Pushing southward from the Erie's terminus at Bradford, Kaneís New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad and Coal Company line moved up the steep and heavily wooded slope of the Big Shanty in the great reverse curve and thence across a high plateau until the valley of the Kinzua Creek challenged the abilities and dreams of enterprise and engineer.  The water of many and large fishes as the Indians knew the Kinzua lay at the bottom of a defile 2,000 feet wide and 300 feet deep.  To Kane the Kinzua gave two alternatives.  One was the construction of four miles of tortuous, twisting two percent grade; the other the erection of a railroad viaduct loftier than any yet built by men.  The General investigated the latter possibility and found his answer in the person of Anthony Bonzano o the Clarke Reeves Division of the Phoenixville Bridge Company.  ?We'll build you a bridge a thousand feet high Bonzano told Kane, if you'll provide the money The General had the money, and Bonzano, using propositions, which had proven their worth in similar structures joined with Oliver W. Barnes, chief engineer of the railroad, in planning the first Kinzua Viaduct.

Construction began May 10, 1882.  Just ninety four working days later a crew of forty men had completed the highest railroad viaduct in the world.  The astonishing feat involved the erection of 3,105,000 pounds of ironwork into a structure 301 feet high and 2,053 feet long.  The work was done without use of scaffolding.  A gin pole was used to erect the first tower.  A wooden crane erected at the top of the top of the first tower was used to place the ironwork of the second tower.  This procedure was repeated until all twenty towers had been raised and the connecting latticework spans placed.

Stone secured from the nearby hills provided the footings which rose as high as sixteen feet above the ground and which went down as far as thirty five feet below the surface John C. Noakes placed the stone work which was joined to the iron work by one and one half inch bolts, six to ten feet in length.

Legs of the supporting towers were flanged, wrought iron columns nine and three quarters inches in diameter spliced at every panel by inside sleeves.  Strengthened by longitudinal and transverse horizontal latticework struts, the legs were guardrails stiffened by diagonal tie rods in the vertical, horizontal and transverse planes of each panel.  Additional supporting columns ascended vertically to the fifth story midway between the legs of the tallest towers.  These columns were connected at each story by a tubular horizontal strut for further stiffness.

The supporting legs sloped inward transversely in the ratio of one to six.  Towers were uniformly nine feet wide at the top.  At the lowest point the tallest tower had a spread of one hundred and three feet.  Each tower had a span of thirty eight and one half feet.  Towers were joined by sixty foot latticework spans.  The entire structure was bolted together save for the prefabricated latticework girders.

The completed viaduct was a swaying structure.  From the beginning it was necessary to restrict the speed of trains to five miles an hour as even at this speed vibration while not dangerous was unpleasant.  The entire structure was such that even wind pressures would set the viaduct in motion.

From the beginning the idea has persisted that the original Kinzua Viaduct was of wooden construction.  This erroneous idea perhaps developed from the fact that the supporting legs were tubular and thus resembled wooden poles.  Likewise, the ties, walkways and guardrails were of wood and these features of the structure were the most apparent to those who examined it but casually.  Moreover, the wooden guardrails were of latticework construction and very similar in proportions to the latticework iron girders.

Two years after Stauffer became the bridge inspector he became the father of a son to whom the name Andrew Kinzua was given.  ?Andy? Stauffer, faced with the problem of supporting a family of six following his father's demise went to work as a water boy when the original viaduct was replaced with a stronger structure in 1900.  Subsequently, ?Andy? served the Erie for forty eight years during which time he rose from water boy to painter; from painter to bridge inspector.  In 1926 he became general bridge inspector for the railroad, a position that he held until his retirement in 1948.  Today he lives in Jamestown, N.Y.

The original Kinzua Viaduct was advertisement as the Eighth Wonder of the World.  People from all over civilized world were attracted to the site.  Dollar excursions were run on Sundays from the cities as far distance as Buffalo and Pittsburgh.  It was not unusual for six or eight excursion trains of ten to fourteen cars to cross the bridge on a summer Sunday.  Crossing the Kinzua Viaduct by train was considered a great thrill.  However, Kinzua excursions were memorable in other ways.  It is said that train butcher would frequently empty drinking water containers prior to start of an excursions, then sell salted peanuts on their first trips through the cars.  With everyone thirsty they would do a land office business in lemonade, which had concocted in a barrel in the baggage car of water, citric acid and half dozen lemons.  The gullible were targets for sharpers and gamblers who, despite the efforts of railroad detectives, managed to operate the old army and shell games to the loss and sorrow of those who had grown tired of examining the viaduct.  Occasionally, there was drunkenness and fighting and rare indeed was the excursion train that failed to have its tender utilized as a beer cooler.  The Bridge House, a hostelry and the dance pavilion situated at the end of the viaduct operated by a man named Lewis did a land office business at exorbitant prices.

Adventurous excursionists would often try their skill at climbing the structure.  Usually, they were hailed down by the bridge tender before they found themselves in trouble or had to be helped down from the ironwork.  However, the bridge inspector would often thrill the excursionists by climbing the viaduct with his son on his back.

Some idea of the popularity of the Kinzua excursions was more than sufficient to offset the $167,000 cost of the original structure.  The last excursion took place shortly before America's entry into First World War.

Replacement of the original viaduct was necessitated not by any defect in the structure but rather by an unexpected and sudden increase in the weight of locomotives and rolling stock.  After only 18 years of service it was necessary to replace the first Kinzua Viaduct with a newer and stronger structure.

The second and present Kinzua Viaduct is of identical overall dimensions with the first bridge.  It is, however, designed to accommodate double headed, ?consolidation? locomotive with loads of 35,000 pounds per axle.

Traffic over the original bridge was halted May 14, 1900 and resumed over the new structure September 25.  Reconstruction did not begin until May 24 and the last girder was placed September 6.  The work was accomplished in four months by between 100 and 150 men working 10 hours a day.  This despite a week long strike; the speech of a presidential candidate whose private car was brought to the site over the Kushequa Railroad which had been built in the 1890?s to run beneath the viaduct; and a forest fire which originating beneath the viaduct, swept unchecked through the timber slashings to consume two communities before being brought under control at the edge of a third town.

The reconstruction, directed by CAW. Buchholz chief engineer of the Erie and executed by the Elmira Bridge Company, involved the removal of 3,105,000 pounds of mild steel in the new viaduct.  The work proceeded from both ends where storage yards were located.  It was affected by the use of two 180 foot timber travelers, each a complete Howe truss, 16 foot deep.  These spanned three towers.  The middle tower was demolished and reconstructed.  Then the traveler was moved to effect the reconstruction of the next tower.  The work moved at the astonishing rate of 500 feet a month.  The highest tower and its adjoining spans were demolished in one day.  Rebuilding of the same tower and the adjoining spans required seven and one half days.  The water boy, Andy Kinzua Stauffer, enjoyed the privilege of removing the first bolt from the old structure and of driving the final golden rivet in the new viaduct.  Thirty seven miles of rivet rod were used in assembly.

Supporting posts of the new structure were of plate and lattice construction and measured 24 by 30 inches.  The latticework spans of the old structure were replaced by girders five and one half feet deep at the tower tops and six and one half feet deep in the spans between the towers.

Since its erection the viaduct has been painted on an average of once in every seven years.  The original stone piers were encased in concrete between 1907 and 1933.  These with the abutments bear the chiseled initials of generations of visitors.

The present Kinzua Viaduct, like the original, still serves as a tourist Mecca.  Thousands still visit the Kinzua every year and hundreds will be attracted to it on a sunny, summer, Sunday afternoon.  Its plate and lattice legs have challenged climbers of both sexes.  Some have succeeded in reaching the top; others have become faint hearted, ?frozen? to the structure and have had to be assisted down.  However, the outstanding feat of balance recorded is that of the two young men who in 1901 mounted the cap strips of the guard railings and keeping abreast crossed the viaduct on a four inch plank 305 feet above the Kinzua Creek.  There are, too, records of two other individuals who have accomplished this feat? of nerve and balance.

The lore of the viaduct is studded with legend.  Most appealing of all the stories is that which has to do with buried treasure.  Within sight of the Viaduct lies $40,000 in gold and currency buried in glass containers by a bank robber near the turn of the century.  To date the loot has not been recovered.

The Kinzua has been surpassed in height by other viaducts.  It is eclipsed by the 336 1/2 foot Loa Viaduct in Chile, by the 335 foot Gokteik in Burma and by the 362 foot Pecos River Viaduct in Texas.  However, the Kinzua is believed today to be the second highest viaduct on the North American continent and it is doubtful if any viaduct in the world of its type exceeds it in both length and height.

Today the Kinzua remains one of the great viaducts of the modern world.  Despite rumors and fantastic flights of fancy to the contrary, it has not collapsed nor has it been destroyed for the benefit of the motion picture cameras in a super colossal head-on collision of trains assisted by a few sticks of dynamite to make a Roman holiday for Hollywood.

Quoting Attorney Thomas J. Hurley of Gary, Ind., he writes:
 ?There may have been others walked the length of the viaduct atop the handrail, but, believe it or not, two of the youthful and perhaps foolhardy adventurers who did it were yours truly and an old friend, Jack Flaherty.  This was a day or two after the work was completed.  We discussed doing the stunt at the same time with a piece of rope between us, he on one side and I on the other, to insure against one falling; yet we abandoned this as too sissified.  But we were accustomed to working great heights and were young, strong and of steady nerve.?