Every once in a while the views of the many creeks and rivers in the Red River Valley are delightfully obstructed by iron truss bridges. Iron, wedded with other materials like brick and stone, has been used in bridge construction since the 18th century. Forged in foundries in the mid-Atlantic and mid-western states, the bridges were shipped via rail and then assembled on site. By the early 20th century, rust-resistant steel replaced iron as the material of choice. Over the years, as farm machinery became too wide and car traffic too numerous, highway departments replaced iron bridges with concrete. Railroad companies abanonded bridges as they consolidated or went bankrupt. Sitting on byways in various states of decay, a lot of these bridges are slated for demolition, or at least removal. Civic minded people take it upon themselves to save the trusses - many have found new homes in parks and along walking trails. These old bridges aren't just laying about in silent testimony of our many modes of transportation. By using iron and later, steel, these humble marvels symbolized the America's second Industrial Age. |
Red River Bridges |
BNSF (Burlington, Northern and Santa Fe Railroad) still crosses the Red River between Denison, TX and Colbert, OK. This bridge was replaced by 1911 after immense flooding in 1908 destroyed the earlier span, which was originally built for the Missouri Kansas Texas Railway in 1872. Beneath this bridge are the remains of the old bridge's demise, in particular one very interesting piece. Click on the photograph above to see what I'm talking about. |
Alexandria, Louisiana features one of the few drawbridges across the Red River. This modern steel structure was built when inland navigation improvements flooded the famous rapids at Alexandria. |
U.S. 80 is known as the Dixie-Overland Highway east of Dallas. In Louisiana, the route travels over the tracks for the Illinois Central Railway that ran between New Orleans and Chicago. A concrete bridge memorializes both right-of-ways. |
The Blue River is one of the few un-dammed rivers in Oklahoma. It can be crossed along the old alignment of US 70 (Lee Highway or Bankhead-Lee Highway) several times in Bryan County, like here near the aptly-named town of Blue. |
The Missouri Oklahoma Gulf Railway crosses the Canadian River at Calvin, Oklahoma. Built in the early 20th century, the entire right-of-way is no longer extant, but the railroad bridges are. This bridge is the same configuration as Carpenter's Bluff in Grayson County, Texas. |
Calvin, Oklahoma sits along the Canadian River and is a treasure trove of iron truss bridges. The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad crossed here in the late 1880s until it stopped running in the mid-19th century. |
Carpenter's Bluff Bridge at the Red River between Grayson County, Texas and Bryan County, Oklahoma once served the Kansas Oklahoma Gulf Railway. It was converted to an auto bridge. Today, it's closed to traffic but can still be visited. The bridge still sports its buck board/walkway. |
Although this over the Blue River in Oklahoma along Route 70 bridge looks like the previous one posted, it's not. It's the old Lee Highway bridge just east of Durant in Bryan County, Oklahoma. Built in 1921, it came from the same company as other Lee Highway bridges from the same era. |
This 1896 suspension bridge near Fort Griffin is accessible via a dirt road. The bridge is no longer used for crossing the Clear Fork of the Brazos River. There used to be a large number of suspension bridges in Texas, but few examples remain (Waco, Regency, Bluff Dale, and this one). |
This span of the Cottonbelt (St. Louis & Southwestern Railway, now UP) was built in the 1930s. Located at the Red River in Garland, Arkansas, the wooden structures below the bridge were part of an erosion control measure implemented by the WPA. |
Most bridges at the Red River were once ferry crossing sites, like this one at Miller's Bluff between Hosston and Plain Dealing, Louisiana. This bridge was built in 1952. |
The "Index" bridge across the Red River in Arkansas, north of Texarkana, follows the straight line platted by the Adams Onis Treaty of 1819, which separated Mexican Texas from Missouri Territory. Notice that it's a draw bridge! Unfortunately, this structure is long gone. Today, a concrete structure on U.S. 71 has taken its place. |
The Long-Allen bridge replaced a ferry in 1933 that connected Shreveport to Bossier City along the Dixie-Overland Highway. The bridge was named for Governors Huey P. Long and Oscar K. Allen. (Library of Congress) |
The truss bridge in Mannsville, Oklahoma helped travelers on U.S. 70 to cross Turkey Creek. Turkey Creek empties into the nearby Washita River, which in turn meets the Red River at the dam area of Lake Texoma. |
Built in 1923, the "Airline Bridge" was erected by investors to promote business for Wilson, Carter County, Oklahoma and St. Jo, Montague County, Texas. It succumbed after a free bridge was constructed. This photograph was taken from another photograph. |
The railroad bridge at Ponder in Denton County, Texas still serves the Santa Fe (now, Burlington Northern Santa Fe). The road beneath is old Highway 24 that linked McKinney to Decatur via Denton. You can still drive this stretch between Denton and Wise counties. |
The iron truss bridge at the Red River in Fulton, Arkansas has been repaired so many times that it no longer looks "historic," but the bridge's supports still date to 1874, when the Cairo & Fulton Railroad, chartered as a transcontinental railroad in 1853, crossed the Red River to enter Texarkana. |
In 1920, two suspension bridges were proposed between Fannin County, Texas and Bryan County, Oklahoma: one at Sowell's Bluff and one at Snow's Ferry in Telephone. Both bridges were completed in the 1930s as toll bridges. Sowell's Bluff collapsed and was replaced with an iron truss in 1938. In 1940, the Telephone Toll bridge collapsed, too, but was never replaced. |
The stone bridge at Roxton in Lamar County, Texas traverses Cane Creek, a tributary of the Sulphur River which is, eventually, a tributary of the Red River. This railroad bridge is considered rare due to its construction, and historic due to its erection by the WPA in the 1930s. It was built for the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe line. |
Near Fleetwood, Jefferson County, Oklahoma and Red River Station, Montague County, Texas was a toll bridge at Ketchum's Bluff that was supposed to bring tourists to a spa, but the business never got off the ground. The bridge, constructed in the 1920s, was burned mid-century by its owners.(UTA Special Collections). |
In 1929, Harlow's Weekly, a digest based in Oklahoma City, printed an article about toll bridges and the legislative push to eliminate tolls. The map the publication does not include all bridges across the Red River, but it mentions two free bridges at Arthur City, Texas (east) and Davidson, Oklahoma (west). (Oklahoma Historical Society) |