Abandoned bridge in New York
Caneadea Bridge - East Hill Road Bridge, Caneadea New York
Built in 1903 by the Groton Iron Bridge Company of Groton, Tompkins County, New York, this single-span, single-lane camelback, Parker truss structure is a rare bridge type constructed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in New York. Associated with a period of expanding rural economies and the systematic improvement of public roads and bridges by local government, the Caneadea Bridge is one of only two surviving camelback trusses in New York State.
The name Caneadea was derived from the Seneca word Guyeado meaning "where the heavens rest upon the earth". The area today remains as a connection to the rich history of Native American lifestyle and culture. Historically, the Seneca Nation of Native Americans used the uncultivated land for their hunting grounds and summer encampment. Eventually, the Seneca's built their southernmost village consisting of twenty or more dwellings and the Council House on the east bank of the Genesee River. This village, located within Caneadea borders, became the southern door to the Long House of the Iroquois and was the home to a hereditary sachem of the league.
Following over a century of Native American solitude, a white Dutchman, Mr. Schoonover, from Pennsylvania settled and established a permanent residence in Caneadea. Other settlers from New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont soon followed. Following an increase in population and organization, Caneadea was established on March 11, 1808. Caneadea survived as an isolated agricultural community until the Genesee Valley Canal was completed in 1851 connecting Rochester (Erie Canal) to Belfast. The canal boosted Allegany's economy, especially the small rural towns in the Township of Caneadea including Caneadea, Houghton, and Oramel. Upon the canal's completion, many German and Irish families from Rochester bought land plots throughout the Townships of Allegany County. Many of these Irish and German families settled in Caneadea and worked on the canal. However, the increase of Railroad transportation forced the canal into abandonment in 1878 and as a result many of the small towns along the canal suffered.
Caneadea was once again forced to rely on other means of transportation to support their agricultural economy. During the end of the nineteenth century roadways became the vital link to other towns and cities to keep the economy stable. A bridge was constructed across the Genesee River to connect both sides of Caneadea and assist the farmers in their transportation of produce and materials further west.
After a devastating flood washed away the former bridge in 1902 the town soon contracted with the Groton Iron Bridge Company to build the existing Camelback truss bridge in 1903. The Groton Iron Bridge Company from Groton, Tompkins County, New York was established in 1877. This Groton firm formed when two small businesses, the Groton Iron Works and the Groton Separator Works merged in the late nineteenth century. Within a short period of time the Groton Bridge Company was within the top quarter of the 119 bridge companies throughout the country. The company produced bridges in at least 27 states. From 1877 through 1887 they produced 350 small, mainly simple Pratt trusses in upstate New York. In the years from 1887 through 1899 the company expanded and the product line drastically increased producing over 350 bridges in 1896 alone. Then, in 1899 the American Bridge Company bought the previous Groton Co. and reorganized the operation in 1902. After this take over, business and production was mainly reserved to New York State. By the 1920s the Groton firm along with many other bridge building manufacturers were forced to close their businesses because standardization became much more efficient.
As an excellent example of steel truss bridge engineering, the Caneadea Bridge exemplifies significant aspects of the technology, design, and practice of bridge engineering between 1880 and 1920. Spurred by the expansion of American railroads during the second half of the nineteenth century, innovations in the use of wrought iron and steel in bridge design became generally accepted for highway bridges soon after the Civil War. Steel offered superior structural properties for longer spans and could be easily and quickly assembled from standardized shapes. The pre-fabrication of interchangeable parts reduced costs and gave rise to numerous bridge fabrication companies, like the Groton Bridge Company, enabling them to produce the required metal stock and shapes and ship these materials via rail for erection by contractors on site.
The Pratt and Warren truss designs became prevalent in highway bridge applications after 1880, and the construction of steel truss highway bridges peaked during the first decade of the twentieth century. The Caneadea Bridge is an example of a Camelback design which is technically a variation of the Pratt through truss. This bridge type is defined by its polygonal top chord consisting of five distinct slopes. This innovative design provided better standardization of structural members, better stress distribution, and proved to be one of the most economical trusses of the period. However, as highway loads and traffic volumes continually increased throughout the twentieth century, many of these pioneering structures were replaced by larger steel girder bridges.
The Caneadea Bridge was an element of a NYS DOT Survey which recorded and identified twenty-one Parker High Metal Truss Bridges in New York State. Four of the twenty-one were previously identified as Camelbacks. Today, there are eleven Parker Metal Truss bridges surviving of which only two are Camelbacks. Consequently, the Caneadea Bridge is significant in a statewide context for its existence as the only single-span camelback truss, the only camelback truss extant built by the Groton Iron Bridge Company, and the earliest survivor and longest of the 2 surviving camelback truss bridges. Unaltered since its erection in 1903, the Caneadea Bridge is a distinctive example of historic bridge technology and is a rare surviving example of its type, period and method of construction in rural Allegany County.
Bridge Description
The Caneadea Bridge is located in the Town of Caneadea, Allegany County, New York, within the corporated Hamlet of Caneadea. This one span, steel truss bridge carries County Road 46, locally known as East Hill Road, across the Genesee River. The bridge itself, built in 1903, consists of one uninterrupted 246-foot long, 14-foot wide pinned connected, camelback, steel Parker through trusses placed on cut stone abutments. The bridge deck is covered with a open steel grate. The road across the bridge is currently closed to traffic.
The bridge is situated on a east-west alignment, and crosses the flat, rocky bed of the Genesee River at a right angle approximately 15 feet above the river. The cut stone abutments are primarily rectangular in plan and elevation with some irregularity. Bearing plates are bolted into the abutments and pinned to the bridge trusses.
This 246-foot single span bridge consists of riveted top chords and inclined end posts. The single span is constructed of 16 transverse panels. The vertical posts defining these panels consist of twin channels connected with rivetted lattice bars. The bottom chords are composed of pinned eye bars. Pinned connections at the top and bottom chords also secure diagonal bar stock tension members and metal rods fitted with adjusting turnbuckles. Top and bottom lateral bracing is used to stiffen the top and bottom chords between panels. Looking on axis of the roadway the paired posts are riveted connected and stabilized with sway bracing designed of crossing diagonal bar stock riveted to upper lattice struts and lower lateral bracing members with rivetted lattice bars.
The bridge deck consists of an open steel deck grating above stringers which rest on fifteen riveted steel girders hung from the bottom of each truss panel. The bridge retains its lattice portal bracing and its original metal cresting on both ends of the portal strut. Decorative plates engraved with the bridge company name and the former town official names also remains. The bridge retains its entire structural system, its immediate setting and remains entirely unaltered.
(1998)
(1998)
