Monday, June 15, 2020

Road/GN Bridge over Columbia River at Northport, WA

1897-1946: (Bridge Hunter)
1951: (Bridge Hunter; Historic BridgesSatellite)

Forgotten Railways, Roads, and Places posted
The Columbia & Red Mountain Railway connected Northport, WA and Rossland, BC, Canada, with service beginning in 1897. At the time of its opening, its Northport Bridge was one of the first bridges over the Columbia River. Once the road was complete, the right of way became the Great Northern Railway's Rossport Branch.
While the route connected two countries, transported passengers, and crossed a major river, its primary economic driver was British Columbia's copper industry, and the railway helped transport the metal from Canadian mines into American markets.
The prosperity would come to a screeching halt during World War I, when copper prices plummeted worldwide, causing the Rossville mines to close. Just three years later, Great Northern applied to abandon the line, receiving approval from both the US and Canada to do so in 1922.
The right of way was converted into a highway (present-day WA-25 and BC-22), and the Northport Bridge served wagons and automobiles, until it was condemned and replaced in 1947.
History: https://www.northporthistory.org/bridging-the-columbia.html [There are a lot of photos in this reference]
Image: https://bridgehunter.com/wa/stevens/bh72741/

Forgotten Railways, Roads & Places shared
Kevin Stein That's hard to imagine a rail line climbing up that route to Rossland, It's a steep grade in a car.
Joe Tatangelo I don't remember ever going across the R R bridge in a car just used the propeller driven ferry it was exciting in high water

When I look at a profile view, it looks like a plan old truss bridge.
Street View
But an overview shows that it is a rather unique cantilever bridge. (Unique to my Midwestern eye. Historic Bridges explains that this flat-topped cantilever design is common in Washington State.) The truss members and the concrete girders strike me as a rather modern looking design.
C Hanchey via Bridge Hunter and Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

WA 25 Northport Bridge (Northport, Washington)


Historic WA 25 Warren cantilever through truss bridge over the Columbia River in Northport, Washington. The bridge was constructed by the Midland Structural Steel Company in 1951. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 (NRHP No. 95000624 as the Columbia River Bridge at Northport).




1 comment:

  1. This site has a pretty detailed map of the western US. He's slowly migrating further and further west.

    http://www.railmaponline.com/USWestMap.php#


    Clicking on his link for the Red Mountain Railway has this PDF:

    http://heritagerossland.com/Portals/0/revised2-Red%20Mountain%20Railway%20Bed.pdf

    ReplyDelete