Apalachin Bridges to Campville

by Jean Turner

It has been over 150 years since a bridge was built across the Susquehanna River from Apalachin to Campville. William S. Pearsall and Ransom Steele formed a stock company and built a bridge for $7,500. It was completed at the end of November 1849. The Erie railroad had promised a station at the end of the bridge on the Campville side. However, they didn't keep their word and it was built two miles to the west. It was midpoint between Dunkirk on Lake Erie and New York City, a distance of 230 miles away.

In Harpers New York and Railroad Guide written in 1851, we quote "Presently we catch sight of a long new bridge over the Susquehanna and the busy looking factories of Apalachin on the opposite side of the river." One of the things they were seeing was a grist mill that was built in 1840. There were saw mills and grist mills along the river since at least 1833 and 1834. In 1855, a rake factory was built by William Pearsall in conjunction with a saw mill at the foot of Williams Street. Fame of this factory was widespread, there was a fire that destroyed both in 1872. The bridge was at the foot of Pennsylvania Avenue. This was the area where rafts of lumber used to embark.

In the spring of 1852, a flood washed part of the bridge downstream. It was repaired, but the following year a team of horses went through the bridge. The drive, Ross McNeil of Campville, sued and was awarded the bridge. The Apalachin men then constructed a large, flat bottomed ferry which crossed to the Campville Station, until at least 1897.

By the summer of 2001, we will have a new bridge crossing to the north side of our town. Many changes have taken place since the other bridge. A railroad has come and gone, remains of a canal and two highways, going east and west.