Dale Creek Bridge

This towering wooden trestle bridge was part of the first transcontinental railroad in America, captured by photographer Andrew J. Russell during the railroad's construction in the late 1860s. At 650 feet long and 126 feet high, the Dale Creek Bridge in Wyoming was an engineering marvel of its time, though it looks almost impossibly delicate in this photograph. You can see tiny figures of workers standing on top, which really shows just how massive this structure was.

Russell was the official photographer for the Union Pacific Railroad, documenting one of the most ambitious construction projects in American history. His photographs weren't just records of progress but also proof of human ingenuity conquering the vast Western landscape. This bridge, made entirely of wood, was actually considered temporary and was eventually replaced with an iron structure. Looking at those crisscrossing wooden supports, it's hard to imagine heavy locomotives rumbling across it, but for nearly two decades, that's exactly what happened.