There is alot of History to read about
this
small town. The Bridge was finished in 2006 from what we have
read,
But on our visit here to hide this cache, it sure looked like
it
needs some repairs. You are able to walk across the bridge if you
want to hunt the other cache on the other side. Just be careful
& watch your kid's if they are with you.
Log Only, PLEASE, BYOP!!
This would be a Great place to have a Picnic
lunch at. There are Tables & Shelters.
The Tradewater River railroad bridge at
Blackford was a vital link for the Ohio Valley Railroad that
ran
from Henderson, to Princeton, Kentucky. The bridge was the
heartbeat of the small community of Blackford, Kentucky. The
first
bridge to be constructed was a Draw Bridge. It was shortly
after
1886 when the Draw Bridge was constructed. At that time the
Tradewater River was also a vital river route for small
steam-boats
traveling from the Ohio River at Sturgis, Kentucky up the
Tradewater to what is call T's Landing. At T's Landing which is
few
miles above the railroad bridge. T's Landing was a frontier
trading
post for local residents and native people who still lived in
that
area in the late 1880's. These folks were the main stay of
the
trading business on the Tradewater River. In turn it was their
life
line to the products moving down the Ohio River to the mouth of
the
Tradewater River. The area around T's Landing is now called
Enon.
All that remains are a few scattered new homes and the Enon
Baptist
Church. The hand cut stone piers of the original draw bridge
are
still in place underneath the newly renovated railroad bridge,
now
a walking trail and a single lane bridge for automobiles. In
1892
the “Ohio Valley Railroad” sold the railroad line
to
“Chesapeake Ohio Southwestern”. In the same year
it
again was sold to the “Illinois Central Railroad“.
In
1914 a new 528 ft. long bridge was build by the Illinois
Central
Railroad with help from the U.S. Government that included a
pedestrian walk bridge. The Illinois Central Railroad design was
an
upgrade in structure. The IC wanted to run larger and heavier
classes of locomotives to pull coal trains from Union and
Webster
counties to the Illinois Central Kentucky division's main line
at
Princeton, KY. This main line ran from Paducah to Louisville,
Kentucky. Today this main lines is operated by the (PAL)
Paducah
and Louisville Railroad. The residents of Blackford in
Webster
County and the people of Crittenden County just on the west side
of
the river always wanted a bridge to carry wagons, and buggies
across the Tradewater River. Many of the people on the
Crittenden
County side carried on their business in Blackford because it
was
much closer that Marion. Blackford was only a little over a
mile
from the excellent road of Hwy. 60 in Crittenden County which
leads
to Marion, Kentucky. Getting to Marion required the people of
Blackford to travel 20 miles out of their way, which could take
as
many as three days. The railroad bridge across the Tradewater
marked the rise and fall of the community of Blackford,
Kentucky.
During it's hey day there were six doctors, livery stable,
two
blacksmiths, five hotels, drugstore, dry goods store, five
grocery
stores, hardware store, courthouse, millenary shop, flour
mill,
theater, four churches, and one of the strongest banks in the
state. This town's heartbeat was truly the Tradewater River
railroad bridge. As the railroad business declined in small
towns
so did the business in the town of Blackford. Today the rails
have
been removed from Henderson to Fredonia, Kentucky. The rails
from
Sturgis, through Marion to Fredonia were remove in 1999. From
Fredonia to Princeton the track is owned by the Fredonia
Valley
Rock Quarry. Special limestone rock is hauled twice daily to
Princeton for shipments all over the world. The rock quarry
runs
it's own locomotive a U23B painted in CSX blue and gray colors
with
no markings. Through the efforts of Mr. Brent Witherspoon and
the
support of many people a new walking and one lane automobile
bridge
is in place. It was built using the pier structures of the
1886
Ohio Valley Railroad bridge and the concrete piers and
trestle
timbers of the 1914 Illinois Central Railroad Bridge. From the
way
I read The Blackford Bridge Project's website, Mr. Witherspoon
has
received many awards for his hard work but, none more
satisfying
than the new walking and automobile bridge being built in honor
of
the Veterans of the United States of America. The new
Veterans
Memorial Bridge and new blacktop right away (bridge approach)
was
named in honor of the Korean War POW / MIA PFC Thomas R.
Robertson.
PFC Robertson was from Blackford, Kentucky.
Thomas Raye Robertson, a native of the
Blackford community in Webster County, left the United States
for
deployment in Japan in August of 1950, but soon found himself
in
the midst of a bitter fight to repel Communist North Korean
aggressors from South Korea. Robertson would never return from
the
barren, rocky landscape of Korea. Born on Aug. 10, 1929 to
Henderson and Cora Robertson the youngest of seven children,
Robertson enlisted in the Army on Jan. 12, 1949 after
spending
almost a year searching for a job following his graduation
from
Wheatcroft High School in 1948. After a short stay at Camp
Breckinridge - then home to the 101st Airborne Division -
Pvt.
Robertson was reassigned to Ft. Lewis, Wash., where he was
separated on Jan. 18, 1950. Robertson returned home to
Webster
County, hoping to find a job, but found the same bleak outlook
he
faced after graduating from high school. To make matters
worse,
there was talk of an impending war in east Asia, and facing
almost
certain military draft, he re-enlisted for three more years in
July
of 1950. The Korean War officially had begun with the
Communist
invasion on June 25, 1950. Robertson joined three brothers and
one
sister in service to the United States at the time. On Sept.
9,
1950, Robertson joined hundreds of other under-equipped and
poorly
trained American soldiers being sent to Pusan, South Korea to
face
a powerfully equipped and well-trained North Korean Army.
Many
North Koreans had fought for Russia and China just a few
years
earlier during World War II. As a member of the U.S. Army's
32nd
Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, Robertson joined
United
Nations forces in pushing the Communist invaders northward out
of
Seoul, the South Korean capital. After facing fierce resistance
in
reaching its goals, the 32nd regrouped 350 miles south in Pusan
and
headed out for an amphibious landing at Iwon, which
eventually
reached the Yalu River along the Chinese border on Nov. 21,
1950.
One week later, Communist Chinese forces struck these same UN
forces in a massive attack along the entire Korean front. In
the
melee, the 32nd was cut off from the main force, where it faced
a
long and bloody battle in freezing temperatures to work its
way
back southward toward retreating UN forces. Assembling at
Yongchon,
the 32nd was again able to advance northward in heavy
resistance,
however, Pvt. Robertson was declared missing in action on Dec.
2,
1950. By following the movement of his military unit, perhaps
the
final footsteps of Pvt. Robertson can be traced. His family
was
notified on Jan. 12, 1951 of his status by telegraph at the
Blackford Railroad Depot. Condolences would not follow until
three
years later, in a Jan. 4, 1954 letter from Secretary of War
Robert
T. Stevens. The letter from Washington, D.C., notified loved
ones
that PFC Thomas R. Robertson had been awarded the Purple Heart
by
President Dwight D. Eisenhower for the supreme sacrifice he
had
made to his country. "We profoundly appreciate the great degree
of
your loss, for in a very real sense, the loss suffered by any of
us
in this present conflict is a loss shared by all," the letter
read.
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