Summary

Camera location	38° 16′ 21.87″ N, 85° 45′ 36.25″ W	View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap	38.272742; -85.760069

Looking SW from near Indiana end of Ohio Falls Bridge (Fourteenth Street Bridge; L&I Bridge) Several fishermen can be seen below McAlpine Dam. At left, water is flowing through weirs which were made a few years earlier to permit water to flow through this area year-round (not just when river is high) as a benefit to wildlife(?). At center are upper gates of McAlpine Dam

The original Fourteenth Street Bridge was completed in 1870. The deck spans of that bridge were built using the "Fink truss", designed by the Chief Engineer of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Albert Fink. In the mid-1870s, the bridge was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad. From 1916 to 1918, the bridge was rebuilt with a heavier superstructure atop the existing piers, which had to be reduced in height to accomodate the new spans. The Penn Central (formed by the 1968 merger of the Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads) went bankrupt in 1970 after less than 3 years in existence. In 1976, the bridge was acquired by the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), and in 1994, it was sold to the Louisville and Indiana (L&I) Railroad.

The large span at right of center crosses over what was known as the Indiana Chute. This was one of three routes historically taken by boats traveling through the Falls of the Ohio, the others being the Kentucky Chute and the Middle Chute. Dam No. 41. as it was called from about 1914 to 1960, had a navigable pass, so that when the river was high enough, a section of dam could be lowered, allowing boats to travel through the Indiana Chute, thereby saving the time required to travel through the Portland Canal and locks. When the dam (renamed McAlpine Dam) was rebuilt in the early 1960s, the navigable pass was permanently encased in concrete and incorporated into the new dam. In this photo, the former navigable pass can be seen to left of center, between the weirs and the upper gate structure. Now all vessels are required to use the canal and locks. The Indiana Chute span is 644 feet long, making it the "longest and heaviest simple-truss riveted span in existence" at the time (accd. to Engineering News-Record, 82 (21): 1007, May 22, 1919).

Ohio River mile 605
upper gauge=13 feet, lower gauge=11 feet
Clarksville, Clark County, Indiana
23-Jul-2005
file # a5g007

scanned from 6x9 cm Fuji NPS negative

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