Skip to main content

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 21; Former US Route 89 over the Cameron Suspension Bridge

By
After making a turn onto US Route 89 southbound from the western terminus of US 160 I made may way through the Navajo Nation towards the Little Colorado River.  While modern US 89 is aligned over a four-lane span across the Little Colorado River it's original alignment just lies west on the Cameron Suspension Bridge.


This article is the 21st entry in the 2016 Fall Mountain Trip Series.  Part 20 regarding US Route 160 in Arizona can be found at the link below:

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 20; US Route 160 in Arizona

Note; while I did visit the Cameron Suspension Bridge in 2016 I felt that I took better pictures in 2015.  Therefore I will be using my 2015 Cameron Suspension Bridge photos below.   

The Cameron Suspension Bridge is sometimes referred to the as the "Tanner's Crossing Bridge."  The Cameron Suspension Bridge was completed in 1911 and spans the Little Colorado River at a length of 660 feet.  The Cameron Suspension Bridge was constructed by the Midland Bridge Company and is an identical design to the 1916 Dewey Bridge over the Colorado River in Utah.  The Dewey Bridge unlike the Cameron Suspension Bridge is in ruins and is 503.2 feet in length.

The 2016 Cameron Bridge today carries a pipeline across the Little Colorado River.  Modern day Cameron was founded as a trade post in 1913 but formerly was the location of Tanner's Crossing.  Tanner's Crossing carried ferries over the Little Colorado River on a Mormon Emigrant Trail.  The Little Colorado River was a huge obstruction to travel in Northern Arizona close in scale to the Colorado River crossing at Lee's Ferry near the Vermillion Cliffs.  The 1911 Cameron Suspension Bridge upon completion made travel in the northern frontier much easier to traverse.


Despite being a major river crossing the Cameron Suspension Bridge appears to never have been part of a Auto Trail.   No Auto Trails are displayed over the Cameron Suspension Bridge on the Rand McNally Four Corners Region Highway Map in 1924.


US Route 89 was selected during late 1926 to be aligned over the Little Colorado River via the Cameron Suspension Bridge.  Early US 89 in Northern Arizona still had to use Lee's Ferry to cross the Colorado River until the original Navajo Bridge was completed in 1929.  US 89 over the Cameron Suspension Bridge can be first seen on the 1927 Rand McNally Arizona/New Mexico Highway Map.


The Cameron Suspension Bridge was replaced in 1959 when much of the original alignment of US 89 in the Navajo Nation was being realigned.  The Cameron Suspension Bridge can easily be found on the south cliff-face of the Little Colorado River behind the Cameron Trading Post.






From the Cameron Suspension Bridge I made a turn westward from US 89 onto AZ 64 towards Grand Canyon National Park.


Part 22 of the 2016 Fall Mountain Series can be found below:

2016 Fall Mountain Trip Part 22; Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona State Route 64, and the weird west terminus of US Route 180
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ghost Town Tuesday; Vineland, Florida; the town killed by Disney

By
Vineland is a small ghost town located in southwest Orange County, Florida near the junction of Florida State Road 535 and Interstate 4.  Vineland is somewhat unique due to it largely being squeezed out of existence by Lake Buena Vista which is the company town where Disney World is located. Vineland was founded in the late 1800s as Englewood.  The town name of Englewood changed to Orange Center in 1911 before finally assuming the name Vineland in 1924.  Much like the rest of Orange County the community of Vineland was centered around Citrus Grove.  In the case of Vineland said orange groves were centered around Ruby Lake. The end of Vineland came as the Disney Corporation began purchasing parcels of citrus grove land to build Lake Buena Vista.  Vineland fell into a sharp decline in the 1960s but the community managed to continue to exist to modern times.  Much of the street grid of Vineland still exists east of FL 535 but most of the original structures are either gone or falle
1 comment
Read more

Old NY 10 and Goodman Mountain in the Adirondacks

By
  Old highway alignments come in all shapes and sizes, as well as taking some different forms after their lifespan of serving cars and trucks has ended. In the case of an old alignment of what was NY 10 south of Tupper Lake, New York, part of the old road was turned into part of a hiking trail to go up Goodman Mountain. At one time, the road passed by Goodman Mountain to the east, or Litchfield Mountain as it was known at the time. As the years passed, sometime around 1960, the part of NY 10 north of Speculator became part of NY 30, and remains that way today from Speculator, past Indian Lake and Tupper Lake and up to the Canadian Border. At one time, the highway was realigned to pass the Goodman Mountain to the west, leaving this stretch of road to be mostly forgotten and to be reclaimed by nature. During the summer of 2014, a 1.6 mile long hiking trail was approved the Adirondack Park Agency to be constructed to the summit of the 2,176 foot high Goodman Mountain. For the first 0.9 mi
1 comment
Read more

Oregon State Highway 58

By
  Also known as the Willamette Highway No. 18, the route of Oregon State Highway 58 (OR 58) stretches some 86 miles between US 97 north of Chemult and I-5 just outside of Eugene, Oregon. A main route between the Willamette Valley region of Oregon with Central Oregon and Crater Lake National Park, the highway follows the Middle Fork Willamette River and Salt Creek for much of its route as it makes its way to and across the Cascades, cresting at 5,138 feet above sea level at Willamette Pass. That is a gain of over 4,500 in elevation from where the highway begins at I-5. The upper reaches of OR 58 are dominated by the principal pinnacle that can sometimes be seen from the highway, Diamond Peak, and three nearby lakes, Crescent, Odell and Waldo (Oregon's second largest lake). OR 58 is chock full of rivers, creeks, mountain views, hot springs and waterfalls within a short distance from the highway. OR 58 was numbered as such by the Oregon State Highway Department in 1940. OR 58 is a del
Post a Comment
Read more