Bridge 49A, variously called the Miles Glacier Bridge, the Childs Glacier Bridge, the Million Dollar Bridge, or the Million-and-a-Half Dollar Bridge, was the publicity focus of the CR&NW (insofar as it had one). This consisted of one 450-foot, two 400-foot, and one 300-foot spans. Here is a distant tinted view from the west bank of the Copper River:
Here is a more evocative view from the east bank:
The bridge ran between the Childs Glacier and the Miles Glacier on a roughly east-west axis. The Childs Glacier was to the south, the Miles Glacier was to the north.
(The top of the map is to the south in the diagram above.) Here is loco 50 with a construction train at the end of track just before Bridge 49A was begun. Miles Glacier is visible above the train:
Track was laid across the frozen river in early 1909 to allow equipment to be brought across so that construction could take place north of the bridge while it was still under construction. A construction camp was located on the east bank of the river:
Visible are what looks like an office building, a boiler house, and material sheds. The piers were sunk using pneumatic caissons. Air compressors were needed for the caissons, and compressed air was hosed across the river.A cable tramway carried materials to the caissons:
The caissons and piers were in progress during 1909 until that year's freeze. Erection of the spans took place during 1910. In the photo below, the bridge is close to completion, but you can see the scaffolding in place at the left.
Here is a 1914 photographer's special for the 1915 AEC report at the bridge site. The loco is one of the three 1907 Rhode Island 2-8-0s in the 20 class.
This photo shows the bridge with one of the concrete icebreakers upstream of a pier.
Here is a later photo showing what may be either a section house or an operator's office near the bridge:
This photo might have been from about 1930, but in its final years, the line was not operated in the winter.
An aerial photo in Janson's The Copper Spike shows a wye on the east bank, which was probably used to turn excursion trains from Cordova.
Thank you very much for putting all of this together. I have been planning a model railroad of the CR&NW although I am currently only able to make plans as I have no room to build it. You are right that the Million Dollar bridge crosses the river from the east bank to the west, but due to an "s" curve in the river's course the bridge is actually oriented north-south with the south end on the east bank. In the diagram, west is on top, south (toward Cordova) is to the left. Thanks again.
ReplyDelete