Where are we Wednesday

HISTORIC GILLESPIE DAM BRIDGE

Gillespie Dam Bridge is 1,662 feet long

 

Today was the first day of school for my youngest. And since I was awake and it was a beautiful morning, my oldest and I decided to take a little road trip. Not too far from our house is the town of Arlington. There are about 200 people living there. It is very tiny. They even have a tiny little post office. It didn't take us very long to get there. And yet you pass by so much. Mostly agriculture. Fields of alfalfa and cotton. A couple of dairy farms. Mountains off in the distance. All covered by a beautiful blue sky and cotton ball clouds. And it was still pretty early in the day so the thermometer hadn't reached 100 yet.

We came upon this beautiful steel truss bridge. Turned out this was a historic bridge built in 1927 as a federal aid project. It crosses the Gila River on Old Hwy 80 between Arlington and Gila Bend. 

I love old bridges. Well, let me clarify that. I love to look at old bridges. This one is very narrow and very rusted and I honestly wasn't sure it could be crossed. But a couple of cars went by and didn't seem to have a problem. As I slowly entered onto the bridge, a large semi truck began his traverse from the opposite end. I don't know if he was just a naturally courteous driver, or if he saw my white knuckles and the fear on my face, but he slowed way down and his right bumper hugged the side of the bridge as I passed him. 

Gillespie Dam from the bridge

Now, there's a joke that says "You know you live in Arizona when you no longer associate bridges or rivers with water". This bridge is one of the exceptions to that. The Gila River runs under this bridge. And since we've had some heavy rains the past couple of days there is actually water in it. There used to be a dam near the bridge built by Frank Gillespie in 1921 to supply water to his ranch. In 1993 there were unusually heavy rains and the dam was breached. The Gila River is now free to run through the remains of the dam.   

Remains of Gillespie Dam. 

If you are a history buff, enjoy bridges, or just want to get out of the house, then I would recommend a road trip to Arlington. And if you're a bird watcher, you won't be disappointed either. Besides the requisite turkey vulture in the Arizona sky, there were plenty of white herons and other smaller birds hanging out at the water's edge. There really isn't a place for a picnic or anything like that, but if you're coming from Phoenix, you could continue West to Gila Bend and stop in at the Space Age Restaurant or Sofia's Mexican Food. I really enjoyed the area and it was definitely worth the trip. So if you're looking for a little adventure, hit the road and check this out.