| Posted by SES on August 21, 2020 | |
This bridge collapsed where the steel center spans are in late summer 1978. It used to be all timber bridge. On 4th of July 1978, some kids lit up the deck lighting fireworks and caught the creosote on fire. The Roy fire dept. got it out in fair time. In grand Milwaukee Road fashion, the inspector said the bridge was still safe to roll trains across. All was fine for a little over a month until they tried to run a string of really heavy copper concentrate from SP that usually went to the smelter at Anaconda in Montana. This time, the heavy loads ended up in the Nisqually River about 1 or 2am as the scorched deck wouldn't hold the weight and collapsed. The river was poisoned to the Puget Sound, killing lots of fish. They dredged the river, taking the toxic concentrate to the Roy dump, which the railroad bought, lining it and burying so there'd be no seepage. After the cleanup, the destroyed section was replaced with these steel spans. It all still stands today, owned by Tacoma Rail.
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