Talk:Bidwell Bar Bridge

It looks from the picture that the bridge is unusually low for a suspension bridge. Perhaps it is misleading to say "the bridge is not so high". -- Samuel Wantman 06:00, 7 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Rewritten as requested. -- howcheng  [ t &#149; c &#149; w &#149;  e  ] 18:56, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

Original bridge is (or was) iron, rather than steel
In 1855, steel was a very expensive metal. It was used for things like swords, but not for things like railroad rails. Therefore, the article's current text is probably incorrect: "The original Bidwell Bar Bridge was the first steel suspension bridge in California." However, wrought iron was inexpensive enough for railroad rails. The "Bridgemeister" source lists the material as "Wire (iron)" which is highly plausible. About a decade later, new technology made steel much less expensive. A possibility, which someone may have researched, is that some wrought-iron portions of the original bridge were replaced with steel. Oaklandguy (talk) 01:52, 10 September 2020 (UTC)