 |
Red Cliff Bridge (New Eagle River Bridge)
Rede Cliff, CO 81649This graceful arch bridge over the the Eagle River was constructed in 1939.
View user comments below.
|
 |
|
Red Cliff Bridge (New Eagle River Bridge). Postcard ca. 1940.
|
|
 |
|
Red Cliff Bridge (New Eagle River Bridge). Postcard ca. 1940.
|
For more information:
| Posted by: BT on Tuesday, December 26, 2017 at 12:25:30 PM
My father, Ralph V. Thompson, worked on the bridge in the early days of its construction. He probably was what would be termed a "common laborer". He wrote up his memoirs and had this to say about it....."While at Red Cliff, I lucked out and got a job working for a contractor for $1 an hour, repeat $1 an hour not $1 per day. This was on that bridge that we pointed out to you boys on one of our trips. Quite an engineering feat at the time. There was no ready mix concrete at that time so we had to haul the sand and gravel to a power mixer then haul the concrete away in a two wheeled bugg. Really hard work but it was a job."
So he was quite pleased to be making the high hourly wage of $1 an hour. In the preceding paragraphs he talks about making $15 a month plus room and board at a family farm in Kansas. In September of 1941 he got work at the Empire Zinc Mines in Gilman at about $55 a week.
Thanks for posting about the bridge.
BT |
Feedback: Do you have corrections or contributions for this page? Want to make a suggestion? Click here to send me an e-mail. I am espcially interested in memories, stories, postcards and photographs. Thanks!
Last updated: 2010-03-04 20:12:56 |
|
|
|
|
