Erie Canal Aqueduct over Otsquago Creek in Fort Plain, NY, Destroyed by flood in 1981

Lost Aqueduct: (Satellite)

1931 Otsquago Creek Bridge: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Erie Canal Overview

Joel Torres posted two photos with the comment:

The Fort Plain Aqueduct was destroyed by flooding in October 1981😢

Fort Plain,N.Y.

Darren Bellen: If i remember correctly , it wasn't actually an aqueduct it was the tow path bridge ?

Noel Ramage: Darren Bellen both. What you could walk across was the tow path bridge but on the other side(from the perspective of the photo) are the support trusts that held the wooden aqueduct runway. Both parts make up an aqueduct, only the stone remains on all but one (Camillius Aqueduct is fully restored and rewatered.) I have lived in Palmyra for most of my life where we have one as well and didn't learn this until my early 30s. Pretty amazing how little I learned about the canal in school. Grew up fishing the off/under aqueduct, driving by it every day and didn't understand what it was until a few years ago when joining this group. The Palmyra Aqueduct's middle two trusts are starting to settle and sink and I fear this same situation is soon to happen if nothing is done to restore it.

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Jeff Miller commented on Joel's post
The footers are still there…
[As is typical with Facebook comments, he didn't bother to give a location.]

Jeff Miller commented on Joel's post
A little foundation is left as well…
[I can see the footings in the water, but I could not find this bridge. It is not today's trail bridge.]

Dennis DeBruler: Jeff Miller Where is this bridge? I have ruled out the trail bridge and the Hancock Street Bridge.

Be warned, I was confused as to how the canal crossed Otsquago Creek when I studied the Erie Canal in Fort Plain. Now that I have more information, I was confused for a long time because I thought we were looking downstream in the following photo since the middle arches have been pushed back and there is a tree trunk lodged against the aqueduct. But Geoff's bridge photo and street view below taught me that we are looking upstream. (I'm still assuming that Otsquago Creek flows East into the Mohawk River.) Another source of my confusion is that the 1898 topo map shows the canal paralleling Canal Street across the creek. I now think it angled east from today's Legion Street just a little south of River Street.

Back in the days of the canal, it was Canal Street, not Legion Street, that crossed the creek.

1898/1954 Canajoharie Quad via Dennis DeBruler

2021 photo by Geoff Hubbs via BridgeHunter

This house that is in both of Joe's photos at the top of these notes is on the south side of the bridge.

Street View, Oct 2024

The next available topo map shows the 1931 Hancock Street Bridge. But it makes the aqueduct look like the State Street road bridge.

1944/53 Canajoharie Quad @ 24,000

I started out with this aerial photo because it was supposed to have a better resolution.

Sep 23, 1958 @ 25,000; ARA550500131112

But it did not look very good, so I got the other available aerial. It looks better. Given the diagonal treeline on the north side of the aqueduct, I think the canal angled over until it got to today's Legion Street and then it went through town parallel to Canal Street.

Oct 21, 1959 @ 60,000; ARB593500800779

This tree line on the north side of town and...

Satellite
Lock E15 is part of today's Barge Canal.

...these topo maps indicate that the canal went behind the buildings on the east side of Canal Street.

1944 Fort Plain and Canajoharie Quads @ 24,000

So this is my current theory as to how the canal went through the town.

Satellite plus Paint

1932 Erie Canal Jordan Aqueduct over Skaneateles River in Jordan, NY

(Satellite)

Erie Canal Overview

Street View, Apr 2023

Jules Hoepting, Feb 2024

Jules Hoepting, Feb 2024

1900/00 Baldwinsville Quad @ 62,500

Joel Torres posted two photos and a video with the comment:

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Maureen J. Doyle commented on Joel's post
Here is the Jordan Aqueduct over Skaneateles Creek. 

US-66 (Route 66), US-20 and US-40 (National Road) Overviews

I went to add this US-20 overview to the US-66 overview, but discovered I don't have an overview for Route 66. (I do have an overview for US-30 (Lincoln Highway).)

20 Overview Link

40 Overview Link

Route 66 is also called the Mother Road.

route66-map

The alignments are color coded:

Red = oldest alignments. 20’s – 30’s

Brown = 30’s – 40’s

Green = 40’s – 50’s

"The last alignments were Interstates and are not drawn on the map."

The route66-map is interactive. For example:

Digitally Zoomed

"Route 66 had its official beginnings in 1926 when the Bureau of Public Roads launched the nation’s first Federal highway system....Five new interstates (I-55, I-44, I-40, I-15, and I-10) incrementally replaced U.S. 66 over the next three decades [1960-89]. Interstate construction coincided with the powerful forces of economic consolidation as evidenced by the growth of branded gasoline stations, motels, and restaurant chains. The 1984 bypassing of the last section of U.S. 66 by I-40 led to the official decommissioning of the highway in 1985, impacting countless businesses and communities along the road." [nps]

Features along US-66 that I have noted, ordered from east to west, then oldest to newest.

• Ogden (Laramie) Avenue Overpass (Bridge) for BNSF/BN/CB&Q in Cicero, IL
• Joliet Road across McCook Quarry (see the satellite image with the red line below.)
• IL-53 (Historic US-66) over Kankakee River in Wilmington, IL
• 1910 McKinley Bridge over the Mississippi River at St Louis+Venice, carried the designation during 1926-1930
• 1929 Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi river north of St. Louis, carried the designation during 1930-55
• MacArthur Bridge over Mississippi River at St. Louis, IL, this also carried the route during 1929-66. The vehicle deck closed in 1981.
• 1967 Poplar Street Bridge over Mississippi River at St. Louis, carried the designation during 1967-77
• Closed US-66 Bridge over Meramec River at Eureka, MO
• 1928+1997 US-66 "Branch" Bridge over Gasconade River near Jerome, MO
• 1924-2014 Aban/US-66 over Gasconade River near Hazlegreen, MO
• 1923 Route 66 Rainbow Bridge over Brush Creek near Baxter Springs, KS
• 1936-2011+1957 OK-66/US-66 over Bird Creek (Verdigris River) near Catoosa, OK
• 1933 US-281 (Originally US-66) Pony Bridges over South Canadian River near Bridgeport, OK
• 1930 US-66 Pony Truss Bridge saved in a Roadside Park in Hydro, OK
• 1915 Old US-66 Canyon Diablo Bridge near Two Guns, AZ

Illinois has a lot of tourist information concerning the route. The have brochures in German, Mandarin and Japanese as well as English. This is a page from their maps pdf.

pdf, p2 via IllinoisRoute66

This is an excerpt from the English brochure.

IllinoisRoute66_english

nps_000
[The nps has a lot of information. Unfortunately, I started getting "can't be reached" error messages before I could look at most of the webpages. I could still access any non-nps webpage.]

I knew that Route 66 used to use Joliet Road through some of the western suburbs of Chicago. But I didn't know how it got from Ogden down to Joliet Road. I see that Google Maps now labels the route. I added a red line to mark that part of Joliet Road that has been closed because the McCook Quarry undermined the road.

Satellite plus Paint

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US-20

I went to add this US-20 overview to the US-66 overview, but then I discovered that I don't have an overview for Route 66. (I did have an overview for US-30 (Lincoln Highway).)

Exploring Historic Route 20 posted

Happy New Year!!  Historic Route 20 is a 3365 mile highway that stretches from Boston, Massachusetts to Newport, Oregon.

Is considered the longest federal highway in the United States.

Route 20 is not continuous, however, as some social media posts claim.  There is a break in Yellowstone National Park from its east entrance to its west entrance.  

The 3365 mile reference was calculated way back in 1989 and has not sufficiently been updated since this time.  It took into account alternate routes, such US 20A in New York and Ohio. 

However, our calculations have determined that if you were to drive continuously from Boston to Oregon and through Yellowstone National Park, this number is pretty accurate.

Route 20 travels through 12 states and is the longest highway in several of those states.

Route 20 was officially announced in November 19 25 and became official in November 1926.  It is the same date as other famous highways such as Route 66.

While the entire route could be seen in under one week of travel, two weeks of sufficient to see many of the sites - yet 20 days gets you more. 

This image is our first ever postcard image that we ever made of the highway back in 2012 when we began the organization.

Features along US-20 that I have noted, ordered from east to west, then oldest to newest.

• 1929,1968+2020s US-20 Bridges over Cazenovia Creek at West Seneca, NY
• 1929,2000 US-20 Bridge over 18 Mile Creek south of Buffalo, NY
• 1887-1943 US-20 Wagon or High Bridge over Mississippi River at Dubuque, IA
• 1943 US-20 Julien Dubuque Bridge over Mississippi River at Dubuque, IA

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US-40 (National Road)

nps_national
"The National Road was the first highway built entirely with federal funds. The road was authorized by Congress in 1806 during the Jefferson Administration. Construction began in Cumberland, Maryland in 1811. The route closely paralleled the military road opened by George Washington and General Braddock in 1754-55.  By 1818 the road had been completed to the Ohio River at Wheeling, which was then in Virginia. Eventually the road was pushed through central Ohio and Indiana reaching Vandalia, Illinois in the 1830's where construction ceased due to a lack of funds. The National Road opened the Ohio River Valley and the Midwest for settlement and commerce."

Features along US-40 that I have noted, ordered from east to west, then oldest to newest.

• 1928+1939,1988,2011 US-40 Bridges over East Channel Susquehanna River at Perryville, MD
• 1939,1988,2011 US-40 Bridge over West Channel Susquehanna River at Havre de Grace, MD
• 1815+1932 US-40 Bridges over Casselman River near Grantsville, MD
• 1818+WWII US-40 Great Crossing Bridges at Somerfield, PA
• 1960 US-40 Lane Bane Bridge over Monongahela River at Brownsville, PA
• 1891-1955,1962 US-40 Steel Bridge over Ohio River in Wheeling, WV
• 1839+1893,1987+? US-40 Bridges over West Channel Ohio River at Bridgeport, OH
• 2000 Covered, US-40 and CSX/Pennsy Bridges over Embarras River west of Greenup, IL
• 1951,1987-89,2015,2018-20 Martin Luther King Bridge over Mississippi River at St. Louis
• 1904-1991 St. Charles Highway Bridge over Missouri River at St. Charles, MO
• 1935-2016+1991+2015 I-64+US-40+US-61 Daniel Boone Bridge over Missouri River at Chesterfield, MO

1928+1997 US-66 "Branch" Bridge over Gasconade River near Jerome, MO

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite, the old truss bridge has been removed.)

US-66 Overview

HAER MO-89-1
1. Jerome Bridge, view to the southeast - Jerome Bridge, Spanning Gasconade River at Missouri State Route D, Jerome, Phelps County, MO

The bridge in the left background is the BNSF/Frisco Bridge.

HAER MO-89-4
4. Typical pratt truss span (span no. 3), view to the northeast

"Significance: The Jerome Bridge is a four-span pin-connected, Pratt through truss, and is significant as a relatively uncommon example of a multiplespan, pinned through truss. Built as a toll bridge by the Jerome Bridge Company, the structure is significant as well for its association with the growing toll bridge industry of the 1920s." [HAER_data]

Credit: Missouri State Archives via BridgeHunter

Facebook Reel

The Facebook Reel is wrong, this is not a US-66 Bridge; it was a toll bridge that allowed the tourists on US-66 to easily access the already established tourist and resort economy in Jerome. [HAER_data].

1950/57 Newburg Quad @ 24,000

Of course, US-66 is now routed on I-44. But we can still find remnants of the original US-66.

Satellite

Street View, Jan 2014

One-Lane Road/Pennsy Bridge over Mahoning River at Campbell, OH

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

Street View, Oct 2019

Sean Munson Flickr, 2006, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 

It was rather easy to find this bridge because this reel shows that it was heavily skewed. That means that it crossed the river on a rather sharp angle.

Facebook Reel, cropped

1935 US-30 (Lincoln Highway) Narrows Bridge over Raystown Branch Juniata River near Bedford, PA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite)

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted
Newly constructed bridge on the Lincoln Highway (Route 30) over the Juniata River, 1 mile East of Bedford in 1941.

HAER PA,5-BED.V,1--5
5. 3/4 VIEW FROM EAST. - Narrows Bridge, Spanning Raystown Branch of Juniata River at Lincoln Hwighway (U.S. Route 30), Bedford, Bedford County, PA

"Significance: The Narrows Bridge is an early example of a concrete arch bridge built on a curving, skewed alignment. This open-spandrel reinforced concrete bridge is the most recent of several at this important crossing, which was on the Bedford-Chambersburg Turnpike before it became part of the Lincoln Highway in the 1916. The Narrows Bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988" [HAER_data]

Today's US-30 is obviously a modern highway. So I got a topo map to try to determine the US-30 route back in 1941. 

1902/1947 Everett and 1910/1947 Bedford Quads @ 62,500

It is rather obvious from the topo map that the Lincoln Highway originally went down today's Pitt Street. I "cruised" that street with street view. I did not find anything specific about the Lincoln Highway like a wall mural, but I did find the downtown was along that road and that it still has some historical buildings.

Street View, Nov 2024

Given the revision date for the Everett Quad, I first thought that the bridge was here.

But when I got the next available topo maps to see how the route of US-30 changed, I wondered if it was here. Note that Pitt Street must have been bypassed between 1968 and 1971.

1968/70 Everett West and 1971/73 Bedford Quads @ 24,000

This street view confirmed that it is the river crossing documented by the 1968 topo map.

Street View, May 2025

Rather than replace this bridge, they rehabilitated it and increased the capacity by building a concrete girder bridge next to it.

According to some comments on ArchivedBridgeHunter, this work was done between 2003 and 2008.

2012 photo by Jodi Christman via BridgeHunter

J.R. Manning caught the dilapidated state of the bridge before the rehabilitation.

2003 photo by J.R. Manning via BridgeHunter

1825-80 US-80 Rooster Bridge over Tombigbee River and 1979 Towboat Incident near Demopolis, AL

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

snopes

The Tombigbee was at a record high river level, so the procedure was to approach the bridge on the slack side, untie the tow and let it pass under the bridge. Then backup the towboat and go under the lift span on the other side of the river, chase down the tow and reattach. When the M/V Cahaba backed up, it did not stay square with the current, and the current twisted the towboat up against the bridge and shoved it under the bridge. The second description in snopes explains Captain Jimmie Wilkerson's "ride" under the bridge. One diesel kept running, and some comments indicated that they were able to finish their delivery. The following photos are screenshots from this video. The video has been used in training meetings to demonstrate the importance of keeping the water-tight doors closed.

James Morgan posted 15 photos with the comment: "I imagine most of you have seen this but for those who haven't -"

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