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Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

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Railroad #13 North Channel or Penacook Upper, Merrimack County

If you find errors in the data please contact Bill Caswell.

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Inventory Number: NH/29-07-29#2x
County: Merrimack County
Township: Boscawen
Town/Village: Penacook
Bridge Name: Railroad #13 North Channel or Penacook Upper
Crosses: Contoocook River
Truss type: Town
Spans: 1
Length: 112'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1875
Builder:
When Lost: 1921
Cause:
Latitude: N43 17.33
Longitude: W071 35.47
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: Northern Railroad at the mouth of the Contoocook River.

Railroad bridge over the Merrimack River, Penacook, NH c. 1905
Bill Caswell Collection

Railroad #13 North Channel or Penacook Upper Bridge, Boscawen, Merrimack County, NH Built 1875 Lost 1921
Todd Clark Collection

Comments:
Two covered bridges carried the Boston & Maine Railroad across the mouth of the Contoocook River with Dustin Island and the Hannah Dustin monument in between them. Photos and postcards show the bridges during flooding in 1895 and 1913. The north one was replaced with a new covered bridge (possibly in 1875) and later with a plate girder bridge.

Source:
Perry, Wayne. Notebook of New England Railroad Covered Bridge Information, Schedule of Property Transferred by the Northern Railroad to the Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation, Under Lease, In Effect June 1, 1884.