Details
Collection: 00032 - North Dakota Oral History Project Photograph Collection
Folder: PB-08
Item: 00005
Title: The new steel bridge at Drayton (N.D.)
Date: 9/23/1911
Creator: Van Camp, Alton
Inscription/Marks: [history Grand_Forks_Herald_Sat__Jul_9__1910_p02] WANT A STEEL BRIDGE ERECTED. Probably That New Structure Will Be Thrown Across The Red River. Drayton, N.D. July 9, [1910] A petitiion containing the names of about 1,000 residents of Pembina County will be presented by Drayton to the board of county commissioners asking them to make an appropriation of $25,000 in part payment of the new steel bridge that it is proposed to build across the Red River at this point. The entrie cost of the structure will be $53,000. For some time this plan has been worked out, the purpose being to place this section of Pembina County in closer touch with the territory on the Minnesota side of the river. [history Grand_Forks_Herald_Sat__Jun_24__1911_p02] WORK HAS BEEN STARTED Drayton, N.D., June 24. Work has been started on the new steel bridge across the Red River at this point. Several cars of material and tools have arrived and in a short time the piers will be started. This will be one of the largest bridges across the Red River and it is worth a great deal to see the work that is being done. The pile driver will be started the latter part of next week and a track will be laid along Almeron Street for the cars. [history Bismarck_Tribune_Sun__Dec_4__1910_p03] Short History Of The Famous Drayton Bridge "Off again, on again, gone again, Finnigan." This is the record of the $25,000 grant from Pembina County to the citizens of Drayton for the purpose of aiding in constructing a bridge across the Red River at that point. At an adjourned meeting of the commissioners held at Pembina Tuesday [November 29, 1910] the matter of granting the petition of the Drayton people for $25,000 in aid of a bridge was again considered and passed for the second time. The commissioners voting favorable were Norton, Olafson and Morin, the other two members refusing to vote on the question. The bridge matter was first considered Friday, November 4th, when the petition was granted, three commissioners voting for the appropriation and two not voting. On Friday, November 18th, the matter was reconsidered, and the petition denied. The three members who voted for the petition on the 4th inst., voting against it on the 18th. Tuesday, November 29th, the matter was reconsidered for a second time, and the petition was allowed by the vote shown above. This has been one of the hardest fought propositions that has come before the commissioners in many years, rivalling in interest the all absorbing question of county seat removal. It is not likely that any legal proceedings will be instituted to stop the payment of the appropriation, which means a new $53,000 bridge across the Red River at Drayton within the new few months.[history Bismarck_Tribune_Fri__Feb_17__1911_p03] BUILD BRIDGE AT DRAYTON Drayton, Feb. 16. An engineering work that is bound to attract considerable interest over the state is the erection of a big steel bridge over the Red River of the North at Drayton, Pembina County. The contract for the big bridge was let Saturday evening to the Minnesota Steel and Machinery Company, the contract price being $49,965. The bridge proper will be 590 feet in length and with approaches will be some 900 feet long.
Summary: Two men stand under the wooden supports for the new steel bridge being constructed at Drayton, Pembina County (N,D.). The road bed of the bridge is partially complete and the trusses are halfway done on the photo right side. In the background are buidings of the town. The first bridge over the Red River at Drayton (N.D.) and Oslo (Minn.) was a lift bridge. One section of the bridge could be raised to allow steamboats to pass beneath. Built in 1911, removed in 1955 when new steel bridge was built north of town. Lost Through truss bridge with vertical lift over Red River on former Almeron Avenue. __[Bismarck_Tribune_Fri__Dec_22__1911_p02] NEW BRIDGE JOINS TWO COMMONWEALTHS Drayton, N.D. Dec. 22. Two townships in Minnesota and a township, a city and a county in North Dakota combined to construct across the Red River here a $50,000 life draw span bridge. The ambitious business men of Drayton, with covetous eye upon the prosperous territory, on the Minnesota side of the river as a possible market district, are directly responsible for the successful conclusion of the movement. The cost was appropriated among the several political sub-divisions indicated. This bridge is 640 feet long over the steel spans alone, in addition to which there is 192 fee of trestle work, making the total length of the structure 822 feet. The lift span is the most interesting feature, and that span is 140 feet in length, supported on piers which have their foundation at either side of the low water line. The span is counterweighted by twenty-eight tons of concrete weights, and is operated on a capstan. Four men can lift the span. The span can be lifted twenty-five feet, which makes its lowest point twenty-nine fee above the highest water ever known, and forty feet over the average high water mark. [Obituary Drayton express 04-11-1985p01] Alton L. Van Camp, age 86 passed away Saturday, April 6, 1985 at Unity Hospital in Grafton (N.D.). He was born to the late Wesley and Edith May Van Camp in Drayton Township of Pembina County (N.D.) on Feburary 4, 1899. He grew up and attended Drayton Public School and on November 24, 1926 married Gladys Jamieson at Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He was engaged in farming and lived his entire life in Drayton Township. He was a member of Drayton United Methodist Church and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Survivors included his wife, Gladys, one daughter, Mrs. Reva G. Gregg of Mitchell (S.D.), three sons, Lorne of Omaha (Neb.), and Raymond and Carl both of Drayton (N.D.); 16 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren, and 4 sisters: Mrs. Anna Mae Brown of Great Falls (Mont.), Mrs. Ethel Brown of Drayton (N.D.), Mrs. Florence Leach and Mrs. Muriel Johnson, both of Seal Beach (Calif.). He was preceeded in death by his parents and 1 brother. [Obituary Drayton express 11-07-1991p01] Gladys M. Van Camp, age 89, of Drayton (N.D.) passed away at her home in Drayton (N.D.) on Friday, November 1, 1991. The former Gladys M. Jamieson was born in Egmondville, Huron County, Ontario on June 10, 1902 to the late Joseph and Sarah Grace Jamieson. She grew up and received her education at Dominion City, Manitoba and on November 24, 1926. She married Alton L. Van Camp at Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. After their marriage they were engaged in farming and lived in Drayton Township of Pembina County (N.D.). Alton Van Camp passed away in 1985 and Gladys moved into Drayton in 1988. She was a member of Drayton United Methodist Church and the UMW (United Methodist Women), Rosebank Rebekah Lodge 29, and Sunnside Club. She is survived by her sons, Raymond and Carl and daughter Reva Gregg, all of Drayton (N.D.); 16 grandchildren, 37 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, son Lorne W. Van Camp, five brothers and two sisters.
Red ID: PH_I_120233 Image ID: 184215 Image Notes: 00032-PB-08-00005
Collection: 00032 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: North Dakota Oral History Project Photograph Collection
Date: 1880-1977
Summary: Consists of copies of photographs belonging to people interviewed for the North Dakota Oral History Project. The Project was undertaken by Larry Sprunk, with the cooperation of the North Dakota American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, the North Dakota Farmers Union, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota. The primary objective of the North Dakota Oral History Project was to conduct oral tape recorded interviews with North Dakotans who lived through the state's history and who could speak of this history from a first-hand basis. Interviewees were photographed at the time of their interviews. In addition, the project borrowed over 6,000 historical photographs which were copied and added to the State Historical Society's collection. Many interviewees also donated family histories, documents, letters, ledgers, books, and artifacts.
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