June 2006

Toe River Bridge Site at Newland

Here's the group again at another previously un-visited site. This is the eastern abutment of the LRRy bridge on the western side of Newland. It spanned the Toe River with a 70 foot steel deck plate girder bridge built in 1917. The 2 plate girders of the bridge would have been the height of the flat concrete wall in the center of the photo, or about 6 feet tall. Some of the concrete in this abutment is still in good shape, but much of it, as you can see, has really started to fall apart. The concrete in this and other abutments on the Linville River is made up of a very high percentage of waste rock from the Cranberry Mine. I'm really surprised that some of them have lasted as long as they have. One of the hikers found a short piece of rail in the water on the opposite side of the river. It will reside in the Avery County Museum.