Historic Hood River
Construction Cranes
12-17-2024
Notes
This is a good reminder of the sort of technology which was available to (re)construct our interstate bridge, circa 1937. One of the cranes is mounted on a barge and the other mounted on a fixed platform. Cranes of this basic configuration date back to Ancient Greece, though the power source has changed over time. I suspect these were driven by steam donkeys just like the original construction of the bridge in 1924.
Alan B Winston
Circa 1965, I photographed a pile driver on the Mount Hood Railroad which had this same basic arrangement of a steam donkey, except mounted on a flat car. I was tickled to death to find such an anachronism in steam, at work, in “modern times.”