|
Kinzua Bridge, PA
September 2001
Dear Jake & Amelia,
We stopped in northern Pennsylvania to see the Kinzua Viaduct. The
foliage was just starting to turn. Maples showed a touch of red, a
little bit of orange at their tips, a stroke of color on a green canvas.
The bridge was built for the Erie Railroad in 1882, a few years before
the Eiffel Tower. The iron and wood structure, 2,053 feet long and 301
feet high, was the highest railroad bridge in the world at that time. In
1900, it was reconstructed in steel to carry heavier trains. The
100-year-old rusty wonder, once the embodiment of the power and strength
of the industrial age, sat quietly in a green valley. We could imaging
the ground shaking as powerful steam engines pulled heavy loads of coal
and lumber across the valley. The contrast was striking.
Nancy & Peter
|
