The Mystery of the Lost High Bridge Watch

On January 17, 1883, the Troy Daily Times published a lost-and-found advertisement for a small gold English watch engraved with an image of High Bridge spanning the Croton River in New York. The owner valued it as a family heirloom rather than for its monetary worth.

High Bridge was a wooden covered structure that crossed the Croton River, opening in June 1842 and collapsing into the river from neglect in October 1879—a span of just 37 years. The bridge should not be confused with the more famous High Bridge that carried the Croton Aqueduct across the Harlem River.

The advertisement raises intriguing questions: Why would someone commission an engraved watch depicting a relatively obscure local bridge? Why was the ad placed in a Troy newspaper rather than closer to the bridge's location? And why did the owner consider it a family relic?

Research suggests the watch may have belonged to Joseph Hayward, a Troy-based builder and construction supervisor. Hayward was selected to construct the bridge following the Great Freshet of 1841, when the Old Croton Dam collapsed and destroyed all bridges downstream. Hayward had previously gained prominence building the first railroad bridge to cross the Hudson River at Troy in 1834-1835.