 |
| Street View, Nov 2024 |
 |
| Bridges Now and Then posted "Northeast view, completed Wolf Point Bridge (1930) - Wolf Point Bridge, Spanning Missouri River at State Highway 13, Wolf Point, Roosevelt County, MT". (Library of Congress) Hunt Agnes: OMG!! It took me a few minutes of admiring the magnificent structure to realize that there are two lunatics 🕺🕺standing on the top of it!!! |
"The Wolf Point Bridge is the finest remaining example of a Pennsylvania through truss bridge in Montapa. Completed in 1930, the four-span bridge is the most massive in the state and retains the longest through truss span in Montana. The bridge, moreover, was the result of many years lobbying by northeast Montana boosters and businessmen. When completed, it provided access to the Great Northem Railway station at Wolf Point for those farmers and ranchers who were relatively isolated on the south side of the Missouri River. The bridge has not been altered and retains its integrity of design, location and setting." [HAER_data]
The height of the old bridge probably indicates that steamboats might have come this far up the Missouri River.
John Weeks confirmed my speculation: "The bridge was situated high above the river since the US Army Corps of Engineers considered the Missouri River to be navigable at that time. Two large concrete piers were built on each side of the river channel, and a 400 foot main through truss span was erected across the river....The bridge lived up to its billing as the most massive bridge in the state of Montana."
 |
| 2017 photo by David Jones via BridgeHunter |
"Of the three main truss spans, only the southernmost (main river channel) span should be considered a Pennsylvania through truss. The remaining truss spans are both very large Parker through trusses with horizontal stabilizing members added to them, most likely because of their very large size and length. These horizontal members make it very easy to mistake these truss spans for Pennsylvania trusses, but closer observation shows a lack of the subdivided panel members required to classify these trusses as Pennsylvania trusses." [BridgeHunter]
I got a closeup of one of the Parker trusses. I had assumed the two Parker trusses were over a floodplain. But when I saw how low the new bridge was, that land had better not be a flood plain. They could have gotten elevation for the steamboats using an embankment instead of approach trusses. Was it cheaper back then to build a truss than to move dirt to build an embankment?
 |
| Street View, Nov 2024 |
It took a lot of falsework to build a bridge for steamboats.
 |
| HAER MT-96-20 20. Southeast view, span no. 3 with false work (1930) - Wolf Point Bridge, Spanning Missouri River at State Highway 13, Wolf Point, Roosevelt County, MT |
 |
| David Adolphson, Apr 2025 |
It appears the plan to fix up the bridge so that it can be used by pedestrians has been realized.
 |
| David Adolphson, Apr 2025 |
No comments:
Post a Comment