page_title: Barryville–Shohola Bridge
section_title: First two spans (1856–1865)
hierarchical_section_title: Barryville–Shohola Bridge / First two spans (1856–1865)
caption_attribution_description: English: A postcard depicting the first span of the Barryville–Shohola Bridge over the upper Delaware River.
context_page_description: The Barryville–Shohola Bridge is the fifth generation of bridges constructed over the Delaware River at the communities of Shohola Township, Pennsylvania and Barryville, New York. The bridge serves both communities, with two major state legislative highways, Pennsylvania Traffic Route 434 and New York State Touring Route 55. The bridge itself is 812 feet long and is 23 feet wide, using four total spans across the river. It is maintained by the NY–PA Joint Interstate Bridge Commission, which is jointly owned by the states of New York and Pennsylvania.
  The area of the bridge itself dates as a ford for Native Americans, mostly the Lenni Lenapi, traveling between from the Wyoming valley and Delaware Valley and present-day Connecticut in the early 18th century; archaeologists date human habitation and use of the area to 10,900 BCE. The river at Shohola, which means "place of peace," widens perceptibly above the falls, allowing for a natural, shallow crossing. By the early 19th century, a ferry facilitated crossing the river. Due to the construction of the nearby Delaware and Hudson Canal in 1827, commerce and business boomed in the area.
context_section_description: As the need for a bridge from Shohola to Barryville grew, the Shohola and Barryville Bridge Company, formed in 1854, planned the construction of the first bridge. The company's president, Chauncey Thomas, attempted to hire John Augustus Robeling, a bridge expert, who was building a bridge in the Niagara region of New York and Canada (which came to be known as the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge), which was to be built as an 821 feet (250 m) two-deck span over the Niagara River, and who had completed successful spans over the rivers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  Roebling declined the offer but gave Thomas verbal and written instructions on its construction during a visit to the Niagara construction site. Thomas returned to Shohola and supervised the construction himself, using some inexperienced local men he hired.  A respected historian, John Willard Johnston, who knew Chauncey Thomas personally, visited the bridge and told the owner at the time that Thomas was very inexperienced in bridge construction. The result of the construction was a 10-foot (3.0 m) wide, double-span bridge that was 495 feet (151 m) long but which had no underlying span support. The bridge stood 25 feet (7.6 m) above the waters of the Delaware to avoid flooding, and cost a total of $9,000 (1856 USD ($256,100 in 2020).  The rapid growth of the area due to the construction of the Canal and the Erie Railroad meant the bridge was immediately in heavy use.
  Thomas' wire-rope span bridge was damaged by a severe wind storm on July 2, 1859, exactly three years after it opened. The storm, which destroyed almost the entire bridge, was not a singular experience.  Wind storms often build in the river valley, bring strong winds down the valley against weaker pressure systems to the south and east. A man and a woman who were crossing the bridge were injured when it collapsed. The local ferry, which had been out of commission for only three years, was still in good condition and re-fitted for use in 1859, to operate along the remaining abutments and piers that survived the storm.
  The bridge was rebuilt quickly, again under the supervision of Thomas, who was still company president. Thomas was able to complete the bridge, and ended up raising a total cost for construction of $4,000 (1859 USD ($113,800 in 2020))), an expedient necessitated by the lack of funds in the company treasury. Shortly after the new construction, Thomas was replaced by James E. Gardner as company president; Gardner died soon after his election, and was succeeded by Napoleon B. Johnson. Johnson ran the bridge company well, and remained as president of the corporation for several years. However, on January 1, 1865, the cables snapped under the weight of mules and wagons, and the entire bridge fell into the river, injuring the wagoners, and drowning three of the mules. Once again, ferries filled the needs that were previously fulfilled by the suspension bridge.
caption: View at the first span of the entire bridge
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