As the weather is going to turn ugly in the next few days we thought we should go out for a drive and decided to go to the Gila River.
On the way we pass the Nuclear Plant which is only about 5 miles from our campground,
The Gillespie Bridge is on the Old Hwy 80 which leads to Gila Bend and crosses the Gila River. It was maybe just a little wider than the Big Eddy Bridge in Revelstoke.
The bridge was built in 1926 and is a steel truss bridge, at its time it was the longest bridge in Arizona.
The concrete gravity dam was constructed in 1921 by a local farmer to replace an existing structure and was used mainly for irrigation. A portion of the dam collapsed in 1993 after unusally heavy rain.
They want to make sure you can fit so this is a height level test before entering the bridge.
Bryan, Cara and Ron
The new canal that carries the irrigation water.
It is a little hard to see but the dam sits between well placed hills.
Looking back down the valley you can see the Nuclear Plant and how big it is.
On our way home we stopped off at the Tyre House, which is quite puzzling, makes you wonder who and why.
They sure had spent a lot of money and time but the plans must have come to an abrupt stop. Interesting, another one of those things you find in the middle of the desert.
