This image from late fall of 1906 shows the construction of the Southern Railway bridge at the mouth of Battle Creek. The bridge was almost finished when the steel section slipped from its mooring on June 17,1907, killing several workers. The track was to have brought Southern Railway’s main line through South Pittsburg and link their Chattanooga gateway with their track at Stevenson, Alabama on the Memphis line. However, Southern Railway signed a franchise with NC & StL RR in 1908 to use their track between Chattanooga and Stevenson and that franchise killed the work on construction which is known locally through the years as the Old Southern Grade. The concrete approaches and piers are still standing today.
~Submitted by David Head
