Skip to main content

Rattlesnake Bar Suspension Bridge

By


Rattlesnake Bar was a small mining community located at the Placer County and El Dorado County line along the North Fork American River. During 1863 a wooden bridge was constructed at Rattlesnake Bar to facilitate access to quarry at Coral Caverns (now Alabaster Caverns). The original wooden span was replaced in 1865 with a suspension bridge. The 1865 suspension bridge would be open to traffic until 1954 when it was destroyed by an overloaded truck. The site of the Rattlesnake Bar Suspension Bridge became part of the Folsom Lake reservoir in 1955 and can still be viewed when the water is low.



The history of the Rattlesnake Bar Bridge

The history of the Rattlesnake Bar Bridge was featured in the September 1950 California Highways & Public Works Centennial edition.  The structure was notable during the 1850-1875 Pioneer Era due to it being one of the earliest suspension bridges constructed in the state.  Rattlesnake Bar was a small mining community located on the North Fork American River at what is now the El Dorado County and Placer County line.  During 1849-1850 a ferry across the North American River was placed at Rattlesnake Bar.  

This ferry at Rattlesnake Bar was replaced by a wooden bridge which was installed in 1863 following the devastating floods of 1862.  The wooden bridge was constructed to facilitate access to quarry at Coral Caverns (now Alabaster Caverns). The original wooden span was replaced in 1865 with the Rattlesnake Bar Suspension Bridge.  The article notes the Rattlesnake Bar Suspension Bridge was likely endangered due to the looming Folsom Lake reservoir project.  






The wooden Rattlesnake Bar Bridge was announced as being opened in the July 7, 1863, Sacramento Union (courtesy pitsenberger.com's page on the Rattlesnake Bar Bridge site).


The site of the Rattlesnake Bar Suspension Bridge can be seen south of Auburn at the North Fork American River on the 1882 Bancroft's Map of California.  


The 1914 C.F. Weber's Map of Placer County displays the Rattlesnake Bar Suspension Bridge in Township 11N, Range 8E. 


The 1935 Division of Highways Map of Placer County displays the Rattlesnake Bar Suspension Bridge in Township 11N, Range 8E. 


Construction of the concrete gravity Folsom Dam began during 1951.  The Folsom Lake reservoir was planned as flood control measure in the Sacramento area.  The maximum extent of the reservoir was slated to consume the site of the Rattlesnake Bar Suspension Bridge.  The Rattlesnake Bar Suspension Bridge would be collapsed by an overloaded truck during 1954.  Given the structure was already in a state of condemnation Placer County and El Dorado County elected not to rebuild it.  

The collapsed Rattlesnake Bar Suspension Bridge can be seen in a photo posted by Mike Monahan on the Placer County History Facebook Page.  


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

By
The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926.  Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California.  The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant.  However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes.  The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield.  In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range.   ...
2 comments
Read more

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

By
  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

By
A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida.  One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region.  For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate.  Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century.  Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area.  The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...
4 comments
Read more