BGuthrie Photos: WV -- New River Gorge Natl River

WV -- New River Gorge Natl River:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. GORGE_070714_178.JPG: Classic Whitewater: During summer, the stretch of river below you is often dotted with spots -- rafts -- that testify to New River's superb whitewater. Rafters and kayakers flock here to challenge New River. Why? What is whitewater and why is it so good here? When a river drops steeply through a narrow, rock-strewn passage, splashing, white-crested waves form into spectacular and dangerous rapids -- whitewater. New River follows a classic whitewater formula. Just 20 miles south, the river is broad, flowing slowly through a wide plain. Suddenly its water is squeezed and sent racing through narrow, fast-dropping New River Gorge. The result, some of eastern North America's best whitewater.
2. GORGE_070714_180.JPG: The Bridge: Completed in 1977, New River Bridge is the world's longest single-arch steel span bridge. At 876 feet above the river, it is America's 2nd-highest bridge. Features To Notice: Color: The steel used here, Cor-ten steel, rusts slightly on the surface. This surface-rust inhibits deeper rust, protecting the steel and eliminating the need to paint. It also provides the color which darkens with time. Concrete supports anchoring bridge in opposite slope: Abandoned mine tunnels honeycomb the hillside created a major engineering problem. Engineers developed special supports.
3. GORGE_070714_221.JPG: Growth of an Era: Imagine looking up the gorge and seeing a coal mining town crowded along the banks at every curve of the river. Fayette, Kaymoor, Elverton, Nuttallburg, Capertonn, Sewell, Thurmond, the list goes on. These towns sprouted up, each with hundreds of people, because of the unique relationship between the coal industry and the railroad in the New River Gorge. An era of intense growth began in the area when the C&O Railway linked Newport News, Virginia, with Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1873, creating a virtual highway through the New River Gorge. The railway provided the route for shipping coal and lumber to industrial centers in the Midwest and to shipbuilding center in the East. It also carried residents of the gorge to nearby towns, brought them current newspapers from far away cities, and transported students to and from school each day. Life bustled in the towns of the gorge for over sixty years, and the coal industry remained strong through World War II. In 1927, for example, West Virginia was the lead coal-producing state, producing 28% of the nation's coal. Rapidly changing mining technology, alternative fuels, and the change from steam to diesel-powered locomotives ultimately dealt the final blow to the area. The last coal mine in the gorge closed in the mid 1990s.
4. GORGE_070714_225.JPG: A Lesson in Geology: Coal is an organic rock that takes millions of years to form. This process began over 300 million years ago when this area was a vast tropical swamp. As plants died in this hot, humid environment, they decomposed in swampy, stagnant water. Over several million years, climate changes and continental uplift drained the basin and the swamps turned into peat bogs. As millions more years passed, layer upon layer of sediment -- thousands of feet thick -- covered the bogs. The immense pressure and weight from the sediment ultimately compacted the peat into coal. The rich coal seams of the New River basin were thousands of feet underground until the Teays River, the precursor of the New River, started to flow north from the Appalachians. Over one hundred million years, through ice ages and thaws, the Teays flowed through the area channeling down through the sedimentary rock of the basin and exposing the strata of coal and other rocks that had been deposited millions of years earlier.
5. GORGE_070714_226.JPG: The New River Gorge Bridge: (Sign along the old bridge -- way below in the valley): This viewpoint offers a unique perspective on the soaring height of the New River Gorge Bridge. The second highest bridge in the United States rises 876 feet above the New River. It took three years to construct and was completed in 1977, one year before New River Gorge National River was authorized by Congress. The bridge dramatically changed travel patterns in the area because the road that you are traveling, Fayette Station Road, was no longer the only way to cross the river. The modern bridge reduced a forty-minute journey down and back up the gorge to a rapid drive across a straight highway span. Suddenly, entire communities on oppose sides of the river became closer.
6. GORGE_070714_251.JPG: Rock Climbing Paradise: Rock climbing is one of the most popular recreational activities at New River Gorge National River. In fact, the Park is one of the largest climbing centers in the eastern United States, with over 1,600 climbing routes. The extensive cliffs that rim much of the gorge are composed of a conglomerate of rock known as Nuttall Sandstone. This 325 million-year-old rock contains a high percentage of quartz, which makes it highly resistant to erosion. Many climbers believe that it is the finest rock to climb in the United States.
7. GORGE_070714_293.JPG: Fayette: The establishment, growth and ultimate demise of the towns of Fayette and South Fayette represent the general life cycle of the towns in the gorge. A mining company would open a coal mine and build company-owned houses and a store, thus creating a company town. Decades later, when the coal seam was exhausted or the mine closed because of changes in the marketplace, people moved away, and the town ultimately was deserted. The town of Fayette was incorporated, and the company town provided miners with housing, the Blume Company Store, a school, post office, churches, railroad depot, four saloons, and a hotel.
8. GORGE_070714_296.JPG: A Tale of Two Towns: Here, on opposite sides of the New River, the twin towns of Fayette and South Fayette were established along the tracks of the C&O Railway. The constructin of the Fayette Station Bridge in 1889 provided a vital link to reach the county seat of Fayetteville without having to make a dangerous and time-consuming ferry crossing. You are standing of a reconstruction of the original bridge which was closed to vehicular traffic in 1978 because of its deteriorated condition. In 1998, for pedestrian safety, engineers adde walkways to the original design, and the span was dedicated on November 8, 1998, as the Tunney Hunsaker Bridge.
9. GORGE_070714_357.JPG: You can see the two platforms that are available for viewing the bridge from the area of the visitor center. The first, highest platform (the one of the right) doesn't actually let you see the bridge but it avoids a lot of steps.
Wikipedia Description: New River Gorge Bridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The New River Gorge Bridge is a steel-arch bridge, in Fayetteville, West Virginia; with a length of 3030 feet (924 m), it was for many years the longest in the world of that type. Its arch extends 1700 feet (518 m). Part of U.S. Highway 19, it is crossed by an average of 17,000 motor vehicles per day. Its construction marked the completion of "Corridor L".

The New River Gorge Bridge carries U.S. Highway 19 over the New River and the CSX railroad at a height of 876 feet (267 m), making it the highest vehicular bridge in the Americas, and the second-highest in the world. (Before the 2004 opening of the Millau Viaduct in France, it was the highest in the world.)

Construction began on the bridge in June of 1974, and completed on October 22, 1977. It was designed by the Michael Baker Company, under the direction of Chief Engineer Clarence V. Knudsen, and executed by U.S. Steel's American Bridge Division. Final cost of construction was $37 million (approximately $4 million over bid). It is made from Cor-ten steel. The use of Cor-ten in construction presented several challenges; notable among them was ensuring that the weld-points weathered at the same rate as the rest of the steel.

Many locals say, with little exaggeration, that completion of the bridge cut the travel time from one side of the gorge to another from 45 minutes to 45 seconds.

The bridge is the centerpiece of Fayette County's "Bridge Day," during which the bridge is closed to vehicular traffic. Until recently, the bridge was half-open, with two way traffic. Security concerns have prompted the closing of the entire span to vehicles during the festival. This festival includes demonstrations of rappelling, ascending & BASE jumping, and is held every October on the third Saturday. Bungee jumping has been banned from Bridge Day since an accident in 1993. The bridge is within the New River Gorge National River and the National Park Service operates a visitor center at the northern end of the bridge with scenic overlooks and a staircase that partially descends into the gorge.

BASE jumper Brian Lee Schubert, 66, of Alta Loma, California, died during Bridge Day 2006 (Oct 21st) when his chute failed to open in time. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His death was the first that occurred during BASE jumping at the New River Gorge Bridge Day Festival since 1987, and only the third ever. One other BASE jumper was killed while performing an illegal, non Bridge Day related jump.

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New River Gorge National River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The New River Gorge National River is a unit of the United States National Park Service designed to protect and maintain the New River Gorge in southern West Virginia. The NRGNR, established in 1978, stretches for 53 miles from Hinton, West Virginia in Summers County to Hawks Nest State Park at Ansted, Fayette County.

The NRGNR is also home to some of the country's best whitewater rafting. The focus of this rafting is in the New River Gorge from the Cunard put-in to the Fayette Station take-out. The river levels for the New River Gorge and all other rivers in the United States can be checked at American Whitewater.
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