The Guffey Railroad Bridge in Melba, Idaho was built in 1898 and even though it is more than 120 years old, it’s still worth visiting today.
The bridge spans the Snake River. It’s 500 feet long and 70 feet high and interestingly enough, its original use was to bring gold and silver ore into Nampa.
Now, if you like bridges, listen up: The Guffey Bridge is the only Parker through truss railroad bridge in Idaho. Basically that means there are struts of irons or steel that join together in a series of triangles. Those triangles connect to form a complete bridge.
According to the Idaho State Historical Society, the design for the bridge was so complex that at the time, there were only five firms in the United Staes capable of building the Guffey Bridge.
Unfortunately, not long after the bridge was completed, mining mostly dried up and the bridge became irrelevant. Because of that, the bridge was completely abandoned in 1947.
Then, before it was demolished in the 1970’s, it was purchased by Canyon County and restored in 1989. Today the bridge serves as a link between hiking trails.
If you’re interested in checking out the Guffey Railroad Bridge and the nearby Celebration Park, you can find more information here.
