By Mary Drew at Pasty Central (Mdrew) on Friday, July 1, 2016 - 11:14 pm:
I recently came across this old bridge just south of Chassell, on what used to be US 41 and is now County Road C117. It piqued my interest when I saw the writing on the sides: "State Trunk Line Bridge 1914" and "Built by S-B-S Co Houghton", so I snapped a few photos and came back home to do some research.
A Google search came up with an MDOT page explaining the history of the Pike River Bridge, which you can see in the photos is no longer in use and cannot be crossed by a vehicle, but is still in relatively good condition for a bridge that was built 102 years ago. I'll give a brief synopsis here and at the end of my notes will post the link so that you can read more on your own.
"The steel stringer configuration of the Pike River Bridge was one of the earliest standard designs developed by the state highway department. First delineated in the 1905-1906 biennium, it used relatively shallow I-beams in a relatively short-span configuration. The department used steel stringer bridges intermittently in the 1910s depending largely upon the price and availability of rolled I-beams. The Pike River Bridge is distinguished as one of the first trunk line bridges to use the steel stringer configuration. Of the 22 trunk line bridges listed in MSHD’s 1913-1914 biennial report, almost half are stringer bridges. All but the Pike River Bridge have subsequently been demolished or altered. This bridge is significant for its representation of this important structural type, and it is important as an early, unaltered remnant of the upper Peninsula’s trunk line system."
Quite interesting that this is the only remaining Stringer Bridge of its type and also then a historical piece of the U.P.'s Trunk Line system. I'm certainly glad it hasn't been demolished and that it has been shored up with metal straps where the concrete has cracked.
The bottom photo was taken while standing on the bridge, looking toward what is now US 41. To give you a perspective on the location of the Pike River Bridge, the metal bridge you see downriver is on the walking path that goes from the town of Chassell, to the school. If you look closely, you can see the roof of a car on US 41, just to the left of the metal bridge, above the grass.
If you'd like to read the rest of the article from MDOT's page, click here: 
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