English: Caption from book:

"Downstream view of the Eighteenth Street bridge just before its removal in 1959. Excavating on the right or north side widened the canal from 200 to a 500-foot width, also removing the former site of the Elm Tree Garden. The pier on the left or south side remained and in 1999 became the base of an overlook on the municipal Riverwalk." __________________________________

Looking NW (downstream)

This bridge would have been built around 1917, when the widening of the canal from 85 to 200 feet was completed.

It has been described as "a direct-lift bridge with a span that could be hoisted forty feet in a minute when a tall boat approached. Having a 204-foot span between piers, the new bridge had a sixteen-foot-wide roadway made of oak planks on steel joists. Although the contractor completed the bridge on schedule, during operational testing a mechanic removed a pin on one side, then mistakenly removed a pin on the far side, releasing the bridge to fall cockeyed across the canal. A derrick soon hoisted the bridge back into position, however, with no significant damages except to the mechanic’s ego." (from Triumph at the Falls: The Louisville and Portland Canal, pp. 205, 206)

The south pier (at left) was originally the pivot pier of the 1856 bridge.

Beyond the bridge is the LG&E Canal Substation. ______________________________________

Photo from Triumph at the Falls: The Louisville and Portland Canal, p. 246. by Leland R. Johnson and Charles E. Parrish. Louisville District. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Louisville, Kentucky. 2007. Library of Congress Control Number: 2005931890. (Download a 13 MB PDF file of this book) . The book's version of this photo (as well as other photos) seems to be elongated in the horizontal dimension.

I have shortened the horizontal dimension to make the photo closer to the correct aspect ratio