‘Bridge to Nowhere' was once vital link

If you have ever traveled the scenic route north on Highway 95, you have probably seen a mysterious suspension bridge spanning the width of the Gila River, which some call “The Bridge to Nowhere.”

And though modern travelers may indeed get the impression that the 800-foot span — actually named McPhaul Bridge — serves little purpose beyond connecting one stretch of wilderness to another, for over 40 years the bridge was the sole Gila River crossing point for Yuma residents.

The Gila River had posed a challenge to travelers when the water was high, and the place where McPhaul Bridge now stands has always been a preferred crossing point.

“The bridge site was first used by Indians, then by the Spanish conquistadors and missionaries,” said Carol Brooks of the Yuma County Historical Society. “Later, early pioneers, the Mormon Battalion and the Butterfield Stage crossed at that point.”

Crossings were done by raft or fording before the bridge was constructed in the 20th century. Even early Yuman motorists had to use one of these methods. As the use of automobiles proliferated in the 1910s and early '20s, a more permanent ferry was established.

An anonymous letter to the editor of the Yuma Morning Sun in 1921 expressed displeasure with this solution, however. The ferry, which charged $2.50 a trip (about $30 today), was prohibitively expensive for the miners who used it regularly traveling to and from Castle Dome. The pressure they exerted paid off when the Arizona Highway Commission contracted a bridge to be built in 1928.

To construct the McPhaul Bridge, then called the Dome Bridge, the commission hired the Levy Construction Co. from Los Angeles, which subcontracted the steelwork out to John Roebling & Sons — well known for its work on the Golden Gate and Niagara Falls bridges. The bridge opened to traffic in 1929.

Levy was paid $160,000 for the job, a little over $2 million today. To design the bridge they hired Ralph Modjewski, well-known builder and mentor to Joseph B. Strauss, who would later design the Golden Gate Bridge in 1933.

“That the Golden Gate Bridge (which closely resembles the McPhaul design) was built after McPhaul is evidence that our bridge is very special,” Brooks explained. In an important way, McPhaul Bridge served as a prototype and inspiration for one of the most well-known bridges in America.

Though the miners may have been the most visible impetus to the Dome Bridge's construction, Brooks pointed out that it was beneficial to the Yuma community as a whole. The bridge was the only way of driving over the Gila River, which was important when traveling to Quartzsite and Parker, the site of the nearest courthouse. This was a trip that many Yumans made on a semiregular occasion, so building the bridge seemed to have far-reaching benefits.

With the establishment of the Yuma Proving Ground in 1942, the bridge was also an important asset to soldiers traveling in and out of town. These functions, along with the general increase in automobile travel, made the bridge a continuing benefit to the area.

The name Dome Bridge did not stick around for very long. In late 1930, it was renamed the McPhaul Suspension Bridge, after Arizona Ranger Henry Harrison McPhaul, who often panned for silver and gold on his land near the bridge.

Brooks said Harry McPhaul was a well-known name to the citizens of Yuma, holding jobs as a law enforcer for most of his life. Serving as a prison guard, constable, deputy sheriff and marshal at various times, McPhaul got a reputation as fiery man who was “wound tight.”

According to an issue of Life Magazine, McPhaul proudly boasted of having killed five men in his work. After a long career in law enforcement, “Hard Rock” Harry's demeanor got him a spot at the Arizona Pioneers Home, a retirement home for early rough-and-tumble settlers.

Despite his coarse character, or perhaps because of it, he was greatly respected by Yumans. Naming the bridge after him kept him living on in the public mind, even after he died in 1948.

As traffic on the bridge increased, questions were raised about the integrity of the old bridge and the safety of the route it serviced. Brooks noted that the placement of the bridge meant that Highway 95 had to wind through the mountains north of the river, and this created some safety hazards for drivers. Soldiers from YPG would often take the road's sharp turns much too quickly, causing injuries and a few fatalities.

One specifically dangerous leg of the journey, called Coca-Cola Curve, was so named after a truck carrying the beverage overturned on the road, spewing Coke bottles along the road for residents to collect.

These safety concerns, along with traffic that was surpassing the capacity of the one-lane bridge, prompted the state to reroute Highway 95 in 1968, building a new concrete bridge farther east. Ironically, that bridge was destroyed in a flood in 1993, while the supposedly less sturdy McPhaul Bridge stayed intact.

According to Brooks, the bridge still saw traffic, even after the highway was diverted. Most of this was in the form of sightseers enjoying Adair Park or the Gila River bed. In 1990, however, the McPhaul Bridge was closed to car and pedestrian traffic after a pair of transients lit a campfire on the bridge, burning a hole in the middle of the wooden planking.

After that, the county took control of the structure. They may restore it some day, said Brooks, but right now they say there are too many other things to do and not enough money to do them with.

Still, the long, narrow bridge across the Gila River bed is something to look at, and its history is a rich piece of what makes Yuma unique.