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B. and M. and Street Ry. Bridges at Cheapside

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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These railroad and trolley bridges carried freight and passengers over the Green River at Cheapside. Cheapside was a busy river port originally part of Deerfield, Massachusetts, until it became part of the neighboring town of Greenfield in 1896. Railroads and trolley lines had to construct new types of bridges strong enough to support the vehicles passing over them. Partly visible through the girders of the trolley bridge on the left is a two lane wooden bridge built in 1806. Travelers for the bridge's first seventy years paid a toll, after which the crossing was free. Fees for crossing the bridge in 1823 included 20 cents for a stage on wheels; 12 cents for a stage on runners; 17 cents for a four-horse wagon; 6 cents for a horse and wagon; 4 cents for a man on horseback; and 2 cents for footmen and oxen. Before the bridge was built, travelers crossed the river by scow or canoe, or, in 1787, by ferry.

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