The Bridges of Linn County

Dave felt better this morning, so he headed for the golf course.  I learned that Oregon has 51 covered bridges, and that 11 of them are here in Linn County.  I looked at a couple of maps, and set out on a journey to see five of the covered bridges.

After arriving at the first bridge, which was about 25 minutes from the RV park, I discovered that my camera was missing its memory card.  Has that ever happened to you? 

I thought about continuing my covered bridge tour without using my camera, and decided, no, I’ll go back to the RV and get the memory card.  It was still in Dave’s computer.  I rescued it and also grabbed my iPod, which I like to listen to during these exploration driving trips. 

I drove back to the first covered bridge using a slightly different route. 

Larwood Bridge, built in 1939, crosses Crabtree Creek

 

I found a website, Covered Bridges of Oregon, which has an interactive map of all the counties of Oregon with bridges.  There’s an excellent picture of each bridge, a write-up of the history of the bridge, and directions to get to each bridge.

Larwood Bridge was built to Highway Commission specifications which included a standard 105-foot length, partially exposed trusses, white-wash interior and rounded portals.

The covered span is located three miles north of Lacomb, next to Larwood Wayside Park. Roaring River, which empties into Crabtree Creek near the bridge, is the only river to flow into a creek, an oddity in U. S. geography that was featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not. 

The second bridge on my journey was Hoffman Bridge, built in 1936, also over Crabtree Creek

Built primarily with hand tools, the upper timbers of Hoffman Bridge show adze marks where workers shaped them by hand. The bridge is painted white and has two Gothic windows on each side.

On the way to the next bridge, I drove through the tiny town of Crabtree, Oregon, and was treated to the sight of this church built in 1909

Next I visited the town of Scio, where I saw this cute replica bridge

Continuing on the drive, I came to Hannah Bridge, built in 1936, which spans Thomas Creek. 

This characteristic Linn County covered bridge design includes segmental portal arches, exposed beams at the gable ends, and white board-and-batten cladding.  The 105-foot housed Howe truss is exposed through large side openings on the bridge. 

Shimanek Bridge is one of the few red-colored bridges From the Oregon Covered Bridges website, Shimanek Bridge in the winter

As Linn County's newest and longest covered span, the Shimanek Bridge offers an exception to the usual open-sided structure with rounded portals.

Red paint, portal design and louvered windows are features similar to the former span, which was built in 1927, and found on no other bridge in Linn County. Rods in the truss are grouped into a series of four instead of the usual three at each compression joint. The bridge shares the white painted interior of other Linn County bridges.

The first bridge built at this location is believed to have been constructed as early as 1861, while the first documented covered bridge was built in 1891 for a cost of $1,150.

In 1966 the current Shimanek Bridge was completed, the fifth covered bridge to occupy this site. It has been rumored that the 1891 bridge had a welcomed accommodation of a two-hole toilet built into the foundation, a luxury not found at the current covered bridge.

Gilkey Bridge, the final bridge of today’s tour

The Gilkey Bridge spans Thomas Creek and until 1960, it proudly stood next to a covered railroad bridge. 

The current railroad without the covered bridge

After driving a total of 65 miles, I completed my tour of these five covered bridges and arrived back at the Mallard Creek RV park.