American Lifestyle Magazine - Issue 84

egion and even caused a two-year railroad
war over the rights to take passengers
through the gorge.
The popularity of the gorge (also dubbed
“the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River”)
as a tourist attraction led to even grander
plans—namely, constructing a bridge
across the chasm. “Even though it wasn’t
a new idea to build a bridge to connect
the 1,000-foot walls of the Royal Gorge,
money and know-how were always an issue
until the 1920s,” notes Gair. “San Antonio
businessman Lon Piper came to visit in
1928, and he was instantly interested in
building a bridge across the Royal Gorge.
Having built a successful toll bridge across
the Rio Grande, Piper thought he could also
erect one here.
“The 5,000-acre Royal Gorge Park was
given to Cañon City in 1906 by the US
Department of the Interior,” Gair adds. “In
order to build the bridge, the Cañon City
Council had to approve it, which they did.
Piper hired engineer George Cole, a fellow
Texan, who had previously built toll bridges
for him, to be the chief engineer and
general superintendent for this project.”
With both funding and expertise in place,
construction of the bridge started on
June 5, 1929. Remarkably, it took under
seven months for about eighty men to
complete the massive structure; even
more remarkably, there were no deaths or
even serious injuries from the venture—
something that Piper and Cole took great
pride in. The grand opening was December
8, 1929, and, as Gair notes, “It was popular
from that very first day.”
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
At the time it was built in 1929, the
Royal Gorge Bridge stood as the highest
suspension bridge in the world, a
distinction it held until 2003. Its bridge
deck stands 956 feet high, which, to put it
in perspective, is higher than three Statues
of Liberty. The bridge is 1,260 feet (about
a quarter mile) long, and it is eighteen feet
wide. In addition, the Royal Gorge’s main
span is 880 feet, and its towers are 150
feet high.
A bridge of this size also needs to
be fortified for safety and strength.
According to Gair, there are 2,100 strands
of galvanized wire in each cable, and the
weight of the cables themselves is 300
tons; in addition, there are another 1,000
tons of steel in the floor of the bridge. With
all that said, the bridge will support in
excess of two million pounds.
Speaking of millions, the cost to build
the bridge in 1929 was $350,000. The
replacement cost for the bridge today? At
least $20 million.
RISING FROM THE ASHES
Such a unique structure does come with
unique challenges, though. According to
Gair, the bridge is inspected several times
a year, and the maintenance is usually to
replace some of the bridge’s wood planks.
The bridge was also refurbished in the
early 1980s: abutments were replaced and
strengthened, the bridge was repainted,
and a new wind cable was added.
The biggest challenge by far, however,
was a wildfire that threatened the very
existence of Royal Gorge Bridge and Park.
On June 11, 2013, stoked by dry conditions,
the fire started west of the park, jumped
the Royal Gorge, destroying both sides
of the park, and blazed toward town—
getting perilously close to Cañon City. In
all, it burned over 3,100 acres’ worth of
park, Bureau of Land Management land,
and private land—including forty-eight of
the fifty-two attractions and buildings at
Royal Gorge Park. Thankfully, all 1,200-plus
visitors and employees, as well as sixty
animals, were safely evacuated.
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