Am I mis-seeing an apparently collapsed road on the left? Whatever it is,THAT back story must be very interesting. The white pillar has lettering on it which is readable with better eyes than mine (has a name of the creek/river & date of construction) if the photo is enlarged enough. In the ’40s & ’50s, the US Army built a lot of bridges across streams in the outlying areas of Panama with “built by” & year info on the pillars. They are still in place on the roads to Nombre de Dios & Fort San Lorenzo.
Nina: What appears to be a collapsed structure to the left is the shadow of the bridge. Then there is foot trail leading to the water. I tried enlarging photo in all manners I know how and still could not read the inscription on the white pillar.
Luis- Before the pixels blurred to oblivion, Photoshop showed the date as 1915. Such “pillars” (or posts) on existing bridges are the first part of the bridge, connecting to the actual part that crosses the creek. A civil engineer will know the correct words I’m working on “seeing” a footpath & the shadow. Maybe the pillar/post belonged to an original bridge, replaced by the one with the car on it\?
Access to water for washing clothes, eating utensils and for swimming and bathing was common for native people throughout Panama. It would be interesting to read the white pillar.
We were able to enlarge the photo in Faststone and the date on the pillar is 1815. The letters under the date are O P N. Could not read anything beyond that.
As Nina Kosick pointed out, the date is 1915, not 1815. I will check with my civil engineer son and grandsons to see if they know what O.P.N. stands for. If you want to read more bits of Panama and Canal Zone history you may want to check http://www.panamahistorybits.com
Peggy Huff sent me the enlargement of the pillar of the bridge in question and there is absolutely no doubt that the date is 1815. The bridge with the car may look more modern than that. If it is, it replaced an original bridge built even before the French or the PRR came into being. I find that extraordinary. Thanks, Peggy
Yes, saw the same pic from Peggy. Glad to have it cleared up. Had no idea the history of cement went back that far. Wonder why more buildings in 1815 weren’t built from cement.
Now the mystery (for me) is the location of that pillar, & what it signifies. To go to the trouble to commemorate something permanently means that the something was special for its time
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Nina Brown Kosik
Am I mis-seeing an apparently collapsed road on the left? Whatever it is,THAT back story must be very interesting. The white pillar has lettering on it which is readable with better eyes than mine (has a name of the creek/river & date of construction) if the photo is enlarged enough. In the ’40s & ’50s, the US Army built a lot of bridges across streams in the outlying areas of Panama with “built by” & year info on the pillars. They are still in place on the roads to Nombre de Dios & Fort San Lorenzo.
Luis Celerier
Nina: What appears to be a collapsed structure to the left is the shadow of the bridge. Then there is foot trail leading to the water. I tried enlarging photo in all manners I know how and still could not read the inscription on the white pillar.
Nina Brown Kosik
Luis- Before the pixels blurred to oblivion, Photoshop showed the date as 1915. Such “pillars” (or posts) on existing bridges are the first part of the bridge, connecting to the actual part that crosses the creek. A civil engineer will know the correct words I’m working on “seeing” a footpath & the shadow. Maybe the pillar/post belonged to an original bridge, replaced by the one with the car on it\?
Malcolm Stone
Access to water for washing clothes, eating utensils and for swimming and bathing was common for native people throughout Panama. It would be interesting to read the white pillar.
Peggy Huff
We were able to enlarge the photo in Faststone and the date on the pillar is 1815. The letters under the date are O P N. Could not read anything beyond that.
Luis Celerier
As Nina Kosick pointed out, the date is 1915, not 1815. I will check with my civil engineer son and grandsons to see if they know what O.P.N. stands for. If you want to read more bits of Panama and Canal Zone history you may want to check http://www.panamahistorybits.com
Luis Celerier
Peggy Huff sent me the enlargement of the pillar of the bridge in question and there is absolutely no doubt that the date is 1815. The bridge with the car may look more modern than that. If it is, it replaced an original bridge built even before the French or the PRR came into being. I find that extraordinary. Thanks, Peggy
Nina Brown Kosik
Yes, saw the same pic from Peggy. Glad to have it cleared up. Had no idea the history of cement went back that far. Wonder why more buildings in 1815 weren’t built from cement.
Now the mystery (for me) is the location of that pillar, & what it signifies. To go to the trouble to commemorate something permanently means that the something was special for its time