In recent years, U.S. bridge safety has been called into question. September 1876 brought up similar questions in Ahnapee when the Second Street bridge collapsed.
Charles Damas was driving his team across the bridge with a load of wood when suddenly the abutments collapsed sending about 60 feet of bridge crashing into the Ahnapee River below. Damas was lucky. He had only a few bruises and his oxen escaped drowning. Of the others on the bridge at the time, only Anton Swaty was injured. His severely bruised hand laid him up for a few days.
Since the bridge was the city’s only connection to both sides of the river, the city fathers contracted with Capt. Hank Harkins to provide ferry service until a new bridge could be built. Location of the new bridge was quite controversial. There was a war of words among citizens who wanted the new bridge built at Fourth Street, or Third Street, or Second Street, which finally won out.
Among several reasons given for the collapse that day was that harbor blasting earlier in the year might have jarred the foundation. Some felt he bridge was in rickety and unsafe condition to begin with and that heavy seas pounding the harbor the previous day further loosened the substructure. At any rate, the city accepted a bid of just over $1,900.00 for a new bridge, substantial enough to meet the needs of the city for years to come. That bridge was eventually replaced by an iron bridge and then the present concrete bridge.
The accompanying picture is a portion of the 1883 Birdseye Map of Ahnapee The building at the north side (right) of the bridge was Wenniger's pump factory and saloon. Long known as the North Side Tap, the building remains. What is now Navarino St. was called South Water in 1883. North Water was on the north side of the river. The 1883 fire station is the building with the tower in the upper left corner. Algoma's fire station is there today.
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