Railroad Bridge Crossing the Ouachita River
by Scott Pellegrin
Title
Railroad Bridge Crossing the Ouachita River
Artist
Scott Pellegrin
Medium
Photograph
Description
The railroad bridge in Monroe spanning the Ouachita River was chronicled in the Jan. 27, 1882, edition of the local newspaper, the Ouachita Telegraph.
The bridge was built so the railroad from Mississippi into Texas would not have to be ferried across the river. Work began on the railroad in the fall of 1853, but the road was not completed to Monroe, a distance of 73 miles, until January 1860.
In the summer of 1851, the newspaper reported, the Ouachita was bridged by the railroad with a wooden structure, erected on piles. A draw pier was built mid-channel. The failure to build a breakwater in mid-channel resulted in water scouring away sand around the piles on which the draw rested, and that portion of the bridge toppled into the river.
The remaining span remained intact until it was destroyed during the Civil War by the Union Army, which came from the Mississippi River to Monroe on a raid.
Uploaded
January 13th, 2019
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