Bridges

Portland, Michigan. That's the Bridge Street Bridge crossing the river; taken from the Grand River Bridge, which is a whole lot less picturesque.

Downtown Grand Ledge, Michigan.

You'll perhaps recognize this photo as sort of an inversion of this photo , which I posted here a couple weeks back. The snow and ice are gone and the water's now running real high in the Grand. These buildings are the backsides of businesses on Kent Street. A few years back--before Portland built the riverwalk (they call it a boardwalk, which I can live with)-- these were unattractive, albeit surprisingly colorful, buildings . They're quite proud of the improvement, as they should be. "Bridge Street Bridge" is a playfully (or painfully ) recursive name. Interestingly, the bridge is labelled differently at opposite ends--from the west (north?) it's indeed Bridge Street Bridge, but from the east it's Veterans Memorial Bridge. This page calls it by both names. This page calls it Vets, while this page calls it BSB. I'm not exactly confused, but I'm perhaps a bit bemused.

I'm sure there's an explanation for this, but I don't know why there used to be a bridge here, what it connected to on the far side, or why it's been abandoned. Bridge Street's little more than an alley on the edge of Bailey Park, which is itself on the fringe of Battle Creek. The street runs between the outfield walls of three baseball diamonds and an ever-dwindling set of small houses. Related photograph here .

In Barry County (Michigan) on the Thornapple, southeast of Hastings and about a mile downstream from Charlton Park . I was standing on this bridge when I took the barn photo I posted earlier today. This 1903 bridge was originally known as the Sponable Bridge and took the McKeown name in the 1930s. Both names commemorate the same farm--the farm whose barn I photographed. The state's description of the bridge attributes the name change to the rural electric companies standardizing road names in the 1930s, which is probably more interesting than the name itself. The bridge now lives in a little park, with its 1997 replacement crossing the Thornapple just downstream from the old bridge. There's quite a bit more information on the Historic Bridges website ; worth a look.

The Corps of Engineers maintains a museum by the locks in Sault Ste. Marie. The museum keeps a log of passing ships; they also get reports of upbound ships as they pass Detour Village, and downbound ships as they pass Whitefish Point. So that's my first stop at the Soo: I want to know which ships are in the system. Had a nice chat with the lady at the museum's counter about this old boat while we were waiting for it to arrive. The new boats are large and impressive, but style obviously wasn't a concern to their architects. While the Independent was hardly the oldest boat active on the lakes, it was an attractive relic of another age. We were both old enough to remember when lakes boats were more common and more stylish, and wishing for something we knew wasn't in the cards. Bridge notes: The yellow bridge in the background is the International Bridge, which crosses the Saint Mary's River between the two Saults. The dark bridge with several kinds of draws and lifts which runs beneath it is the old Soo Line railroad bridge, likewise called "International," which also connects Sault, Michigan, with Sault, Ontario. Kinsman Independent at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, in June, 1992. Camera: Chinon Genesis III

Massive Centennial Bridge changes the perspective, a little bit.... West Michigan Whitecaps at Quad City River Bandits, John O'Donnell Stadium, Davenport, Iowa, on May 19, 2003.

Camera: Chinon Genesis III Photo by Joel Dinda More information

This steel trestle--locally known as the High Bridge--was built in 1887 by predecessors of the Pere Marquette Railway Company to get the road's main line across the Grand River at Grand Ledge. This route nominally connects Detroit and Chicago, by way of Lansing and Grand Rapids. The PM was absorbed by the Chessie system about the time I was born, and the track is now owned by C&O successor CSX. These days the Soo Line (Canadian Pacific) also runs long trains on this track--they deserted Sault Ste. Marie a decade and a half ago. Sometimes I can't look at a bridge without putting things into historical context.... This photo was taken from Second Island in Grand Ledge on April 12, 2003.

Two bridges named "International"--the high bridge carries the highway across the rapids at Sault Ste. Marie, while the low bridge carries the railroad. (I've mentioned this before .) Taken from the Soo Locks Tour Boat. The weather, as you can see, was terrific.

My favorite laker, under the Blue Water Bridge....

M/V Walter J. McCarthy, Jr, heading toward Lake Huron under the Blue Water Bridges early yesterday afternoon. When I published a photo of Indiana Harbor a few months ago I remarked that the American Steamship freighters all look "pretty much alike"--still true, as you can see by comparing the photographs. It's still a thrill to see these big ships on the water, particularly when they're lightly loaded and seem more like a portable wall than a vessel. This boat is Indiana Harbor's twin, though their normal cargoes differ somewhat. By the way, it isn't always grey in Port Huron, but the town does seem to have its own private weather much of the time.

It ain't always grey in Port Huron.... Shot this picture with a throwaway Kodak panoramic camera. The Blue Water Bridge between Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario, on a gorgeous summer day in 1995. The photo was shot from the walkway near Port Huron's Municipal Office Center (called M.O.C.)--a building with a dull name but an exceptional view. The ship under the bridge is Algosoo, and there are a handful of sails out on the river. They'd just started to build the second Bluewater Bridge when I took this pic, and the warehouse across the way's since become a casino. All in all, though, the scene's about the same today. An amazing place.

Momma & Poppa Goose herd their flock in the shadow of the mighty Mackinac Bridge--I've annoyed them, and they're about to leave. Photo taken June 22, 2003. This photo was the next shot after one I published last spring, and demonstrates what a change in framing can accomplish. Though the pictures were shot from the same location and share many details, they tell different tales, and require different captions.

Imagine: You're hiking through Upper Michigan's wilderness on the North Country Trail and suddenly you find this.... This delightful and improbable bridge is just below O Kun De Kun Falls on northern Michigan's Baltimore River.

S/S William Clay Ford--once Walter A. Sterling, now Lee A. Tregurtha--passes under the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge on a grey August day in 1988. We were in Duluth to attend the annual convention of the Missabe Railroad Historical Society. The Ford had been loading at the DMIR docks earlier in the day--I have more photos--and we made a point of being at the Duluth Ship Canal when she left for points south. Notable: This is the second ship to bear William Clay Ford's name and is not the ship whose pilot house overlooks the Detroit River at the Dossin Museum on Belle Isle. Camera: Minolta Freedom 100

Near Eagle Harbor, extreme northern Michigan. Considering that the falls are accessible from the highway, that there are always photographers wandering around the place, and the the falls and bridge are quite picturesque, there are really very few photos of the place on the web....

Blue Water Bridges, shot from Point Edward, Ontario, looking toward Port Huron, Michigan.