03 September 2013

Duluth's original "transporter bridge"


One of the landmarks of the harbor at Duluth, Minnesota is its aerial lift bridge (see photo at right).  Before the lift bridge was created, the canal was traversed via the "transporter bridge" (shown in the top photo) - the first of only two such bridges ever constructed in the United States (there are only twelve transporter bridges in the world).
When it was completed in 1905, the Aerial Bridge's gondola had a capacity of 60 short tons (54 tonne) and could carry 350 people plus wagons, streetcars, or automobiles. A trip across the canal took about one minute, and the ferry car moved across once every five minutes during busy times of the day.
Posted for reader Sarah, who lives in Duluth and who will probably be interested in this 1905 photo showing Duluth with no trees on the hill (?presumably as the result of prior logging?).

Top photo from Shorpy, and like all Shorpy images is best appreciated in the larger-than-wallpaper size at the original link.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks, if I'm ever in a Trivial Pursuit Championship I want you on my team.

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  2. "Original" is misspelled. I'm not picking, but this is the first mistake of this kind I've seen on your blog for quite a few years now, and I presumed you want to keep it neat :)

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    1. Absolutely. One reason the blog is so "clean" is that there is a cadre of what I presume are former teachers in various disciplines who alert me to a whole variety of errors and misadventures. Sometimes I'm tempted to make a mistake on purpose just to keep them happy.

      Fixed. Tx, Ionut.

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