Industrial History: Abandoned Bridge, Guard Gate #3 and Rocky Rift Diversion Dam for Erie Canal near Mindenville, NY

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

Ulf Jonsson posted eight photos with the comment: "By far the strangest bridge on the canals. Between E-16 and E-17. I posted about it before but i got some more pictures today. I need to try to find time to stop here when driving up to Syracuse at some point."

Mike Karsten: The cantilevered back span supports the one side of the truss. It appears that the canal was widened and they built a new pier further back with the cantilevered span and re-used the old truss.

Paul Taylor: Key Details About the Bridge

• Location: Spans the canal and former rail alignments near Mindenville/St. Johnsville in Montgomery County.

• Design & Modification: Local historians and engineers note it is a distinctive metal truss structure featuring a cantilevered back span. Commenters and local archives suggest the bridge was altered and re-anchored on a new pier further back when the canal was widened into the modern Barge Canal system, reusing the older metal truss framework.

• Context: It previously connected local roadway paths across the waterway and the old West Shore Railroad tracks (now part of the Empire State Trail corridor).

• Current Status: The crossing has been closed to vehicle and public traffic for several years.

This diagram would be before the canal was enlarged.

Ulf Jonsson commented on his post
Ted Olsen posted this.. apparently there were tracks where the road is now on the south side. That explain some of it. The ramp over the tracks must have been steel too.

Tim Rice: Ulf Jonsson yes, with heavy wooden planks for road deck.

Jeff Antalek posted

To me old bridges just hold so much energy.

The memories of the past.

A different way of life, and the paths of many.

-Like this one that once fully spanned the Canal from Minden to the St Johnsville area.

This spot, used for a launch by the Amish sometimes is also on a spot where unfortunately,

people like to dump garbage.

I walk it sometimes with a rifle, and shoot target in the woods near there.

Every time I go in, I carry a bag for other people's refuse.

If we abuse public land we lose the right to access.

So even if we just pick up a little every time,

maybe someday, we can still bring our grandkids to these beautiful little spots.

Michael Riley: When you see the two piers on these bridges, you know they are original. Many of them were infilled into one monolith abutment to add strength. These old bridges are so neat to see and if they haven't been subject to salt, they are in quite nice shape. It would be nice to save a few of these as pedestrian bridges. Here are a few posts I wrote about the bridges of Cayuga County. https://canalsplash.blogspot.com/search/label/bridge

Cabryn Lynn commented on Jeff's post
Another view of this bridge in Mindenville, 2017.

Ted Olsen commented on Jeff's post
The next Schillner map to the west from the one depicting the bridge. The waterway from the top of the page is East Canada Creek. The smaller, narrow, linear water channel sandwiched, is the Enlarged era Mindenville feeder. It, along with the Enlarged Canal, got overdug and became the current Barge Canal waterway.

Ted Olsen commented on Jeff's post
Schillner map, which depicts a smaller bridge in this location when this water course was still just the Enlarged Canal.

Indian Castle Guard Gate #3

nycanalmap
"The stream entering the canal on the south side is Nowadaga Creek, also known as Castle Creek. You can launch on the gravel beach landing at the end of Canal Lock Road."

1927 Rocky Rift Movable Dam

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I can't figure out exactly how the gates work. The above photo shows them down for a low flow and the photos below show them up for a high flow.

Cori Wilson posted three images with the comment: "The Rocky Rift Moveable Dam, part of the New York State Erie-Barge Canal, is located at the end of Depot Road, Manheim Center, Herkimer County, New York (coordinates. It was built in 1927 to replace an earlier fixed crest dam, using a movable three-span truss bridge design to maintain Mohawk River water levels for navigation. The dam was rehabilitated in 1982 to ensure continued functionality.
A significant event associated with the dam occurred on April 11, 1944, when Reuben Klock, a 64-year-old retired farmer and the dam's caretaker, drowned while attempting to lower the dam gates. Reports suggest he may have fallen into the canal while trying to loosen stuck gates with a hammer, standing on a narrow walkway. His body was recovered on May 6, 1944, one and a half miles east of Lock 16. Eighty one years ago today..."

John J Lemche Jr.: 5 mile dam is what us locals call it