Tuesday, May 26, 1953
THE CAPITAL JOURNAL, Salem, Oregon
TAbAinn inner race
Days About Ended for
Oregon Covered Bridges
Br BEN MAXWELL
Days of the covered bridge
oa Oregon's primary state
Highway are conctuaea.
Flnia wii written May 18
1953. when the structure
shown In the photograph, Mill
ureeK oriage, - unmeaiaiciy
east of the guard statior on
the Alsea highway, was or
dered replaced by a concrete
viaduct 120 . feet long and
built according to state high
way standards of traruc em
clencv. - - r
Mill creek bridge was built
in 1924 and was among tne last
ot all covered bridges built on
primary state highways ac
cording to uienn raxon, nnage
engineer. None has been built
far so man thou sh the de
partment has more recently
drawn designs for a number to
meet county requirement.
Eight remain on uregon s sec
ondary highways.
Covered bridses originated
In antiquity. Herodotus, the
Greek historian; mentions one
in Babylon. At Lucerne, in
Switzerland, a covered bridge
was built in 1333 and another
in 1408. None is believed to
have been built in America
nrior to 1804.
When the first covered bridge
wu built in Oregon is not
clearly recorded in history.
However, the Oregon Specta
tor for November 4, 1851,
mentions that the bridge be
tween the Island (a, mid-Willamette
manufacturing center
in nioneer times) and Oregon
City was' being roofed. This
may be accepted, a ire ursi
kiI bridce in the Oregon
country until more explicit
evidence becomes avauaiue.
New Knnland covered
bridges of a century ago were
ornate and stylea according to
the builder's capacity for dis
tinctive design. Oregon's cov
erec bridges for the most part
lacked any such architectural
elaboration. They were con
ceived as utilitarian and en
tirely functional. The roof was
provided for the same reason
that women of some decades
ago wore Jong skirt to-protect
the under pinning. Most
were nothing more than a shed
opea at both end and span
ning a stream.'
H they were not noted for
architectural merit, they were
rtlsflnguii"" tor iouc"j.
open bridge had an estimated
life of 13 or 18 years. A cov
ered bridge would last twice as
a - SViimtv MUTtS SSW HO IO-
mance in placing a roof over
bridge. Economy
purpose.
Event of the speeding auto
mobile made the old covered
bridge acme thing of a traffic
habarf and the use of weather
resistant concrete construc
tion ended the era of the cov
ered bridge.
In 1948 leas than J0O0 were
aatlmated to survive in North
aerie. Canada, especially
th, province of Quebec retain
ed more than any other corn-
Marion county, too, had nu
merous covered bridges 40
years ago. Now there are four:
two on the upper Abiqua, one
east of Turner and one west of
Mt. Angel. This latter struc
ture is the monumental Gal
lon House bridge, relic of local
option days before the First
World War when the gallon
house, visible through the
opening in the bridge, was a
well patronized oasis.
3)
. Within the oast 15 years a
number of new covered
bridges have been built in Linn
and Lane counties. One of
these on the road between Scio
and Providence church near
the Czech hall is framed with
wood but sheeted with alumi
num. Red covered bridges of
orthodox construction may yet
be seen on county roads Join
ing the Alsea highway, pri
mary state highway No 84
Nor have covered railroad
bridges entirely disappeared in
the Willamette valley. Three
protect trestle over a freight
line from Oregon City to Mo
la 11a and another stand on the
S.P.'s branch line near Gilkey
station in Linn county.
Oregon's older covered
bridge were built in accord
ance with the Smith principle
of truss construction. Later
bridges adopted the- Howe
truss. Some were, indeed, long
lived. Coburg oridge built by
A. S. Miller & Son in 1878 was
in use until 192, an interval
of 50 years. Knight's bridge
LAST OF ITS TYPE ON A PRIMARY HIGHWAY
- r.
IS".
v.:.- f -. ''j
iaw4j8lgiiiiaJ6
Mill Creek covered, bridge on the Alsea Mghway im- -
mediately east of the guard station is the last covered
bridge in use on a primary state highway. It has been
ordered removed after 39 years of service and will be -replaced
by a concrete viaduct. Event of the automobile
and use of weather resistant concrete in bridge con
struction has ended the era of these horse and buggy -relics
in Oregon.
at Canby, a structure of excep
tional design, was in use be
yond that interval ana at the
(tim nt If a lnanifat in thm tsiftjk
11930s bore signs painted on its
interior in the 1880s.
Humbug Mt Pork Near
Port Orford Popular .
Humbug Mountain state
park, six miles south of Port
Orford on the Oregon coast, is
one of the most popular state
parks on the Oregon beaches. .
The site of this, one, of the
largest of pie coastal parks, la
spectacular coastal mountain
terrain with a stream running
through It. A new overnight
camp site is now being con
structed to accommodate the
increasing tourist trade. This
park is equipped with tables,
stoves, restrooms, showers, wa
ter, and laundry facilities.
aoowealth in Mi '
Zm ranked lower on the Bst
1" T" . . no and 285.
with oe'TT" nuntvlet!
15S N. Liberty
fhoM 3-3181
FAMOUS SEAMOIDS BY lUXtZS
ILATTEB TOUR JIGUBIV
TOR SUNNING AMD SWIMMING
' ' faaaaWartlislil. aj- n Men i II. I "
mKOm909m iwapfc riOTft BwSy.
iMflBant osion. 32 to St.
Q FiroA of wli-to MyltM tricot .
"To
ief
33 to 38.
12.93
. t ...
0 15.98
,7i48. Lane county led
STiiS art vTand Dou-l"
SLSf wal ext with 48. Leas
ecWM, r-LrT an three eov-
esSnWtt11
blLenndWeieie! 1Z. and not mora than three
1st in Polk ounty.