It was back on May 10th 1939 when the Priceville Footbridge met a tragic end when it collapsed, killing three people. At the time there was five men crossing it, only two managed to survive by some quirk of fate. Those killed were; William Price, Tennyson Price and James Stewart. Lawrence and David Price survived this horrific accident by clinging onto the steel cable that remained until they could be rescued later.
The bridge was and is still an important shortcut for area residents who want to access the MacNamee area. It still is shorter to park their cars on the other side and drive to Doaktown or Boisetown to pick up supplies than it is to drive from the Priceville side of the river. What made this eventful day different from the others was that the spring freshet was in full swing meaning the bridge was almost touching the water below. Today the bridge has a steel metal support column in the middle, back then the bridge was one long continuous span with no middle support. That meant the bridge was less stable in high winds and lower to the water line and could not hold anymore than three people at a time safely.
On the tragic day the men were proceeding out the bridge when the water caught the bridge as it dipped down too far carrying several of the men down river. One of the cables snapped throwing several others out into the icey water. The spring freshet was especially cold and swift that Spring. Two men managed to make it to shore while the others drowned as they attempted to save their lives.
The cause of the tragedy was a combination of several factors; One: there was 5 people trying to cross the bridge at once that had a safety factor of only three people max. at the best of times. Two: the bridge was poorly designed and lacked a middle support which it needed to safely cover a distance of some 200 metres. The high spring freshet contributed to the accident by "catching" the bottom of the walkway and therefore snapped the steel cable with ease, the current was that strong. If this owas late summer it would be unlikely that the accident would have happened at all . When the bridge was re-built the government of the day put in a center span to prevent such an incident from happening in the future. The bridge was again replaced in 1988.
|
New Brunswick Covered Bridges Loads of information, from photos to historical, on NB's remaining bridges. More... 15,000+ photos of New Brunswick, various pics. See Boyce Farmers Market, F'ton, Sat's More... Loads of information, from photos to historical, on NB's remaining covered bridges. More... Loads of information, from 800+ photos to maps, historical, stories, on NB's remaining lighthouses. More... Info on NB's most popular waterfalls, maps and more. More... |
All Rights Reserved.
Main page | Big Salmon | Canterbury | Kennebecasis | Kilpatrick | Yeomans | Priceville | Second Falls | McTavish | Edlewogen Crossing | Exmoor | Sevogle | Sisson Branch | Tignish |Suspension Footbridge Story | The Future
Seeing this page without the left frame and top header? Click Here to fix that.