1886+1902 E&LS/Milwaukee Kingsford Bridge over Menominee River

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

E&LW = Escanaba & Lake Superior

2012 photo by Nathan Holth via HistoricBridges

It is obvious that this is a three-hinged arch because the hinge at the crown is so explicit. 

Mark Boettcher, Nov 2025

Aerial view of bridge, September 10, 2020. Photo Credit: Doug Heim, Angelcopter, LLC via HistoricBridges

David Schauer posted
Our last shot from Monday's chase was our best, and a good way to end our long weekend in the Upper Peninsula. E&LS 400/600 crossing the Menominee River south of Iron Mountain with 35 cars of scrap from Alter Metal Recycling, which is located out of the frame to the left. Our long trip back to Duluth was made easier by listening to the Brewers beat the Dodgers. Kingsford, MI - October 12, 2026 Note: drone flight in restricted airspace was approved using LAANC.

Scott Best: Awesome! What's near by that area that makes the air space restricted!?

David Schauer: Scott Best Iron Mountain airport.

HistoricBridges
"The Historic American Engineering Record reported that the bridge is probably the second bridge at this location, since the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad reached Iron Mountain in 1886. A period article about the bridge stated that the previous bridge was a Pratt deck truss with a 225 foot span. A historical photo of the arch bridge under construction appears to show the previous bridge in the background as a double intersection Pratt (Whipple) deck truss."

1906-2011 22 1/2 Mile Road Bridge over St. Joseph river near Clarendon, MI

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

I noticed that this 1910's bridge used riveted gusset plates rather than pin connections. Historic Bridges confirms that this would be an early example of riveted connections.

HistoricBridges
"This bridge was built by the Elkhart Bridge and Iron Company of Elkhart, Indiana, one of many medium-sized metal truss bridge companies in the Midwest during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."
"Most through truss bridges that have this general appearance, with a traditional trapezoidal design and fairly lightweight members, have pinned connections, but this bridge has riveted connections instead."

Jennifer Woodman posted 13 photos with the comment: "The 22 1/2 Mile Road Bridge near Clarendon in Calhoun County, MI was built in 1906 by the Elkhart Bridge and Iron Company and is historically significant as the last remaining truss bridge in Michigan associated with them. The bridge is a six panel rivet-connected Pratt through truss with a wood deck. It was closed to traffic by 2011.— in Clarendon, Michigan."

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2026 Ozinga Low-Carbon Slag Cement Mill in East Chicago, IN

(Satellite? I looked at a half-dozen web pages, but I could not find the location in East Chicago. It is too new to show up in a satellite image in Oct 2026.)

Ozinga posted

We have officially cut the ribbon on our new slag cement mill in East Chicago, Indiana! This is a proud milestone for our team, for Midwest construction, and for every project team working to reduce embodied carbon without giving up performance.

Slag is produced during steelmaking. Instead of letting it go to waste, we recycle it into high-performance slag cement. At full capacity, the mill will produce one million tons of slag cement every year.

The mill is projected to offset more than 700,000 metric tons of CO₂ annually, the equivalent of taking more than 150,000 gasoline-powered cars off the road for a year. Our CarbonSense blends deliver up to 80% less embodied carbon than traditional Portland cement mixes, and all products meet ASTM C989 and ASTM C1157 performance standards, giving designers and specifiers a compliant path to lower-carbon concrete. 

Supply constraints have led to allocations, delays, and price swings for Portland cement in recent years. Direct rail, water, and highway access lets us move material reliably across the Midwest and beyond. One barge carries the equivalent of 75 semi-trucks, which also lowers the total embodied carbon of every ton we ship.

"We built this mill in the heart of the Midwest because we believe it is central to producing high-performing, American-made materials that will be the foundation of U.S. infrastructure for years to come. We are taking the cement-to-concrete process from start to finish, with American ownership at every step of the domestic supply chain, with homegrown scientific innovation, and with American workers all the way." - Marty Ozinga 

We're grateful to Gov. Mike Braun, U.S. Sen. Todd Young, U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland, the East Chicago City Council, Morrison Construction, and many other partners and vendors, for helping bring this vision to life.

Clarence Deckinga: Y didn’t they use slag years ago for cement has the slag changed recently.

Ima Psuedonym: Clarence Deckinga Slag has been around for decades. We started blending it with Portland cement back in the early 90’s when Cement companies started using waste products as fuel for the kilns. The waste fuel adversely affected the strength gain of the Portland. Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag has a high percentage of calcium silicates to interact with the Portland’s high percentage of calcium aluminates, resulting in better concrete.

Ozinga
North America’s Largest Low-Carbon Cement Mill

At the heart of the facility is the MVR5300-C6 vertical roller mill from Gebr. Pfeiffer, the largest of its kind in North America. With six independent rollers and unmatched throughput capacity, the mill maximizes energy efficiency while minimizing carbon emissions.

“This isn’t just a plant—it’s a technological milestone,” said Timothy Burden, President of Gebr. Pfeiffer Americas. “The MVR5300-C6 sets a new benchmark for sustainable cement production.”

The facility will produce ASTM C989-compliant low-carbon slag cement, as well as proprietary blends under Ozinga’s CarbonSense™ brand, meeting ASTM C1157 performance standards and delivering up to 80% reductions in embodied carbon. Once fully operational, the plant is projected to offset more than 700,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually, a significant reduction in the carbon footprint of U.S. construction.

Ozinga’s leadership in sustainable building materials has been strengthened by partnerships with Meta, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and other industry leaders. These collaborations have yielded AI-optimized low-carbon concrete, used in Meta’s DeKalb, IL data center, and enabled a 64% reduction in embodied carbon at the award-winning Amazon Web Services New Carlisle, IN data center, setting a new industry benchmark.

As of the Oct 2026 ribbon cutting, Ozinga's location map doesn't mark the location.

Ozinga_locations

The plant is served by the IHB.

RailwayAge
"IHB (map above) encircles Chicago, extending from near O’Hare to Northwest Indiana, and roughly parallels Interstate 294 (Tri-State Expressway) and I-80/94. Our diverse business portfolio encompasses steel, automotive, and oil-related commodities. It also extends eastward for 16 miles on trackage rights to access Burns Harbor and Portage, Ind., including Indiana’s International Port. (Courtesy of IHB)"

H&BTM and Pennsy Bridges over Raystown Branch Juniata River and US-30 near Everett, PA

1937 Trail/Fishbelly: (Archived Bridge Hunter; no Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Thropp Viaduct: (no Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite, approx.)

Pennsy Bridge: (Satellite)

H&BTM = Huntingdon & Broad Top Mountain

Lincoln Highway Overview

1937 Trail/Fishbelly

Street View, Nov 2024

It has been added to the trail.

Eldon Martin, Feb 2021

Thropp Viaduct

This bridge also went over US-30 (Lincoln Highway). 

c1921 Postcard via BridgeHunter

5 of 8 images posted by PRR Bedford Branch History Preservationist with the comment:

Between Everett and Mount Dallas, there was a spur that rounded a 180-degree turn as it crossed the Raystown branch of the Juniata river to the south side. There it served the Earlston Furnace. 

This was called the Thropp bridge. 

built in 1884 by the Everett Iron Company.

The furnace went idle shortly after opening, but was put back into operation when the company was purchased by Joseph Thropp in 1889 and put into blast in 1890. The furnace was shut down in 1923, and the company went bankrupt in 1933. In June 1933, the plant was sold to the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, who began dismantling it in June of 1934.

This furnace was connected to the H&BTM using the Thropp Bridge. But it was also directly connected to the PRR too. Refer to the map and you can see the direct connection bypassing the Thropp Bridge.

Byron Smail: Earlston furnace was 1 of the 4 major latest and most modern iron furnaces in the Juniata Iron District.

Rockhill, Saxton, Riddlesburg, Earlston

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[The Thropp bridge is in the background.]

Pennsy Bridge

PRR Bedford Branch History Preservationist posted
[The skinny piers on top of thick piers indicates that truss spans were replaced with girder spans.]

PRR Bedford Branch History Preservationist posted
PRR Bridge in Everett.

Thomas AndChristina Turner: The Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge once carried trains across the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River as part of the rail line running through Mt. Dallas en route to Bedford. After years of disuse, the bridge was dismantled in 1986. Though largely forgotten and now obscured by vegetation, a single stone abutment still stands on the south side of the river. While difficult to see from Route 30, this surviving remnant marks the spot where trains once crossed the river and serves as a quiet reminder of the area’s railroad heritage.

The Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge served a rairoadl crossing in the area. As shown in these photos, this important structure carried the PRR line over both the Lincoln Highway and the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River. More significantly, it functioned as the critical junction that directed trains either to the turntable or onward to Bedford, making it a key component of Everett’s rail network. Courtesy of Larry Foor, President of the Everett, PA ( Bloody Run Historical Society) Facebook group and President of the Bloody Run Historical Society and Train Station Museum, Everett, Pennsylvania.

PRR Bedford Branch History Preservationist posted
Photo of the PRR Bridge near Mt. Dallas going into Everett.

When they first converted from truss to girder spans, they used wood bents for the new piers.

PRR Bedford Branch History Preservationist posted two photos with the comment: "A very cool picture looking west at the narrows from Cumberland.  Note the Cumberland Glass factory plants chimney stack."

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I was confused because these maps show just the Pennsy bridge. The H&BTM bridge would be curve back East to head to the Earlston Blast Furnace.

PRR Bedford Branch History Preservationist commented on their own post
[Sorry, I lost track of which post.]

Peter Fleszar commented on the above comment
here’s a map of present day showing the hiking trails on both sides of the gap relative to the old rail lines

rail.guide

H&BTM had trackage rights on the Pennsy so that their trains could continue to Bedford, PA. [Description on Facebook post of a turntable at Mt. Dallas to turn their locomotives]

Alverno Dam on Black River near Cheboygan, MI

(Satellite)

See April 2026 Flood for more photos of this dam.

Anchor In Marina and Storage posted

A great shot from Craig Passeno

The Alverno Dam keeps the upper Black River and Black Lake stable, it feeds to the ‘Black River ‘ which flows in to the Cheboygan River , right at Anchor In. All the white are the sand bags that were placed today. 

Give her strength!

Thumbwind posted

**Black River Dam, Cheboygan County, Michigan**

Black River Dam in Cheboygan County fills this postcard with timber cribbing, a riverside powerhouse and water pouring over a spillway. Several people stand on the dam’s platforms and along the rocky banks.

The University of Michigan’s matching archive record links the view to Alverno Dam, south of Cheboygan. The hydroelectric site dates to the early 1900s and used the river’s flow to generate electricity. Water leaving Black Lake passes through the Lower Black River toward the Cheboygan River and Lake Huron.

https://michigan4you.com/history-of-mullett-lake-michigan/black-river-dam/

Facebook Reel

1957 I-880 Cypress Street Viaduct collapsed Oct 17, 1989, at 5:04pm during the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake

(Satellite)

cnu, Source: H. G. Wilshire for U.S. Geological Survey
engineering
"In October 17, 1989 the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay area, causing over $12 billion in damages and claiming 64 lives. Over half the victims were on the Cypress Street Viaduct during the quake....On October 17, 1989 at 5:04 p.m., a devastating earthquake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale, rocked the city of Oakland, causing billions of dollars worth of damage and a death toll of 64....The deaths on the Cypress Viaduct, 35 in total, accounted for more than fifty percent of the 64 lives taken during the earthquake. Fortunately, only about eighty vehicles were on the affected stretch of highway during the earthquake — a fact attributed to a sporting event: the San Francisco Giants were playing in the World Series and people were indoors anticipating the commencement of the game."

American Experience | PBS posted

Thirty-seven years ago today [Oct 17, 1989], just before Game 3 of the 1989 World Series, fans at San Francisco's Candlestick Park felt the earth shake beneath their seats.

It turned out to be the 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake, which resonated throughout the Bay Area, ultimately responsible for 63 deaths and thousands of injuries.

📸: Collapsed sections of the Cypress Street viaduct of Interstate Highway 880 in Oakland, California, in the aftermath of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. (H.G. Wilshire/United States Geological Survey)

[The comments are interesting. Several people describe what they saw during the earthquake.]

localwiki
engineering
"During the Loma Prieta earthquake, the entire Viaduct structure began to vibrate tremendously (Peterson, 1990). Whereas well-graded soils helped to dampen vibrations (Yashinsky, 1998), the soft “bay mud” upon which most of the structure was constructed actually served to increase the amplitude of vibrations by up to five times in comparison to that of the rest of the freeway which was built on rock. In addition, it was later determined that the angular frequency of the seismic waves almost exactly matched a natural angular frequency of the individual horizontal sections of the structure (Halliday et al., 1993). It is suggested that these sediment resonances could have played a significant role in contributing to the freeway collapse, since the resulting forces were not anticipated in the original design.
"The Cypress Street Viaduct was designed as a two-tier multi-lane highway constructed of reinforced concrete (Moehle, 1997). Upper and lower levels were connected by two-column bents in a combination of cast concrete and four pin (shear key) connections. The upper deck in some sections was not securely fastened to the lower deck, making this concrete susceptible to vibrations. As the bridge vibrated during the earthquake, the pins connecting the upper level to the lower level also began to vibrate, causing the concrete surrounding the pins to crumble and break away. Without the presence of concrete under the support columns, the columns slid sideways under the weight of the upper deck and allowed a large portion of the upper deck to collapse (Yashinsky, 1998)." The concrete itself tested as structurally sound.

infinityeng

Part of the land used for the spiral ramp is now the Cypress Freeway Memorial Park.

cnu,  Source: California Highways and Public Works
"The construction of the Cypress Street Viaduct displaced over 600 families and the surrounding urban renewal projects destroyed over 5000 residences."
This source puts the strength of the earthquake at 7.1. The viaduct collapsed between 7th and 18th Streets.  (I question this range. See the dotted red line on the USGS diagram below.) The highway was carrying 160,000 daily vehicles. The $1.1b replacement was built primarily over railroad land rather than through residential and commercial land. The old route was rebuilt as the $13m Mandela Parkway.

localwikie

I read about this collapse many years ago. I remember that some drivers deliberately parked over the columns thinking that would be the strongest part of the viaduct. Unfortunately, that is where there was a thick bent cap overhead for the upper deck. When the upper deck collapsed, those drivers were crushed. Drivers that were away from the piers survived because there was a gap between the two decks after the collapse.

infinityeng
The earthquake lasted for 15 seconds.

usgs
"The part of the Cypress freeway structure in Oakland, California, that stood on soft mud (dashed red line) collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing 42 people. Adjacent parts of the structure (solid red) that were built on firmer ground remained standing. Seismograms (upper right) show that the shaking was especially severe in the soft mud. (Photograph by Lloyd S. Cluff)"
[A source that I have lost indicated that the soft mud vibrated with a frequency that matched the resonant frequency of the viaduct. Evidently, the vibration of the sand & gravel had a different frequency so that part survived.  Even if they had reinforced the viaduct, it may not have sruvived because the issue of matching frequencies between the ground and structure was not a known design issue until this failure.]

This map shows how the freeway cut through a residential neighborhood.

1980/81 Oakland West Quad @ 24,000

A satellite image shows how the replacement highway went around the neighborhood.

Satellite