• Saturday-What'sUP March 13 - 06:34 am

Eagle River, MI, boasts not one, but three bridges in the midst of the little settlement. Two of them run just about parallel to each other as you can see in the top photo. Brita Haapala did a nice job capturing these three musketeers unaware of being photographed. Brita says they were watching their spit fall - - now there's a past-time I'm sure more than a few of us remember from our youth. It may not have been the same choice of materials, but I'll bet there have been many days spent as youngsters watching something fall, just to see how long it takes to reach the bottom and how much noise it can make when it hits bottom. In the second shot, Brita gives us a bit closer look at the beautiful craftsmanship of the wooden bridge, along with a good view of the Eagle River below. So Brita, don't keep us in suspense - - what were the final results of the kid's experiment?

Am I the first one this morning...

I remember a rope swing at the top of the dam 15 years ago!

I stood in this exact same spot last August and was just as captivated as these kids appear to be. I had a hand dipped ice cream cone in my hand from the store across the street. It was like a step back in time. I will always remember it.

Aaah yes. The structure carrying M 26 over The Eagle River...A fine specimen of a timber open spandrel deck arch bridge.

Wah COOL!!!!

One of my early memories is walking across a covered bridge that had gaps between the floor boards, and being afraid of falling through, and at the same time fascinated by the view between my feet. As I recall, I was holding for dear life onto my Mom's hand. I was about three, small enough for the gaps to loom large. Don't know where this happened. Funny, the fragments that remain when years of childhood are otherwise forgotten.

Luckily, the final results were just their spit falling and not them. :) Places like this are always a little hard to handle for Mom. Not nearly as bad as Brockway Mt., though!

More beautiful shots--thanks Brita.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOWER AND BREEZE!

How do you make a curved arch from (presumably) straight wood? just wondering

bobby, steam? That's how they do it with furniture, anyway.

I wonder what kind of wood it is.

I have photos, taken in 1990, of the construction of the bridge. I think that the MTU structural engineering classes visit it as an example of the type of arch mentioned above. I also heard the wooden arches were constructed by the boat builders in Sturgeon Bay, WI. It doesn't get much better than that. Sometimes tourists stop at the historic metal bridge and view the falls, forgetting that the "new" bridge is quite a sight also.

Bridge.;

http://www.environmentalart.net/pedvale/sivu/silta.jpg

Now that's a bridge i can build!

they use many thin strips of wood glued up into a form.....western hemlock is a good wood for that purpose, very strong and hardens with age.

Yes, it is thin, well not "thin" but pieces of wood "laminated" together. Also known as "glue laminated" or "glue lam".

Jeff,

I rememeber the rope swing at the top of the dam as well. I also remember seeing the sections of the new bridge lying in pieces awaiting construction. I think it was 1988 or 1989. Wow. Im starting to get older. Oh well. Life goes on. Love the bridge and the picture.

By the way, Paul and Jeff are Pasty.NET members who have both published their own handiwork on the web. Paul's Guest Gallery album https://pasty.com/pcam/grizzlyadams has 231 beautiful shots from around the U.P., and Jeff recently designed the informative EagleHarborInn.biz, which also happens to feature Pasty.NET wireless in-house, in case you plan on staying in the Harbor.

Brita! I knew these were your kids as soon as I saw the picture on pastycam! How fun...

neat picture brita. how cute

Boat builders in Sturgeon Bay, WI? Isn't the Palmer Johnson yard somewhere around there?