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Nobles Trail – Junction

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California, Shasta County, near Shingletown
Left branch of Nobles Trail led southwest to McCumber’s Mill on Millseat Creek, right branch led west to Shingletown were the two branches rejoined.

Guidebook Available
Trails West Inc., P.O. Box 12045, Reno, NV 89510

(Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Charlie’s Place

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California, Shasta County, near Shingletown
In 1849 Charles Ogburn built a road to this site from Fort Reading. Ogburn’s road later became part of the famed Noble Emigrant route. Ogburn built a cabin, planted orchards & later sold to his brother John in 1856. Charlie’s Place was popular for its fine brandy & blacksmithing. Bear & bull fights promoted the family enterprise. In 1942, Herbert "Ringtail” Johnson bought the ranch from the Ogburn heirs. The second house on this site, built in 1867, burned in 1952.

(Roads & Vehicles • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Nobles Trail – Charley’s Ranch

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California, Shasta County, near Shingletown
“Traveled 15 miles to Charley’s Ranch and camped there. Good water, drove the stock 2 miles to grass, here we heard the first chicken crow, and saw the first hog.”
- John S.L. Taylor, Sep. 2, 1854

(Roads & Vehicles • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Gallows

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California, Shasta County, Shasta
This gallows is a restoration of the one on which John Baker and Charles Crouch were hanged on August 26, 1974, for the crime of murder. Before being hanged, and with permission of the officials, John Baker sang the following song:

“Faded Flowers” Oh! The flowers that I saw in the wildwood,
have since dropped their beautiful leaves,
and the many dear friends of my childhood,
have slumbered for years in their graves.

Oh! The blooms of the flower I remember,
and the smiles I shall never more see;
for the cold chilly winds of December,
stole my flowers, my companions, from me.

There were many verses to the song, and all were sung with considerable feeling! Charles Crouch had nothing to say.

(Notable Events) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Western Star Lodge No. 2

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California, Shasta County, Shasta
The oldest Masonic Lodge in the State of California. Chartered by the most worshipful Grand lodge of Missouri on the 10th of May, 1848.
This building was dedicated on Saint John’s day, the 27th of December, 1854 and has been in continuous use by the lodge ever since.
After the Great Fire on June 14th, 1863 when most of the City of Shasta was destroyed, the lodge lost all of its possessions, save its Missouri charter, and continued to meet in the upper floor of Dr. Benjamin Shurtteff’s home which stood on a hill west of town from 1851 to 1967 when it was lost to fire. On the 4th of December, 1854, the lodge trustees purchased the upper floor of this building, the street level being the Norton & Tucker general merchandise. In 1857 the lodge acquired ownership of the entire building.
The Western Star Masonic Hall Association Inc. owns and maintains this property and also a cemetery founded 1864. The Shasta Masonic Cemetery, located at 11471 Mule Town Road, southwest of town.

(Fraternal or Sororal Organizations) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Litsch Store

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California, Shasta County, Shasta
By serving the daily needs of the area, Frank Litsch’s general merchandise store gives us a rare look into the lives of the people living in Shasta during the years of 1873 to 1900. As these lives were in transition, so was the store. Goods previously sold in bulk from barrels and bags instead became packaged in saleable quantities. Anonymous containers gave way to packages proudly announcing their contents and manufactures. More emphasis began to be placed on advertising and the quality of the goods. The faithful restoration of the Litsch Store as well as the use of many of the original products from the period captures the spirit of these times in a very special way.

The store is actually two brick buildings with a common wall. Henry Leo built the west building in 1855 for use as a furniture and dry goods store. In 1856, John Cushing and Orson P. Fuller built the east building and operated it as a grocery store. Both buildings went through many changes of ownership until Frank Litsch purchased the east building in 1873 and opened a family grocery store. In 1875, he purchased the west building and used it as the local post office and a warehouse. After the fire of 1878, he expanded his stock to include general merchandise. Finally, in later years, a pioneer museum was added as an extra attraction for business. It included relics found in the area as well as merchandise which had become antiques while sitting on the store shelves.

While the businesses in Shasta went through many changes over the years, with many being closed and their owners moving on to other towns, the Litsch family remained, operating their family store until 1960 when it became part of Shasta State Historic Park.

The Litsch Store Museum is open today through the efforts of the State Parks Volunteer Program. Further information about operating hours and the Volunteer Program can be obtained at the Courthouse Museum or by calling 243-8194.

(Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Wind River Canyon

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Wyoming, Fremont County, near Shoshoni
Boysen Dam, completed in 1951, marks the southern margin of the east-west trending Owl Creek Mountains and the Wind River Canyon. Drained by the north flowing Wind River, the canyon is 14 miles long, 1.3-2 miles wide and 2,400 feet deep where it crosses the axis of the mountain range, north of here. Steep canyon walls display rocks of the Precambrian and Paleozoic eras ranging in age from several billion to 235 million years. The Wind River originally flowed across flat terrain beneath which lay the buried Owl Creek Mountains. These mountains formed 50 million years ago, as an upward fold in the earth's crust, and were subsequently covered by younger sediment. About 4 million years ago a broad regional uplift of the earth's crust resulted in the incision of the Wind River's channel onto the rising crust, creating the canyon which cuts across the Owl Creek Mountains at a right angle.Rivers usually flow around or parallel to mountains rather than across them. Sediment covering the Owl Creek Mountains was removed via erosion, resulting in development of the landscape you now view. The process continues.

Portions of the Canyon highway follow an ancient trail used by Native Americans, early fur trappers, traders, and U.S. Military expeditions. Native Americans, particularly the Shoshone, used this trail to reach the hot springs in present-day Thermopolis. William Ashley, "general" of the fur trade, floated a valuable cargo of pelts through the Canyon in 1825 on his way back to St. Louis. The Canyon was also a well known escape route for Native American warriors in the late 1800s. Wind River Canyon is sacred to contemporary Native American tribes in the region.

(Environment • Industry & Commerce • Native Americans • Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Cold Storage Room

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California, Shasta County, Shasta
Peter Hoff’s butcher shop stood on this site. It was a wood-frame building built in 1855. The establishment, known for awhile as the City Meat Market, was destroyed by fire in 1878. The cavity in the hill side was a cold storage room. Snow was brought down from the mountains and used to keep meets cool. Each year, after the first frost the 10-foot by 14-foot dugout was used as a smokehouse for a month or so.

(Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

High-Five Plains Towns / Ten Miles a Day

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Colorado, Adams County, near Bennett

High-Five Plains Towns
Watkins, Bennett, Strasburg, Byers, Peoria, Deer Trail, Agate, Godfrey, Cedar Point, Riverbend—most of these Colorado high plains towns were founded around the time when the Kansas Pacific Railroad arrived in 1870. Five of these towns, Watkins, Bennett, Strasburg, Byers, and Deer Trail, all became busy agricultural shipping centers. Through the first half of the twentieth century these five communities, now along the east I-70 corridor, were the very picture of Main Street, USA—rural, self-sufficient, and distinctive, with strong local identities. But maintaining those identities became increasingly difficult after World War II, as Denver’s steady advance threatened to wipe out the line between town and country. In November 1996, the five time-tested communities launched the High Five Plains Foundation, a joint initiative to promote local economies, manage growth, and preserve the region’s traditions and quality of life. By integrating their past into the future, the High Five communities hope to keep an important part of Colorado’s history alive.

Photo of turn-of-the-century Bennett:
(Caption) Bennett, early 1900s. Bennett grew up near the junction of the Smoky Hill Trail North and the Fort Morgan Cut-Off of the South Platte Trail. Courtesy Comanche Crossing Museum

Photo of Strasburg:
(Caption) Strasburg, 1916. On August 15, 1870, workers drove the last spike of the Kansas Pacific Railroad at Comanche Crossing in present-day Strasburg. Courtesy Comanche Crossing Museum

Photo of Byers:
(Caption) Byers, 1900. Originally called Bijou, Byers started out as a station and settlement on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. The town’s first postmaster, Oliver Wiggins, changed the name to Byers in honor of William N. Byers, founder of the Rocky Mountain News. Courtesy Comanche Crossing Museum

Photo of Watkins:
(Caption) Watkins, early 1900s. Situated on the Boxelder Creek, Watkins developed around a Kansas Pacific station called Box Elder. It was later renamed Watkins in honor of a local rancher. Courtesy Deer Trail Tribune

Photo of Deer Trail:
(Caption) Deer Trail, 1919. Deer Trial is acknowledged by the Pro Rodeo Association and the Colorado State Assembly as “The Home of the World’s First Rodeo.” Courtesy Deer Trail Pioneer Historical Society

Ten Miles a Day
Kansas Pacific Railroad It is no coincidence that the West blossomed just after the Kansas Pacific Railroad's completion in 1870. The next generation witnessed the heyday of the cattle culture, which depended on Kansas Pacific railheads from Denver to Dodge City; the rush of prairie homesteaders, who shipped their produce to market in its boxcars; and the rise of industrial mines, whose ores rode the line to eastern factories. Even as it helped construct a new frontier empire, the Kansas Pacific weakened the old one. The railroad ran through the heart of the Plains Indian nations, dividing their buffalo herds and expediting wars against them. As an economic pipeline and an engine of conquest, the Kansas Pacific played a central role in the transformation of the West.

August 15, 1870, was perhaps the greatest single day of railroad building in history. The Kansas Pacific tracks had surged to within fifty miles of Denver; a second construction team, advancing eastward from the city, stood just over ten miles distant. At dawn on this notable day an American flag and a keg of whiskey were placed halfway between the two crews, and the rhythmic calls of the gandy dancers commenced. By three in the afternoon the workers had bridged the gap; they laid ten miles of track in ten hours, a feat not matched before or since. Moreover, the Kansas Pacific made it possible to ride coast to coast without ever leaving the rails——the Union Pacific still lacked a bridge over the Missouri River and required passengers to be ferried across at Omaha.

Photo of track being completed:
(Caption) Laying the track Colorado Historical Society

Railroad map: Colorado Historical Society

Photo of locomotive:
(Caption) Kansas Pacific engine No. 51 was lost near this location in the Kiowa Creek flood of May 21, 1878. It was identical to KP No. 68, the Baldwin 4-4-0 pictured here.
Courtesy DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, Ag 82.86.40

(Railroads & Streetcars • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Front Range Flight

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Colorado, Adams County, Bennett
The Rocky Mountains proved a formidable barrier to early aviation, leaving Colorado in a familiar position: bypassed. As with the railroads fifty years earlier, transcontinental air traffic went through Wyoming; Colorado had to make do with a Denver-based spur line—in this case, Colorado Airways, which began flying the fifty-five-minute Denver-to-Cheyenne route in 1926. Airplane technology quickly conquered the mountains, and Front Rangers began taking to the skies. In 1938 Continental Airlines became the state's first coast-to-coast passenger carrier, and after World War II Colorado became a major aviation axis, hosting Lowry Air Force Base and Buckley Naval Air Station as well as the U.S. Air Force Academy. Ultimately air travel changed life for Coloradans, tying them into national affairs as never before.

Denver Municipal Airport opened in 1929, its four gravel runways squeezed onto a square-mile parcel in northeastern Denver. Boosters called it "the West's best airfield," but critics derided it as a pork-barrel reward for Mayor Benjamin Stapleton's political allies. Time proved out the boosters; by 1950 Stapleton Airport was serving six major airlines and 200,000 passengers, and in 1986 it ranked as the fifth-busiest airport in the world. Three years later voters authorized construction of Denver International Airport, a 34,000-acre facility to be supported by Front Range Airport and other satellite sites. Once again detractors cried boondoggle, particularly when construction glitches pushed the project behind schedule and over budget. When DIA finally went into service in February 1995, it was the largest airport in the world—and one of the most talked about.

Photo of old Denver municipal airport: (Caption) Denver Municipal Airport in 1931, soon after its first expansion—a second hanger. Colorado Historical Society

Photo of airmail plane: (Caption) The revenue from carrying airmail sustained early Colorado aviation. Pilot Floyd Pace (left) flew the Pueblo-to-Cheyenne, Wyoming, route in 1926. Colorado Historical Society

Photo of DIA terminal: (Caption) Denver International Airport Colorado Historical Society

(Air & Space) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

North Carolina Confederate Veterans Memorial Forest

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North Carolina, Haywood County, near Waynesville
The United Daughters of the Confederacy in cooperation with the United States Forest Service planted this 125 acre forest as a living memorial to the 125,000 soldiers North Carolina provided the Confederacy. The 125,000 Red Spruce tree forest was planted over a three-year period, 1941-1943.

The Memorial Forest was dedicated August 11, 1956

Rededicated by United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans August 11, 2001

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

A Community's Living Room

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California, Inyo County, Independence
This auditorium is one of three original buildings remaining here from Manzanar War Relocation Center. As you walk closer, listen for laughter, tears , music—the sounds of celebration and sadness that once echoed through this building’s cavernous space. They linger in the stories you will hear inside, of those who worked and played here over many decades: internees, War Relocation

In just five months, internee carpenters transformed standard government blueprints into a community auditorium for more than 5,000 people still confined here in June 1944.

With a stage, locker rooms, and projection booth, the 14,000 sq. ft. building changed the way Manzanar gathered. Concerts, lectures, Japanese Americans cultural activities and physical education classes filled its calendar---and often its 1,280-seat capacity. Tickets for dances, talent shows, and movie nights were 5 cents for children, 25 cents for adults, 50 cents for camp staff and “everyone else.”

(Asian Americans • War, World II) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Sacred Space

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California, Inyo County, Independence
Life at Manzanar was uncertain, but the prospect of dying behind barbed wire, far from home, may have been unthinkable. On May 16, 1943, Matsunosuke Murakami, 62, became the first of 150 men, women, and children to die in camp. He and 14 others, most infants and older men without families, were laid to rest in this cemetery outside the barbed wire fence in an old peach orchard from Manzanar’s farming era. Here, in the shadow of majestic Mt. Williamson, their somber funerals and memorials were attended by hundreds of mourners.

While some deceased were sent to hometown cemeteries, most were cremated and their ashes held in camp until their families left Manzanar. Giichi Matsumura, an internee who died in 1945 while exploring the Sierra, is buried high in the mountains above you.

Today, only six graves here, including Matsunosuke Murakami’s, contain remains; families requested the removal of others after the war.

(Right side of the marker - additional photo):
I REI TO
The Japanese Kanji characters read “Soul Consoling Tower.” Master stonemason Ryozo Kado, a Catholic, and Buddhist minister Shinjo Nagatomi designed this iconic monument as a permanent tribute to Manzanar’s dead. Kado built the obelisk with the assistance of Block 9 residents and a young Buddhists’ group, funded by 15-cent donations from each family in camp. Rev. Nagatomi carefully inscribed the monuments’s characters—including “Erected by the Manzanar Japanese, August 1943” on the west side.

While Rev. Nagatomi and Ryozo Kado live on in the memories of family and community, Kado also left his legacy in cement and stone. He built the sentry posts at the camp entrance and other camp features in his distinctive faux wood style. Compare the posts surrounding his monument to those near the sentry posts and look for other examples of Kado’s craftsmanship around Manzanar.

(Asian Americans • Cemeteries & Burial Sites • War, World II) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Legacy

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California, Inyo County, Independence
Over the years, this monument has become an icon, inspiring a grass-roots movement to preserve Manzanar and remember the sacrifices of 120,313 Japanese Americans confined by their own government.
Buddhist minister Sentoku Mayed and Christian minister Shoichi Wakahiro first returned here on Memorial Day 1946. For the next 30 years, they made “pilgrimages” to honor Manzanar’s dead.

Amid the 1960s civil rights struggles, younger Japanese Americans spoke out, shattering their elders’ silence and shame about the camps. On a cold December day in 1969, 150 people journeyed here on the first organized pilgrimage. An annual event since, the Manzanar Pilgrimage attracts hundreds of people of all ages from diverse backgrounds. On the last Saturday of April, they gather here for a day of remembrance with speeches, a memorial service, an traditional ondo dance.

Visiting the cemetery anytime can be a personal pilgrimage—of reflection, worship, remembrance, or protest. Some people leave offerings---coins, personal mementos, paper cranes, water and sake, and religious items—as outward expressions of the ongoing, unspoken conversations about America’s past and future.

(Quote at the bottom of the marker:)
“America is strong as it makes amends for the wrongs it has committed…We will always remember Manzanar because of that.” –Sue Kunitomi Embry

(Inscription on the left side of the marker:)
Sue Kunitomi Embry 1923-2006-Sue Kunitomi arrived at Manzanar in May 1942, at age 19. In camp, she served as a teacher’s aid, wove camouflage nets to support the war effort, and worked as a reporter and then managing editor of the Manzanar Free Press.
Years later Sue Kunitomi Embry was among the first of her generation to speak out about the camps. As the driving force behind the Manzanar Committee, she organized the Manzanar Pilgrimage for 37 years and worked tirelessly to ensure that this site and its stories would be preserved to protect the human and civil rights of all. Today, Sue’s legacy endures in the ongoing work of informing and inspiring future generations.

(Asian Americans • Cemeteries & Burial Sites • War, World II) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Weaving for the War

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California, Inyo County, Independence
America went to work for the war effort in 1942, and Manzanar was no exception. More than 500 young Japanese Americans wove camouflage nets here for the U.S. Army. Since citizenship was a job requirement, most saw weaving nets as a chance to prove their loyalty-and earn some money. A friendly camaraderie grew among the crews-who often worked to big band music blaring from loudspeakers—as they turned out an average 6,000 nets a month.

The three 18’ tall sheds built on these long slabs soon became a flash point for discontent over wages and friction between citizens and non-citizens that spread throughout the camp. The work proved hazardous, too, with internees enduring long hours of breathing fine lint and contact with harsh dyes.

The net factory closed after the Manzanar Riot in December 1942 and the sheds were converted to other uses. To your left, a mattress factory produced 4,020 mattresses for the camp before fire destroyed it in 1943.

(Inscription under the photo in the upper right:)
Manzanar became nearly self-sufficient by 1944 due to its agriculture and industries, ranging from shoe and typewriter repair to soy sauce and tofu processing. A clothing factory produced uniforms and work clothes for the camp’s nurses, mess hall workers, and policemen, while a furniture factory built desks, chairs, baby cribs, and toys.

(Quote at the bottom right:)
Our pay was $16 a month and we certainly earned it as we took pride in our work. Interestingly, after I finished college many years later, I became a weaver. It might have been because I enjoyed weaving the camouflage nets.” –Momo Nagano

(Asian Americans • War, World II) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Dragon Tree

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California, San Diego County, Coronado
Native to the Canary Islands this unusual tree was planted at The Del prior to the turn of the century where it thrives in our temperate southern California coastal climate.

The Dragon Tree was used as a backdrop in the Marilyn Monroe movie Some Like It Hot, which was filmed at The Del in 1958.

(Entertainment • Horticulture & Forestry) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Arndahl Lutheran Church

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Minnesota, Meeker County, near Grove City
On November 26th, 1990 Arndahl Lutheran Church was destroyed by a fire. We are left with many memories of our church and its people.

We dedicate this monument to our church-going fore-fathers who did so much to build the kingdom of God in this community. In 1868 a group of early settlers set their hands to the establishment of Arndahl Lutheran Church. The first service was held in the home of Ole Larson in Acton, and it was conducted by Rev. T. H. Dahl. The name, Arndahl Lutheran Church, was derived from Rev. Dahl's name and the first child born in Danielson Township, Arnt Hanson. It was officially named "The Arndahl Norwegian Danish Church" at a meeting in January 1871, $170.00 was pledged toward the building of a church. The first service was held in the completed church in November of 1874. Music was always an important part of Arndahl and it was known as "the singing church". Nineteen pastors have faithfully served our congregation.

Because of Arndahl Lutheran Church we continue to grow in grace as committed servants of Christ our Lord. We have been guided, sustained and spiritually blessed. We thank and praise God for his abiding love.

(Churches, Etc.) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Christmas Tree

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California, San Diego County, Coronado
Here stands the world's first electrically-lighted outdoor Christmas tree, unveiled at the Hotel del Coronado on December 24, 1904

(Horticulture & Forestry) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Battle of Acton

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Minnesota, Meeker County, Acton
During the U.S. – Dakota War, a battle between Dakota soldiers led by Taoyateduta or Little Crow and Tunkanhnamani (Walks Under A Sacred Stone) and Co. B, 9th Minn. Inf. Regt. made up of new recruits and civilians led by Capt. Richard Strout, crossed near this location on Sept. 3rd, 1862.

Company B, with 75 men, was sent to Meeker County to protect civilians and camped the night before at the Robinson Jones' house (2 1/2 miles NW) where one of the Acton murders occurred in August. After a perilous night-time journey, messengers from Forest City warned the unaware unit that over 100 Dakota soldiers camped only a short distance away.

At dawn, the company retreated southeast along the Pembina-Henderson trail. Where the track turned south parallel to Long Lake, the Dakota attacked the column in the front and rear and encircled the command. After several volleys of gunfire, the soldiers broke through the Dakota line to the south, but were pursued and under attack for eight miles, eventually making it safely to Hutchinson.

During the battle, the army detail had 3 killed and 18 wounded. Dakota soldier casualties are unknown. On Sept. 4, Taoyateduta and his men attacked Hutchinson and Forest City. Failing to breach the protective stockades and drive out the settlers, they withdrew from the area, thus changing their plan to attack from behind a military column moving up the Minnesota River valley.

Meeker County Historical Society

(Wars, US Indian) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Snake River Bridge

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Idaho, Bonneville County, Idaho Falls
On December 10, 1864 a franchise was granted to Edward M. Morgan, James M. (Matt) Taylor, and William F. Bartlett to operate a ferry one and one-half miles below Cedar Island and build a bridge over Snake River at Black Canyon. Mr. Taylor selected the bridge site and in 1864-65 erected an 83 foot wooden span with solid rock anchorage on both sides. It was a modified queens truss type. The first bridge to cross Snake River was located 1320 feet south of this spot. A replica of the bridge tops this monument.

(Bridges & Viaducts) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
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