Sparks Ferry Phantom Bridge, Sparksville, Indiana

Built in 1890 by the Youngstown Bridge Company of Youngstown, Ohio, the Sparks Ferry bridge is 425 feet long and spans the East Fork of the White River in Jackson County, Indiana.

The bridge is somewhat rare as it is a dual span pinned Pratt through truss on the north west end while it has a pinned Pratt pony truss bridge on the south east end. The pony truss bridge has unusual miniature braces made of angles that begin toward the bottom of the vertical member at an angle to meet with the floorbeams. It’s common to see this setup on railroad pony truss bridges but very unusual for an automobile bridge as these angles can easily be struck by a car or truck.

The bridge sits on cut stone abutments and piers. It was closed to automobile traffic in 2006 but not before we had used it on our annual Haunted Tunnel Road Rally events each year at the end of October in the early 2000s.

The nearby town of Sparksville was platted in 1857 and was named after Stephen Sparks who operated a ferry across this portion of the river.