In south-central Colorado, near the town of Cañon City, the Arkansas River runs through a narrow canyon with walls of hard granite. This is the Royal Gorge. In some places the canyon is about 1,250 feet deep, but at the bottom it is only about 50 feet wide. That’s why people sometimes call it the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas.
How did a small river make such a deep canyon? For about three million years, the mountains slowly rose around the river, only about one foot every 2,500 years. The river kept up with the rising rock. Little by little, the water wore away the granite and cut a deep, narrow path.
In the winter of 1806, the explorer Zebulon Pike, the same man who saw Pikes Peak, came through the area with his men. They found themselves in a deep, cold canyon. They built a rough shelter, explored the area, and rode their horses across the frozen river.
In 1877, people discovered silver near the mining town of Leadville. Two railroad companies, the Santa Fe and the Denver and Rio Grande, both wanted to build tracks through the Royal Gorge to get there. But the canyon was too narrow for two railroads. For about two years, their workers fought over it. They built small forts and tried to stop each other’s work. Nobody knew which company would win. Finally, the government stepped in, and in 1880 the two companies signed an agreement. The Denver and Rio Grande finished the track.
At the narrowest place, the river fills the whole bottom of the canyon, so there was no ground for the track. Engineers had a clever idea. They hung part of the track from strong steel beams fixed into the canyon walls. People call it the Hanging Bridge, and trains still pass over it today.
In 1929, Cañon City decided to build a bridge across the top of the gorge for tourists. Workers finished it in only about six months, and it opened on December 8, 1929. The bridge hangs 955 feet above the river and is 1,260 feet long. The bridge itself is only 18 feet wide, and its floor is made of 1,292 wooden planks. For more than 70 years, it was the highest bridge in the world. Today it is still the highest bridge in the United States.
On June 11, 2013, a wildfire swept through the park. It burned down 48 of the park’s 52 buildings. Many people wondered if the bridge would survive. Amazingly, it wasn’t badly hurt. Workers replaced about 100 burned planks, and the park reopened in August 2014.
Today, visitors walk across the bridge, ride a gondola, or fly over the gorge on the highest zip line in North America. You can also take a train along the river from Cañon City. If you walk across the bridge, look down between the planks. You’ll see the river far below. If you’re afraid of heights, you can ride the train instead. In summer, rafters paddle through the fast rapids, which have names like Sledgehammer and Boateater. Rafters say they never feel more alive than in those rapids.
People who live in Cañon City are proud of their bridge, and workers once risked their lives to build it high above the river. If you stood in the middle of the bridge and looked down, how would you feel?