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Idaman
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<blockquote data-quote="Idaman" data-source="post: 765185" data-attributes="member: 14119"><p><img src="http://ranchers.net/photopost/data/501/medium/scan0020.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is a picture of the Frazer River and of the suspension bridge near Gang Ranch. It was a major bottleneck for the two ranches on the west side. Not only were the approaches very sharp ninety degree turns there was also a 27 ton weight restriction. Normal cattle liners or pots couldn't get onto the bridge from the east and if they could have they couldn't be nearly fully loaded. What we call a truck and pup or actually an a-train could get on the bridge but again it had to be less than half loaded. This made for a lot of shuttling cattle from a corral on the west side, for that purpose, to the waiting trucks on the east side, The truck and pup had to leave the pup on the east side, cross, and go up to the ranch which was about eighteen miles. After loading the truck would take the load back down cross the bridge and then unload the cattle into the pup. Next he would come back to the ranch load again, head back down, cross, hook back up to the pup, and head out. This absolutely took all day. Any feed came in the same way by breaking up a B-train at the bridge and then shuttling the feed up to the ranch. Needless to say when we got a trucker in that had gone through this procedure they never came back.</p><p></p><p></p><p><img src="http://ranchers.net/photopost/data/501/medium/scan0019.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is a picture of the trailer we had purchased before moving to Empire to be used just for the purpose of hauling our cattle across this bridge. Here it is pictured going in on the day we first arrived at Empire. All of our furniture, appliances, and personal possessions were on that trailer. The red sides are 4x8 plywood sheets that can be put on the sides to keep dust and water out. When removed the sides are normal open sided slats for cattle hauling.</p><p></p><p>The reason that this approach to the bridge was so impossible for the liners was the two suspension cables you can see just above the trailer that angled into the bank on the left. When you tried to get around the corner and on to the bridge you had to swing wide and stay as close to the steep bank on the left side as you could. When you did this then the cables were just too low at that angle to allow you enough swing room to be able to get onto the bridge. Our trailer was only a straight trailer that wasn't as high as the liners and the rear wheels were very far ahead making the wheelbase very short and maneuverable. You still had to almost scrape the top of the front of the trailer on the cable to be able to make the swing. Even when this worked you had better have a tractor with an exhaust pipe on the right side or it got bent. There was nothing worse than seeing one of the shuttling truckers come into the ranch yard with the left new, chrome, tall, exhaust pipe bent back. We knew that we were in for a time with a very irate trucker.</p><p></p><p>In the early days Gang Ranch and Empire had to force their shipping cattle to swim the river to get out to market. They used boats to keep the cattle headed across the river and not turn back to the shore from which they had come.</p><p></p><p>Even with these problems we felt fortunate to have any kind of bridge as the two ranches next to us down the river had to cross all of their cattle on a small ferry. They had a set of corrals on the west side where they held the shippers. They had an alleyway about 100 feet long out into the river that the ferry docked into. When the ferry stopped they would lower a ramp and the cowboys would force ten or fifteen cattle onto the fence decked ferry, load their horses, and head across. On the other side they would drive them off of the ferry and put them into a holding pen. Then they would ferry back and do it all over again enough times to get 50 to a 100 cattle across. Now in more recent times logging has brought roads into these ranches from Lillooet and they only face a long haul to get the cattle out to market.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Idaman, post: 765185, member: 14119"] [img]http://ranchers.net/photopost/data/501/medium/scan0020.jpg[/img] This is a picture of the Frazer River and of the suspension bridge near Gang Ranch. It was a major bottleneck for the two ranches on the west side. Not only were the approaches very sharp ninety degree turns there was also a 27 ton weight restriction. Normal cattle liners or pots couldn’t get onto the bridge from the east and if they could have they couldn’t be nearly fully loaded. What we call a truck and pup or actually an a-train could get on the bridge but again it had to be less than half loaded. This made for a lot of shuttling cattle from a corral on the west side, for that purpose, to the waiting trucks on the east side, The truck and pup had to leave the pup on the east side, cross, and go up to the ranch which was about eighteen miles. After loading the truck would take the load back down cross the bridge and then unload the cattle into the pup. Next he would come back to the ranch load again, head back down, cross, hook back up to the pup, and head out. This absolutely took all day. Any feed came in the same way by breaking up a B-train at the bridge and then shuttling the feed up to the ranch. Needless to say when we got a trucker in that had gone through this procedure they never came back. [img]http://ranchers.net/photopost/data/501/medium/scan0019.jpg[/img] This is a picture of the trailer we had purchased before moving to Empire to be used just for the purpose of hauling our cattle across this bridge. Here it is pictured going in on the day we first arrived at Empire. All of our furniture, appliances, and personal possessions were on that trailer. The red sides are 4x8 plywood sheets that can be put on the sides to keep dust and water out. When removed the sides are normal open sided slats for cattle hauling. The reason that this approach to the bridge was so impossible for the liners was the two suspension cables you can see just above the trailer that angled into the bank on the left. When you tried to get around the corner and on to the bridge you had to swing wide and stay as close to the steep bank on the left side as you could. When you did this then the cables were just too low at that angle to allow you enough swing room to be able to get onto the bridge. Our trailer was only a straight trailer that wasn’t as high as the liners and the rear wheels were very far ahead making the wheelbase very short and maneuverable. You still had to almost scrape the top of the front of the trailer on the cable to be able to make the swing. Even when this worked you had better have a tractor with an exhaust pipe on the right side or it got bent. There was nothing worse than seeing one of the shuttling truckers come into the ranch yard with the left new, chrome, tall, exhaust pipe bent back. We knew that we were in for a time with a very irate trucker. In the early days Gang Ranch and Empire had to force their shipping cattle to swim the river to get out to market. They used boats to keep the cattle headed across the river and not turn back to the shore from which they had come. Even with these problems we felt fortunate to have any kind of bridge as the two ranches next to us down the river had to cross all of their cattle on a small ferry. They had a set of corrals on the west side where they held the shippers. They had an alleyway about 100 feet long out into the river that the ferry docked into. When the ferry stopped they would lower a ramp and the cowboys would force ten or fifteen cattle onto the fence decked ferry, load their horses, and head across. On the other side they would drive them off of the ferry and put them into a holding pen. Then they would ferry back and do it all over again enough times to get 50 to a 100 cattle across. Now in more recent times logging has brought roads into these ranches from Lillooet and they only face a long haul to get the cattle out to market. [/QUOTE]
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