Santa Fe Bridge Collapse over Salt River

Date10/29/1902

MediumPaper

DimensionsOverall: 5 x 5 in. (12.7 x 12.7 cm); Small

ClassificationsDocumentary Artifact

Terms

Catalog number1987.1.335

DescriptionCollapse of Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad Bridge circa 1902 over the Salt River, also known as the Santa Fe Bridge. A train car can be seen balancing off the edge of the collapsed bridge, with debris on the ground and people in background accessing damage and a curious dog in foreground. In 1905, the bridge was replaced with a steel bridge, until 1912 when the bridge that still stands today (2020) was installed.
This bridge collapse incident occured on October 29, 1902. The railroad that owned the bridge at this time was the Maricopa & Phoenix & Salt River Valley Railroad (a successor railroad to the Maricopa & Phoenix Railroad that originally built the bridges at this location). The train was on its regular run from Phoenix to Tucson that day, and the locomotive was pulling three freight cars, a first-class Pullman car, and two coach cars. As the train was crossing the bridge, two spans collapsed, sending the locomotive, tender, and the three freight cars to the river bottom. Although damaged, the Pullman car remained on the bridge, with about a third of its length hanging off the bridge. There was one human fatality of an unidentified Native American man who had been on top of one of the freight cars. There was one serious injury of the locomotive's fireman, Frank Goodrich, whose injuries would lead to the amputation of one of his legs. Four of the cattle being hauled in the freight cars were also killed.
The bridge was repaired within a week and back in service. The freight cars were destroyed by the accident, but the locomotive and its tender were repaired and placed back in service. Flood water was not a direct cause of the accident, as the river bed was dry, though it is possible that flood waters earlier in the year damaged or otherwise weakened the pier that supported the two sections that collapsed. The bridge on whch this incident occurred was the second bridge built at this location – it was built in the summer of 1891 to replace the bridge completely destroyed by a huge flood in Fedruary of that year (that bridge was the original bridge built at that site, in 1887).

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Not on view

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