This week’s BHC Pic of the Week takes us back to 1998 and to the state of Iowa. Starting north of Albert Lea, MN and emptying into the Cedar River near Janesville, the Shell Rock River is a river full of surprises as far as bridges are concerned. As many as ten through truss bridges, two bowstring arches, one steel viaduct and five concrete arch crossings once spanned one of the shortest rivers in the state, which crosses four counties in Iowa (Worth, Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Butler and Black Hawk) and one in Minnesota (Freeborn), including the longest Pennsylvania through truss bridge in the state, the Traer Street Bridge in Greene, the Gates Truss Bridge at the Floyd- Butler border, a Thacher through truss bridge near a dance hall near Northwood and the Rock Grove Bowstring Arch Bridge near Nora Springs. All four of them were no longer in service when I explored the river in 1998-99. At that time, we had half of these historic bridges still standing…..
……including two in the village of Plymouth in Cerro Gordo County, both of them through truss spans. Yet they replaced two iron bridges that were destroyed in accidents, according to records from the highway department in Mason City. This bridge was one of them, located north of Strand Park just outside of town.
The Pratt through truss bridge had M-frame portals and riveted connections. It was 100 feet long but a vertical clearance of about 12.5 feet from the road. It was built in 1950 replacing a truss bridge which was destroyed when a collision involving a car happened there. Unfortunately one person was killed in the incident. The bridge had been built at a sharp angle, which was typical for construction during the last three decades of the 1800s. The truss bridge that was destroyed had existed since the early 1880s, according to records. Because of the scarcity of steel and gravel for bridge construction combined with recovering costs from World War II, the bridge was built cheeply, using a standardized design created 25 years earlier by the now present-day Iowa DOT.
The bridge looked just like new when I first visited the structure in the summer of 1998. The best shot was the portal shot as it was flanked by trees on both sides. Nevertheless, I was impressed that it was kept up as well as it did. I visited the structure again in the fall, where I found the city’s other structure on the south end, and once more with my wife in 2005 enroute to Minnesota for my Grandma’s 90th birthday party. No weight limit nor any rust or other problems.
Still the height was an issue and that led to its demise in 2010. It was one of those acts which was senseless because it was such a young bridge. Nevertheless, it represented progress , something which makes me ask myself whether it was a necessity to take a piece of history away when it still had a lot of life left in the gas tank.
The Bridgehunter's Chronicles 