The Old Mill and the Covered Bridge

by Anonymous

The Covered Bridge

For many years the covered bridge was a familiar part of the country scene in America. This bridge still stands in the White Mountains, New Hampshire, with Mt. Liberty in the background. Photo by Winston Pote from A. Devaney, Inc., New York.

Like many other supplanted or vanishing features of early American life, the covered bridge is enshrined in song, legend and story. It has been a prize subject for etchers and painters. Innumerable post cards bearing the picture of some famous bridge crowd the mail pouches, especially in the New England States.

Just as the railroad sounded the doom of the Conestoga wagon, the Concord coach and the narrow inland canal, so did the automobile end the larger era of the covered bridge. The motorist wanted a steel, iron or concrete ground-hold for his car when he dashed across a river. Although the old bridges were built for good, solid wear, and sometimes a lot of tear as well, they could not stand up against the speedster. They were built for slow traffic. In the old days, teams were obliged to proceed at a walk, under penalty of a fine ranging from $2.00 to $5.00. The motor car, however, had stout allies in bridge destruction in fire, flood, and changes in highway routes. Many of the oldest and best known of the covered bridges were destroyed by fire or high water.

Although the covered bridge, as we know it, is distinctly an American institution, it did not originate in this country. There is a record of a roofed bridge built over the Euphrates in Babylon in 783 B.C. The Tiber at Rome was crossed by several covered bridges. The best known structure of this type in Europe is across an arm of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. It has a steep, arched roof, is built entirely of timber, and is used only by pedestrians.

The covered bridge in this country underwent no evolution such as was the case with the great girder and suspension structures that span our big rivers. It began with a simple pattern and followed that pattern with few changes. The origin is interesting. In the early days when our civilization was young, the ferry was the traditional method of crossing a river. It was slow, cumbersome and inadequate. The farmer who wanted to drive a flock of sheep or a herd of cattle to the market found it difficult. Then began the era of open wooden bridges. The log pilings soon became subject to rapid decay and to destruction by floods and ice floes. Stone piers then replaced the wooden pilings, but these did not prevent the bridge floor from rotting under attacks of the weather. To meet this situation a shed was built over the floor. Soon the shed had sides. Before long there was a path for pedestrians. In this way the covered bridge came into being.

For years there has been a difference of opinion as to why the old bridges were covered. Some have maintained that it was to prevent the horses from shying at the water. Others have contended that the roof was built to protect the driver, while still others believed that the bridges were roofed to provide a refuge from storms. The basic reason was to protect the floor from the elements.

Covered bridges were part of the Dayton scene until the early 1900’s. This bridge spanned the Miami River at Third Street. It was built in 1839 and razed in 1903. Another covered bridge crossed the river at Main Street, and another on the site of the present Dayton View bridge.

This sign on the Carillon bridge is original and specifies the fine that was imposed for violation of the “law of the bridge.”

$5 FINE FOR RIDING OR DRIVING OVER THIS BRIDGE FASTER THAN A WALK

$20 FINE FOR DRIVING OVER THIS BRIDGE MORE THAN 20 HORSES OR CATTLE AT ONCE

$5 FINE FOR CARRYING FIRE OVER OR UNDER THIS BRIDGE IN AN UNCLOSED VESSEL

Most covered bridges were built along identical lines. They usually had a single tunnel with sides boarded to the eaves. The two-tunnel bridge was something of an exception. One of the few changes in bridge construction came with latticed sides which relieved the bridge from the gloom that pervaded the original type. This gloom had its compensation for lovers, who found freedom from prying eyes in the friendly dark. More than one old structure was called “The Kissing Bridge.”

The original bridges with the planked sides afforded a great opportunity for the billposter. The walls blazed with lurid circus posters, advertisements for patent medicines and brands of tobacco. It represented the first phase of what has come to be known as “outdoor advertising.”

The covered bridge also afforded an opportunity for robbers to ply their trade. It was easy to hide in the deep shadows, pounce upon the unsuspecting wayfarer, and despoil him of his possessions. Murderers also lurked in those dark confines. Crimes on the covered bridges were numerous. This led a contemporary writer to say:

“Boys have lost a year’s growth by going through a covered bridge; girls have become gray before their time; stout farmers have had a queer feeling when the moon is high, the roads deserted, and the echoes of the horses’ hoofs are loud and strong.”

The two main types of covered bridges were the lattice truss of wood and the Howe truss of iron and wood.

One outstanding fact in connection with the old bridges is that they were not built by engineers or professional bridge-builders, but by local carpenters who put up the houses and barns in the adjacent countryside. This explains what has been termed their “homely simplicity.” They represented honest work. Those men had no knowledge of scientific building. Wind pressure and load limit were the first considerations. One builder constructed his bridges “high and wide as a load of hay.” That was his only specification.

In commenting on the work of those covered bridge builders, a well-known engineer wrote:

“Those early builders knew nothing of the theory of stresses; indeed many of them did not even call themselves engineers, but the long and honorable service of the structures they built, under loads far greater than the builders could have foreseen, is a striking testimonial to the excellence of the materials and the skilled workmanship that went into their construction.”

A second striking fact in connection with the bridges is that the abutments were piled stone. The structure was held together by pegs of hard wood. No mortar, cement, bolts, or nails were used. The marvel is that so many of them have stood up for more than a century. In their way they were masterpieces of construction.

A third feature of interest is that while most of the old bridges followed the same lines of construction, no two were precisely alike. Many writers have emphasized the fact that each bridge has a certain individuality. Nor was this individuality lacking in attractiveness. Some of the structures were architecturally beautiful with an old-time charm.

On many a covered bridge it was a long way through and the trip was much more pleasant in the daytime than at night.

Crude as were the methods and materials employed, the old bridge builders left monuments to their skill. The bridge across the Schuylkill River near Philadelphia, built in 1813, had a span of 340 feet in length. When constructed, it was the longest span in the world. Another long bridge was at Charlemont, across the Deerfield River near the scene of the famous massacre of settlers by Indians in the early New England days. It was 324 feet long.

There were many different types of covered bridges. This one was built with two lanes, although speeding traffic was much less of a problem in its day than now.

The covered bridges cost from $300 to $6,500. They were built by towns, individuals and companies. Often a lottery provided the cost of construction.

As on the old turnpikes, toll was charged on many of the bridges. The rate for a foot passenger was two cents; for a cow, two cents; one sheep, one-half cent; a horse, four cents; horse and rider, six cents; cart, sleigh, sled, or wagon and one horse, ten cents; two horses, thirteen cents; wood per cord, fifteen cents; all other loads with one horse, ten cents.

Most of the private companies operating covered bridges fared exceedingly well. Some bridges paid as high as 18 to 20 per cent a year.

The exaction of tolls created bitter opposition in many communities and became an issue in politics. The Lyman covered bridge between Hartford, Vermont, and Lebanon, New Hampshire, completed in 1804, was known as the “Inter-State Hold-Up” because the tolls were so exorbitant. Even ministers were forced to pay to cross the bridge.

So deep-seated was the unrest over toll charges that in many instances the tolls were withdrawn. The first free covered bridge across the Connecticut River, where the earliest of the bridges was built, was opened to the public in 1859. This bridge, which spanned the river between Norwich, Vermont, and Hanover, New Hampshire, was built by the two towns at a cost of $6,500. It was 400 feet long and stood 40 feet at low water.

The classic covered bridge story and the perennial delight of all writers on the subject deals with a farmer who drove up to a long bridge with a load of hay on the way to market. He stopped at the entrance and squinted down the dark tunnel. Then he said:

“I can git through this end all right, but there ain’t room to squeeze through that little hole at the other end.” With this remark he turned his team and drove back home, his hay unsold.

Another anecdote is connected with the “Walk Your Horses” sign at the entrance of the Hartford covered bridge. A woman was summoned to court for disobeying this injunction. She hired a clever lawyer and contested the case. When it was called in court the lawyer said:

“Your Honor, the law reads that a fine be imposed on any man who drives a horse across the bridge faster than a walk. I move that this case be thrown out. My client is a woman and she was driving a mare.”

The case was dismissed.

The covered bridge served purposes for which it was not originally intended. On wet nights it became a sort of informal community center. Preachers, on occasion, used it for camp meetings. The local militia drilled in it. Once a school teacher, whose little red schoolhouse burned down, held some of her classes under its shingled roof.

The view from the Dayton Art Institute is one of the finest in the city, but it has changed materially over the years, as is evidenced by this drawing made in the 1840s. The covered bridge, standing on the present site of the Dayton View bridge, was part of the scene when this sketch was made.

The story of the covered bridge is not altogether a narrative of the past. No one knows accurately just how many were standing at the peak of their use. One thing, however, is certain. There was a time when the entire New England countryside and a considerable portion of the rest of the country, was dotted with covered bridges. They crossed streams in twenty-six states. One reason why they were so widespread lay in the fact that when New Englanders, the first builders, moved west or south, they constructed the same type of bridge that they had known and found satisfactory back home.

The walls of covered bridges lent themselves only too well to the activities of the bill poster. Such posters as these extolled the virtues of the products they promoted in the days of the covered bridge.

One of the most zealous of the covered bridge historians has computed that there are still 2,000 of the old structures intact and still in use. Ohio ranks first with 592 bridges and Pennsylvania next with 336. Indiana has 202. Vermont with 200, has more covered bridges than all the other New England States combined. Massachusetts, where many of the earlier bridges were built, today has 26, while Connecticut is at the bottom of the list with only 7.

Of the 2,000 bridges still standing, many have unique names and associations. The second Lyman bridge, which replaced the “Inter-State Hold-Up,” was called the “Bridge of Spooks.” It was dimly lighted at night by swinging kerosene lamps. Children avoided it after sunset and grownups went through in a hurry.

One of the oldest and most noted of the covered bridges is Esperance bridge on the famous Mohawk Valley Turnpike on which all stagecoach traffic in and out of Albany, New York, traveled. The first bridge on this site was built in 1793 and was destroyed by a freshet. The present structure went up in 1811, the second to be erected by the State of New York. No covered bridge ever earned more money. The tolls by 1846 amounted to $1,000,000. More than 700 teams crossed in a single day. In view of its long and fruitful history New York has preserved the bridge as a state monument.

Most of the covered bridges are gone but they are not forgotten. Their distinct place in the category of early Americana is widely recognized. Many have become museum pieces. States and individuals are conserving them. Henry Ford’s collection of covered bridges at Dearborn, Michigan, is the largest in the country. The inclusion of a covered bridge in Carillon Park is recognition of its status in the evolution of American life.

This is the longest single-span covered bridge in the United States. It is 210 feet long and is located near North Blenheim, N. Y.

The diorama in the Wagon Shed depicts a scene in the Miami Valley as it might have appeared in the early part of the nineteenth century.

The diorama in the Wagon Shed presents a composite picture of some of the Carillon Park exhibits as they would have appeared in actual use. The three-dimensional, accurately scaled model shows a canal boat approaching a lock. Passengers sitting on the top deck are dressed in the costumes of the day. The boat is the packet type designed to carry passengers and representing in its day a considerable degree of luxury in travel.

In the background is a covered bridge and to the left, an old mill built beside a stream. At the right a settler’s cabin typifies the rural housing of the day and the settler, himself, watches the boat pass. Traveling the road beyond the canal is a Conestoga wagon and a Concord coach.

Thus, against the background of the rich countryside which made possible the great development of the Miami Valley, are many of the elements which contributed to the way of life of its early settlers.

CARILLON PARK
DAYTON, OHIO

One of a series of Carillon Park booklets.
Price ten cents.

E15SS
PRINTED IN U.S.A.