Photo 1 - Is any of this part
of the original railroad bridge or is it something that was added later by
the mining company for the heavy trucks? It doesn't look like a typical RR
bridge and the valuation maps seem to indicate a curved bridge at this location.
I suspect it is not RR related but the location is about right for bridge
C3.
Photo 2 -
This is a view across the bridge looking towards the side canyon
that the RR used to gain additional elevation. A couple of loops and three
bridges were used up this canyon. The Crystal River Pictorial has
a photo on page 78 that looks suspiciously like this area. If I am
correct the photo in the book is mislabeled. It should be bridge C3 not B3.
The photo in the book does not look anything like what I saw at the site
of bridge B3.
Photo 3 - I found these timbers
quite a ways up the side canyon and very near where I had created a waypoint
for bridge C4 before the trip. I didn't really find a grade to hike into
them but the timbers are about where the bridge would have been. The bank
on the west side of the creek (which I had hiked) was heavily eroded.
Photo 3a - This
shot provides some detail of the wood and metal spacers between the beams.
Photo 4 - This mound looked suspiciously
like an old grade and is in about the right location to be one of the approaches
to bridge B4. I didn't notice any ties or bridge timbers at this location.
It is pretty overgrown back in this side canyon.
Photo 5 - This looked like
it might be part of the loop between bridges B4 and C4. I did find one tie
back in this area.