Middle Bar, Amador County

Adam Denzler and some associates, Judge Smith of Calaveras wrote, got the legislature to pass an act in 1862 to grant them a 20 year toll bridge right, but for some reason the bridge never got built.

In fact, Judge Smith wrote, no bridge got built until 1895 when the Gwin mine on the Calaveras side needed that crossing again.

Even that bridge died, collapsing under the weight of to many cattle in 1911.

And, in 1911, a new bridge, built for $10,530, was erected by the Clinton bridge company. It was completed in the fall of 1912.

It alone remains, the principal symbol of what once was, but, is no more at Middle Bar.

For more of the story, check out Logan's Alley, by Larry Cenotto