PATRICK says "Post some pics so we can see the river in all
four seasons"
INDIANA BRIDGE
QUEST
This series of geocaches will take you on a
tour of Indiana's vanishing Historic Bridges--Covered, Iron, and
Railroad. Iron bridges are being demolished at a furious rate. For
example, in Huntington County in 1987, there were 14 iron bridges;
by 1999 the number had fallen to 8. Now it is 4. Similar, or worse
statistics for some surrounding counties, 1987 vs. 1999:
Allen: 31 -- 8
LaGrange: 10 -- 1
DeKalb: 9 --4
And these numbers are now five years out of
date.
Between 1870 and 1900 and on into the
twentieth century bridges began to be made of metal instead of
wood. They were constructed of wrought iron (later steel) in bridge
foundaries and transported to sites in pieces for final assembly.
Most of Indiana's earliest bridges were fabricated in Ohio and
Pennsylvania. By the 1880's Indiana bridge companies were formed.
The ungainly skeletal frames of Iron Bridges soon dominated
American roads and have become, for some of us, a beloved and
valuable part of the cultural landscape. So, come with us to see
them before they disappear forever!
Bridge
SALAMONIE BRIDGE OVER
SALAMONIE RIVER
I don't know if these old bridges have names or not, I'm sure
they must have numbers, but all that is unknown to me. This one is
in Jefferson Township, Huntington County northwest of Warren. I'm
calling this one the Salamonie Bridge Over the Salamonie River,
Just Because I can, and unlike the Huntington County Council, I
have at least a smigeon of common sense. It's a Pratt Camelback
Through Truss, single span, narrow two lane (sort of) bridge, rated
at 5 tons. It was built by the Pan American Bridge Company,
Newcastle, Indiana in 1928, which puts it right at the end of the
Iron Bridge Era, and a puny seventy-seven years old, a veritible
youngster for bridges, but 539 in dog-years!
There's a benchmark disk here ( 40° 42.738 & 85° 27.2149).
It's a U.S. Geological Survey GAGING STATION Reference Mark--used
in measuring flood stage of the river...Unfortunately, this type of
benchmark is not in the Groundspeak data base, so we can't log a
smiley for it on the website. The roadbed of this bridge is wood,
covered with asphalt. The cache itself is camo'd with some
discarded asphalted wood from a repair (NOT on the roadbed). A nice
serene setting, if you like pretty bridges, lazy rivers, big old
trees, red-wing blackbirds, and chocolate chip cookie dough ice
cream.
Bridge Sign
You do NOT have to stand on the road bed
of the bridge to search for or retrieve the cache container.Be
VERY careful. DO NOT JUMP OFF THE BRIDGE HEADFIRST INTO THE
WATER. Park with care. The container was a plastic
Goergewashingtoncarverbutter jar. But now it's a film can HINT IS A
SPOILER. God Bless our Troops fighting overseas to free the world
from the Terror of the Infidels. Have you tied a yellow ribbon
around your old oak tree?
DON'T BE FOOLED BY CHEAP
IMITATIONS!! None genuine without SixDogTeam seal. 35mm photographs
taken by Lead Dog, copyright 2005 by RikSu Outfitters unless
otherwise noted. (Photos taken with 1970 Mamiya-Sekor 500DTL SLR)
We are the SixDogTeam and we approve of this
cache.
