It was Cliffside's first
bridge. Its supports were iron but the guard rails on either
end and the roadway were of wood. The two men in the picture
are approaching town from River Street. It's a rare photo that
shows some of the houses that once lined the river at the south
end of the mill (look to the right of the waterfall). There were
only a few autos in town at this point so probably the bridge
was used by more pedestrians than cars. The tracks indicate the
streets on either end of the bridge were unpaved. Can't you hear
the rumbling these boards must have made as the flivvers tootled
slowly across? This bridge was situated much closer to the mill
than ones that later replaced it, and so
its north end was very near the bottom end of the row of warehouses
that lined the road leading from the square.
So, southbound traffic would drive down the hill to the end of
the warehouses and have to make a sharp right turn to get onto
the bridge. For other views of the bridge go here and here.
Another treasure from that old cigar box of
Blanche Edwards Campbell. |