Friday, October 31, 2025

1895 Dunn's Bridge over Kankakee River in Porter County, IN

(Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Street View, May 2024

The river was running high in May 2024. Here it is lower.
Street View, Oct 2022

PorterCountyParks
"The origin of Dunn's Bridge County Park has become the stuff of legend. Most historians agree that the bridge was built by a farmer named J.D. Dunn, whose property was bisected by the Kankakee River. But beyond that, the facts are a bit murky. Some say the bridge was built in the mid-1890s using steel beams salvaged from the 1893 Colombian Worlds Fair in Chicago. Others contend the bridge was built using pieces of the original Ferris Wheel, which premiered at the fair and was dismantled after the 1904 Worlds Fair. 
"Porter County Parks and Recreation purchased the 180-foot-long bridge and surrounding three acres in 1994, and undertook the award-winning restoration that helped land the bridge on the National Register of Historic Places. The bridge offers the only designated public access to the Kankakee River in Porter County, allowing fishermen and paddlers to launch their boat here and enjoy the beautify natural surroundings. Those who enjoy fishing can cast for walleye, bass, crappie, bluegill and Northern Pike, among others. In 2016, the Kankakee River was designated a national water trail."

HistoricBridges

Bridges Now and Then posted, also HistoricBridges and PorterHistory
“Construction of Dunn's Bridge over the Kankakee River, year unknown.” (Meyer's The Story of Kankakee Township, 1979)
Glenn Lemenager: Anyone have any idea where that might have been?
Dennis DeBruler: Glenn Lemenager Still exists: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jmeR1Umbi6yfoEzM7 in Dunn's Bridge County Park, https://www.portercountyparks.org/dunns-bridge.

This is another of the five historical images that HistoricBridges has.

PorterHistory
Postcard image of auto race crossing Dunn's Bridge postmarked in 1915.
"Source: Collection of Steven R. Shook.
"It is probable that the bridge trusses did indeed originate from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, but more likely from one of the domed or barrel-arched structures that were dismantled after the exposition. One persistent theory is that the arches were obtained from the dismantled Administration Building from the World's Columbian Exposition."

PorterHistory
 Administration Building, World's Columbian Exposition in
Chicago, 1893. The arches used to construct the dome
of this building may have been used to construct Dunn's Bridge.
Source: Official Views of the World's Columbian Exposition, 1893, Plate 23.

1917,2010 Bridge of Lions over Matanzas River in St. Augustine, FL

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

According to a Google Maps label, the lion statues are made with marble.
Street View, Jul 2024

Because of sailboat masts, the closed clearance becomes important. It is 18' (5.5m) with an additional 4' (1.2m) in the center. [WaterwayGuide]
Street View, Jul 2024

2012 photo by Pedro Rezende via ArchivedBridgeHunter
"Built 1927; reopened March 16, 2010, following a lengthy rehabilitation"

They built a temporary bridge with a lift span for use during the rehabilitation.
2006 photo by James Baughn via BridgeHunter

HistoricBridges
"To someone who has visited many historic movable bridges, one of the most interesting items on the bridge is the retention of fully functional historical style swing gates. The predecessors to the modern automatic gates found on bascule bridges, swing gates are rarely found on surviving historic bascule bridges, and those that do survive rarely operate. In the case of this bridge, the swing gates are fully operational and close when the bridge is raised, and include a bell that rings. Modern gates are also present further back which also operate during a bridge left and meet modern safety codes.
"During rehabilitation, an enormous temporary Bailey truss vertical lift bridge was erected to carry traffic on this important roadway. In its own way, this interesting adaptation of the infinitely adaptable Bailey truss is an interesting engineering feat in itself."

They not only built a temporary lift span, they built a lot of temporary piers and approach spans.
2007 comment by Brian and Jennifer Ross in ArchivedBridgeHunter

This confirms that they built new approaches and they removed many of the piers of the old bridge. About the only thing they kept were the bridge towers.
Google Earth, Jan 2008

John Merriam posted
Sunrise fishing at St Augustine's Bridge of Lions.  The Vilano Causeway is in the distance as well.— in St. Augustine, Florida.

Thursday, October 30, 2025

1857-1963 B&O #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16 and #17 Tunnels east of Cairo, WV

11: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter returns 403; Satellite)
12: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Satellite)
16: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Satellite) bypassed according to Cornwallis photos below
17: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Satellite) bypassed according to Mike below

This B&O route is now the North Bend Rail Trail.

Note the blue numbers along the B&O railroad.
1926/26 Harrisville Quad @ 62,500

#11 Tunnel


#11 has been daylighted, and I can't get a street view of the cut, so there are no photos for this one.

#12 Tunnel


Jon Henderson, Jan 2023

The number on top of the portal keeps sources consistent.
Jon Henderson, Jan 2023

Jon Henderson, Jan 2023

#13 (Bonds Creek) Tunnel


 353' is 108m.
Billy Green, Sep 2022

That is an impressive curve.
Jon Henderson, Jan 2023

Mike Flickr via ArchivedBridgeHunter_#13
This wasnt always a tranquil and peaceful setting as this image appears to be today. On May 31, 1956, the B&O westbound National Limited passenger train wrecked as it emerged from Tunnel #13 and the engine tumbled into Bonds Creek on the north side of the bridge. The engineer, Joseph C. Riley, and the fireman, Paul R. Hooten, were killed in the weck. Forty-five other persons on the train were injured, including members of the train crew, other railroad employees and 29 passengers.
The Bonds Creek Bridge and Tunnel sits about three miles east of Cairo West Virginia and is now part of the North Bend Rail Trail.

#14 Tunnel


We can see the cut that daylighted the mountain.
Street View, Sep 2025, looking West

#15 Tunnel


This cut is not as significant as the above. Looking at the topo map, there are fewer contour lines on this peninsula than the one that #14 went through.
Street View, Sep 2025, looking West

The road on the right doesn't look much wider than the trail on the left.
Street View, Sep 2025

2013 photo by Robert Elder via ArchivedBridgeHunter_#15
Foundation from the south side

#16 (Cornwallis according to Google Maps) Tunnel


Note the 1857 date carved near the top of the portal.
Robbie Scott, Dec 2024

#17 Tunnel


Mike Tewkesbury posted two photos with the comment: "Abandoned tunnel #17 of the Parkersburg Branch of the B&O Railroad, built with a timber interior in the 1850s, rebuilt using stone in the late 1860s and abandoned in 1963. The tunnel sits east of Cairo, West Virginia and retains its original clearance of 14 feet 2 inches. It was bypassed during the rebuilding of the branch line in 1963 along with two others (#3 and #22), also abandoned when the track was rerouted around them. Ten other tunnels were modified with their ceilings raised or floors lowered to add three feet to their clearance. (#21 collapsed during the Clearance Project, abandoned due to the unstability of the terrain,  and a new tunnel was constructed to replace it.) Nine other tunnels along the original line were daylighted and eliminated altogether."
Brian Freeman: Interesting that it’s written as a branch line, I thought the Parkersburg Line was part of the main to St. Louis?
Mike Tewkesbury: The St. Louis Line was the main route and the Parkersburg Branch connected Parkersburg WVa at the Ohio River to the main line at Grafton.
[So where was the St. Louis line? See B&O #3 and #4 Tunnels for more information about this B&O route.]
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2013 photo by Robert Elder via ArchivedBridgeHunter_#17
East Portal
Notice that the floor was never lowered in this tunnel.


1854-1963 B&O #3 and #4 Tunnels near Smithburg, WV

#3: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter returns 403; Satellite)
#4: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter returns 403; Satellite, Bridge Hunter's pin)

The North Bend Rail Trail uses Tunnel #4, but it goes south of Tunnel #3. That is, #3 is abandoned. Bridge Hunter has "Long Run Tunnel" in its title for #4, but its name is Sherwood. I agree with the following post that #3 is Long Run Tunnel.

Tunnel #3


Mike Tewkesbury posted three images with the comment: "The abandoned Trough Tunnel, known as Long Run or Tunnel Number 3 of the B&O Railroad, in Doddridge County WV, built in 1854 and bypassed in 1963. Other tunnels were either bypassed, daylighted or modified to add three feet of clearance to the tight tunnel heights. Tunnel 3 retains its original 14 feet 2 inches. Of the 21 tunnels along the 72 mile long Parkersburg Branch, eight were daylighted, floors were lowered in five, ceilings were raised in four, three were bypassed and another complete bore was made to replace Tunnel 21 that collapsed during reconstruction. All of this is now part of the North Bend Rail Trail, aka, Rails to Trails. A nice touch to this adventure is that an artist, unknown to me at the time, asked if he could use my photo so he could recreate it in a drawing. He did just that and, as a way of thanking me, sent me a half a dozen greeting cards featuring that very drawing. He didn't have to do that and I am very grateful. A pic of the amazing card is included."
[After they did all of that work in 1963, when was this route abandoned?]
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2, cropped

3

Tunnel #4


Photo by sparkyoffspring via ArchivedBridgeHunter_#4

This tunnel is dark because it is curved and long. The marker is at the west portal. The east portal is above the top of the Buckeye Creek.
Satellite

Correction, the curve is small enough that daylight can get through.
Andrew Debner, Jul 2023

846' is 258m.
Dana Rukse, Oct 202

It appears it is lined with cut stone instead of bricks.
Dana Rukse, Oct 2020


Both


1961/63 Smithburg Quad @ 24,000

Tunnel #3 is the one that is close to Long Run Road.
Satellite

I've studied the B&O quite a bit in New York. I also need to study the B&O routes in West Virginia. These tunnels are between West Union and Salem. So it appears the mainline to St. Louis is abandoned.
<update>
This was not the mainline to St. Louis, it was the Parkersburg Branch.]
Comments on a post by Mike Tewkesbury concerning Tunnel #17:
Brian Freeman: Interesting that it’s written as a branch line, I thought the Parkersburg Line was part of the main to St. Louis?
Mike Tewkesbury: The St. Louis Line was the main route and the Parkersburg Branch connected Parkersburg WVa at the Ohio River to the main line at Grafton.
[So where was the St. Louis line?]
</update>
rumsey

1800's, and newer, Canals Overview


Metrotrails posted
A good overview of the historic canals of the northeastern United States. 
As a group we have traced all of the Morris Canal, Delaware and Raritan Canal, Union Canal, Schuylkill Navigation, Lehigh Canal, Delaware Canal, and Delaware and Hudson Canal.
We have traced sections of the Pennsylvania Canal (all of Susquehanna Division, Juniata Division, and Allegheny Portage Railroad), parts of Western Division, North Branch Canal, Susquehanna and Tidewater, Erie, Champlain, Blackstone, New Haven & Northampton, and more than half of Chesapeake and Ohio. 
Each has been amazing.
Vince Gargiulo: So out of the group how many used inclined planes?
Metrotrails: Vince Gargiulo Morris Canal had 23, 24 if you count the electric one. I understand there was one connected to the Potomac. Other than that no inclined planes on the canals themselves. The early connection railways had them, but it wasn't the same. The most were on Delaware and Hudson Gravity Railroad. Second most on Pennsylvania Coal Company Gravity Railroad. Allegheny Portage Railroad had 10, Philadelphia and Columbia had 2. Lehigh and Susquehanna had 3. Mauch Chunk had 2 main, several connecting. Many early anthracite lines had them.

Comments on the above post

Comments on the above post

This is why the Erie Canal sparked such a canal building frenzy in the Midwest before the railroads made them obsolete.
Unify posted
"Why is patience so important?"
"Because it makes us pay attention."
— Paulo Coelho
Paul Petraitis shared

Old, and some newer, canals that I have noted:

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

1829 Lehigh Canal (Navigation) Overview

The Lehigh Canal was built to facilitate transporting anthracite coal to eastern markets. It went just to Easton, PA, on the Delaware River because from there other canals connected to New York and Philadelphia. Before navigation was improved along the Lehigh River, it was cheaper to ship bituminous coal from England than anthracite coal from the Lehigh Valley. "The Lehigh Navigation project began in 1827 and was completed in 1829. The canal was 60 feet wide at the top and 45 feet wide at the bottom and was 5 feet deep. There were a total of 48 lift locks over the Lehigh Navigation’s 46-mile route from Mauch Chunk (presently Jim Thorpe) to Easton. Ten miles of this route was made up of slack water pools (Hugh Moore Historical Park and Museums)." [lehigh_canal]

Lehigh Canal Lock #1 in Jim Thorpe/Mauch Chunk, PA

(Satellite)

Lehigh Canal Overview

National Canal Museum posted
This color postcard of Mauch Chunk, sent in 1913 to DLNHC Historian Martha’s grandmother in Connecticut, shows a view familiar to many tourists who once visited the “Switzerland of America” in search of cool breezes and a thrilling ride on the Switchback Railroad.
But to us canal geeks, who scrutinize old images like these for clues about the operation of the Lehigh Navigation, this is a fascinating picture. That brown swath of dirt at the bottom of the postcard is the dry bed of the Lehigh River! Yet, curved around the base of Bear Mountain is the Lehigh Canal, filled to the brim with six feet of blue-gray water.
How did this happen? On the left side of the picture is Dam No. 1. It backed up the waters of the Lehigh so the river was deep enough for canal boats loaded with 100 tons of anthracite coal, and water and the boats could be fed into Lock No. 1 of the canal. Apparently, the summer this postcard photo was shot was a dry one, so there was only enough water in the river behind the dam to feed the canal.
Matthew Shäfferz: Sewer plant is there today.

1922/52 Mauch Chunk Quad @ 62,500


1877+1910 NS/N&W/Scioto Valley Railroad Bridges over Paint Creek near Chillicothe, OH

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter returns 403; no Historic Bridges; B&TSatellite)

Street View, Jun 2024

"The first bridge at this location was built by the Scioto Valley Railroad (SVR) between 1875 and 1877 and was ready for track laying on September 10, 1877. Boatloads of iron for its construction were delivered via the Ohio & Erie Canal." [B&T]

Bridges & Tunnels posted three photos with the comment:
115 years later, this Norfolk Southern bridge still stands strong.
The Columbus District line crosses Paint Creek in Chillicothe, Ohio, on a four-span Warren through truss bridge completed around 1910. It replaced an earlier structure built by the Scioto Valley Railroad in 1877.
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