Take a guess…how many covered bridges are there in Orgeon? 10, 20, or 30? Wrong! The answer is 50 covered bridges. Surprised? I sure was when I first learned about them. Oregon has more covered bridges than any state west of the Mississippi.
While certainly being nostalgic and beautiful, covering the bridges serves a real purpose. Back in the early 20th century, bridges built as river crossings were designed using Douglas Fir. Two world wars made steel in short supply. And with an abundance of forests in the state, Douglas Fir was the natural choice.
A wooden bridge was covered to keep the huge truss timbers dry. A covered bridge could last 80 years or more, while an uncovered one would deteriorate in about nine years! That is a big difference.
Covered bridges are no longer built as steel and other materials are plentiful. But, of course, no one wants to lose the old covered ones. So the are kept in good working order as they are still perfectly for what they do and they are definitely tourist attractions. Oregon passed legislation back in 1987 to provide funds to keep these nostalgic bridges up and running. Hooray for them.
The bridge here is called the Goodpasture Bridge. Located in Lane County, east of Eugene, it is the second longest covered bridge in the state and one of the most popular for tourists with cameras. It was named for Benjamin Franklin Goodpasture, a pioneer farmer who had settled near the bridge site…a great name for a farmer!
It was built in 1938 at a total cost of $13,154. In 1987 Lane County spent $750,000 to restore it (inflation is a bitch!). It crosses the McKenzie River, 2 miles west of the community of Vida. If you are ever in Central Oregon, you can easily find brochures that lay out a route for seeing some or all of the bridge sites in Lane County. They have 17 of them. That is what I did…visiting 6 of them on my tour before continuing my journey east on the McKenzie Pass Highway.
PS: If you ever do it, bring your camera.
To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.
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