Crooked River Railroad Bridge, Railway bridge in Jefferson County, Oregon, United States.
The Crooked River Railroad Bridge is a single-track steel two-hinged arch span with a main arch of 103.6 m, stiffened by a truss and flanked by two 18.3 m girder spans. It carries the BNSF Railway line 98 m above the Crooked River in a canyon north of Terrebonne, Oregon.
The Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Company built this railway crossing in 1911 to connect the Columbia River region with timber areas near Bend. It served as a critical transport route linking these distant regions.
The bridge's construction was photographed by Olof Hedlund of Madras, and a widely circulated image of workers on a rope ladder gave rise to the myth that the crew camped at the canyon bottom and climbed up each day. In fact they lived in a construction camp at Opal City, two miles north, which was abandoned soon after the railroad was finished.
The bridge is best seen from the Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint on U.S. Route 97, less than a quarter mile upriver, where the canyon rim gives a clear side view of the arch. The viewpoint also overlooks the 1926 Crooked River High Bridge and the 2000 Rex T. Barber Veterans Memorial Bridge. The bridge itself carries freight trains and has no pedestrian access.
The builders did not camp at the canyon bottom: the crew lived two miles north in a construction camp at Opal City, expected to thrive but abandoned soon after the railroad was finished. A photograph of men climbing a rope ladder to the span fostered the myth that they climbed up to work each day.
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