellite)

Lift Bridge E206 over Barge Canal in Knowlesville, NY and a level part of the canal

(Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2023

nycanalmap

Cori Wilson posted six images with the comment:

The Erie Canal’s Transformative Impact on Knowlesville, New York

Knowlesville, a small hamlet in the Town of Ridgeway, Orleans County, New York, owes its development and early prosperity almost entirely to the Erie Canal. Before the canal’s completion in 1825, the area was sparsely settled farmland. The waterway turned it into a bustling shipping and commercial hub that served surrounding agricultural communities.

Pioneer Beginnings

William Knowles, the hamlet’s namesake, arrived in 1815 and cleared land on lot 3. He built the first log cabin and established an ashery for potash production. A handful of other families settled nearby, but the area remained rural and isolated, with Oak Orchard on the Ridge Road serving as the main local settlement.

The Canal Boom Begins (1825)

The opening of the Erie Canal dramatically changed Knowlesville’s fortunes. William Knowles built the first framed house in 1825 on the south side of the canal, which doubled as the area’s first tavern/hotel. He also constructed the first warehouse that same year. Stores soon followed, and the village quickly became a key shipping point.

In 1827, Knowles loaded the first boatload of grain shipped from Orleans County—20,000 bushels of wheat—marking the start of regular commercial traffic. Warehouses, grain elevators, and docks lined the canal banks. Barrels of apples and other local produce joined wheat as major exports. Packet boats and freight vessels stopped regularly, bringing passengers, crews, and teams of horses and mules that required stables, supplies, and lodging.

Growth of a Canal Village

The canal spurred rapid community development. A post office opened in 1826, initially called Portville before being renamed Knowlesville. Churches were organized (Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist), schools were established, and businesses including groceries, a tannery, blacksmith shop, and carpenter services appeared.

The village grew along both sides of the canal, with Main Street becoming its commercial spine. Infrastructure included bridges and later a lift bridge (Bridge E-206) at Knowlesville Road. Railroads arrived in the area, creating notable crossings and bridges over the canal, as seen in early 20th-century photographs.

At its peak, Knowlesville featured hotels (most notably the American Hotel/Knowlesville Hotel), multiple stores, warehouses, and shipping operations. It functioned as a vital stopping point and trading center for the surrounding countryside.

Fire and Transition

A devastating fire on July 21, 1913, destroyed the prominent Knowlesville Hotel and nearby buildings, causing an estimated $27,000 in losses and temporarily disrupting canal traffic due to damage affecting the lift bridge. The hotel was later rebuilt, but the incident highlighted the vulnerabilities of wooden canal-era structures.

As canal traffic evolved with enlargements, competition from railroads, and the shift to the modern New York State Barge Canal, Knowlesville’s prominence gradually declined. It settled into its current role as a quiet historic hamlet.

Lasting Legacy

The Erie Canal provided cheap, reliable transportation that connected local farmers to distant markets, fueling commercial agriculture and New York State’s economic growth. Knowlesville exemplified this broader impact—transforming from wilderness to a thriving canal port in just a few years.

Today, Knowlesville retains its historic character within the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. Its lift bridge and surviving canal-side features serve as tangible reminders of the waterway that built the village. The story of Knowlesville remains a classic example of how the Erie Canal created and sustained communities across New York

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While looking for a street view of the bridge, I was reminded that the canal builders sometimes had to pile up dirt rather than dig it out. The embankment on the right is holding the canal water.

Street View, Sep 2025

I knew that long stretches of the canal are on relatively level ground and don't have locks. The embankment in this town reminded me that the Medina Culvert is just west of here. That embankment is so high that they built a road through it.

John Kucko Digital posted via Dennis DeBruler
Footbridge on the Move (update):  TERRIFIC sight on this sun splashed morning at the Medina Culvert—the ONLY spot on the entire Erie Canal where vehicles go UNDER the historic waterway.  Barge 2 carrying that pedestrian footbridge to Buffalo—where it will span the 190 at Ralph Wilson Park—has just crossed over the tunnel as it proceeds west toward Buffalo.

In the stretches that have locks, the Barge Canal doesn't use the Enlarged Canal route. In some areas, they built close to the Enlarged Canal and in other areas they took a totally different route. But in this flat section, the Barge Canal uses the same route as the Enlarged Canal. They just dug out, or piled up, more dirt. This flat stretch runs from the Niagara Escarpment in Lockport (Locks #34 and #35) west of here to Lock #33 east of here.

Erie Canal Lock #44, Dry Dock and Typewriter Bridge in Llion, NY

Bridge: (Satellite)

Erie Canal Overview

Matt Korona posted
ILION NY Lock 1890s

Matt Korona commented on his post
lock 44

This is a higher resolution version of Matt's comment.

ErieCanal

ErieCanal

ErieCanal

This is where I got the name Typewriter Bridge for the above bridge that was next to Remington Arms. I think this bridge carried today's Catherine Street.

ErieCanal

The lock was dismantled in 1936.

ErieCanal_vanished, looking west

ErieCanal_vanished, looking east

I could not find the lock on this map nor on a 1900 map. The next map available is 1943, and the canal no longer exists.

1898/98 Utica Quad @ 62,500

1.2mw Trego Dam on Namekagon River near Trego, WI

(Satellite)

Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway posted

Xcel Energy will conduct a semi-annual test of the dam failure warning sirens below Trego Dam on the Namekagon River today, Monday April 6th, at 11:00 am.  The test will last about 90 seconds and involve a series of audible tones and messages. The test is in coordination with Washburn County Emergency Management, the National Park Service, and local townships.  Anyone with questions about this test should contact Xcel Energy’s 24-hour Customer Contact Center at 1-800-895-4999.

Image:  Trego Dam/NPS.  In the middle of the image to the right, water rushes over the concrete dam into a pool of bubbling water of the river creating white and rusty color foam.  The remaining concrete structure of the dam is in the background topped with green grass and trees.

George Scott: There are many smaller dams in Wisconsin that have been abandoned or are receiving minimum maintenance. A number of years ago a dam in DD Kennedy park on the Balsam Branch in Polk County partially collapsed causing a 6 foot crest to roll down stream into Lake Wapogasset and the Apple River. A few years before that another dam near Osceola collapsed causing the closing of Wisconsin 35 for about a year.

HydroRelicensing
The installed capacity is 1.2mw.

Cassie Baier posted
The dam in Trego Wi

stcroix360
Another alarm test notification

1902,1983 CPKC/KCS/GWWR/GM&O Lift Bridge over Illinois River at Pearl, IL

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

GWWR = Gateway Western Railroad

After writing this blog for more than a decade, I'm still finding bridges over the Illinois River.

The 1180' (360m) long bridge has a 425' (130m) lift span. The lift span was added in 1978. [ArchivedBridgeHunter]

Or was it 1982-83 per Barbara's comment below. I think it was 1983.

Street View, Jul 2016

2007 photo by Nathan Morton vai ArchivedBridgeHunter

This original 1885 pin-connected truss was relocated to Minnesota. [Archived Bridge Hunter]

Street View, May 2025

Exploring Pile County IL posted
The railroad bridge at Pearl Illinois This picture was donated by a member of this page for everyone to see . And will be helping to answer any questions you have about them in the comments , Thankyou !!
[Nobody asked the year of the photo. Several comments indicated that the building floating on the water was a fish market.]

Barbara Donovan posted 16 photos with the comment: "1982-83 the removal of the turnstile bridge at Pearl Landing and putting new span in."

DaVe Durham shared with the comment: "Pearl/Grand pass."

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I think the crane was on a barge so it could have stayed above the flood.

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To resolve the conflict of when the lift span was installed, 1978 vs. 1982-83, I researched the flooding of the Illinois River. I found data for Valley City, which is upstream from Perl, IL; and data for Hardin, which is downstream. I'm surprised how different they are. Late 1982 does show up as above Major Flood Stage in the Hardin record.

Valley City:

FloodStageBook, p77

Hardin:

FloodStageBook, p79

I got more Google search results for 1982 than I did for 1978. But some of the results for 1982 were in the Spring rather than in the Winter. It appears that 1982 impacted the tributaries more than the Illinois River itself.

Chart via USGS

Some comments agree that this was in 1982. This is at the Spencerville Covered Bridge. But this was in northeastern Indiana. I guess it does show that there was a lot of rain in the area.

Mary Hollabough Diehl posted

The year of the flood.   Look at the water level!! 

I remember this day like it was yesterday.  Walked down with my dad and he snapped this picture of me.  

Need help with exact year?   1982 ???  

(Photo Credit: Ted A. Hollabaugh)

This report does indicate that there was a flood during December 2-12, 1982. That correlates with Barbara's construction photos. Illinois also had flooding Winter-Spring 1982.

Soon after I published, I found confirmation that the flood started in Dec 2, 1982.