Spanning the expanse of the Tanana River is the 700-foot engineering marvel of the Mears memorial bridge. It’s one of the largest simple truss-type bridges in the world, and it was built by the Alaska Engineering Commission. The commissions constructed the bridge as the final link in the great expanse of railroad snaking through the region.
The railroad was pivotal to the Alaskan economy, and the bridge became something of a battleground. The bridge was declared publicly owned, a response to the American distrust of monopolistic practices. The Alaskan Syndicate, headed by JP Morgan and Simon Guggenheim, quickly came to hold some of the most key producers for Alaska. They acquired copper mines, stretches of railroad, steamship and salmon packing operations.
As a result, a large debate grew over the bridge. The public felt that conceding this final stretch, what was quite likely to be a highly trafficked area, would be a drastic misstep in the governance of their own territory. James Wickersham, an Alaskan district judge, became the face of that struggle when he agreed and granted public ownership over the Mears Memorial. This is one of the early examples of a long history of Alaskan resistance to corporate influence, which has made mining for resources in the state a unique proposition.
The bridge was designed by a Chicago architectural firm, and was built by the American Bridge Company. It was completed in 1923, where it was officially recognized as the longest truss-style bridge that was in the United States, a title it still holds today.
About the Author: Samuel Phineas Upham is an investor at a family office/ hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phin Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media and Telecom group. You may contact Phin on his Samuel Phineas Upham website or LinkedIn.