Etheridge railway line
The railway stations at Mount Surprise, Einasleigh and Forsayth and the route of the Etheridge Railway between Mount Surprise and Forsayth, including surviving railway buildings, rails, sidings, turning forks, loading banks, stone pitched bridges and culverts, stone cuttings, sandboxes, water tank, signage, and signals and points infrastructure, are important surviving evidence of the efforts of the Chillagoe Railway and Mines Company to supply copper ore to its smelters at Chillagoe.
William Etheridge
The resulting latticework wooden bridge, known as Old Walton Bridge was designed by William Etheridge and built by Mr White of Weybridge between 1748 and 1750. When it opened, its central span of 130 feet was the longest in Britain (succeeded in 1756 by William Edwards's 140 feet long single-arch Pontypridd Bridge). At the time, it was widely admired for its "strength, contrivance and remarkable great arch" and was even dubbed "the most beautiful wooden arch in the world" by one observer.