The Newsletter of the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, Inc
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The Newsletter of the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, Inc. Winter 2020/2021 Consumed by Wildfire The former Great Northern Railway Bridge near Colfax, Washington was destroyed by a wildfire on September 7, 2020. See the feature article on page 6. In this issue Membership ...................................... 2 Bridge Rescue in Kentucky ........................ 8 President’s Message ........................ 3 Western Indiana Tour ................................ 9 NSPCB Meeting Information ............. 4 News of Members ............................... 10-11 Covered Bridge Meetings & Events .. 5 Book Review ........................................... 12 Colfax Bridge Destroyed ................... 6 Help Save Our Bridges ............................ 13 Goodpasture Bridge Saved ............... 7 Covered Bridge News ......................... 14-27 NSPCB Newsletter Winter 2020 / 2021 The NSPCB Newsletter is Welcome New Members published quarterly to keep the membership informed of current David Bell, Tacoma, Washington bridge news and upcoming events. Spencer Bennett & Linda McGuire, Henniker, New Hampshire Terry Bodine, Covington, Indiana NSPCB Contacts Pat and Angie Boggs, Flatwoods, Kentucky President Christopher Garlick, Lake Mary, Florida Bill Caswell Richard Kennett, Pinckney, Michigan 535 2nd NH Tpke Michael Kent, Newburyport, Massachusetts Hillsboro, NH 03244-4601 Joseph Merkel, East Brunswick, New Jersey [email protected] William Miller, Pickerington, Ohio Corresponding Secretary Gary Riemenschneider, Columbus, Ohio Robert Watts Debbie Roark, Columbus, Ohio 126 Merrimac St. Unit 21 Karen Stokes, Spring, Texas Newburyport, MA 01950 508-878-7854 [email protected] Welcome New LIFE Member #200 Vigo County Parks and Recreation Department, Membership Dues and Address Terre Haute, Indiana Changes Jennifer Caswell Meet a Member – John Smolen Membership Chair 535 2nd NH Tpke [Editor’s note: A dinner scheduled in John’s honor in November Hillsboro, NH 03244-4601 was cancelled due to COVID concerns. Here is an abridged version of comments I planned to offer at that event. To suggest members Topics Back Issues, $5 each for future installments, please send an email to [email protected].] Contact Bill Caswell at the John Smolen was Ashtabula County, Ohio’s county engineer from address above 1975 until 2002. During that time, he developed creative solutions to maintain the county’s bridges with limited resources. His focus on Treasurer maintaining the historic covered bridges showed others the Gloria Smedley importance of preserving them which boosted their value as tourist 1143 Sage Drive destinations. His new covered bridges added to the tourism appeal. York, PA 17408 In private industry, John continues to show that new covered bridges with modern designs are a viable design alternative while also promoting tourism in the areas where they are built. Next Newsletter Deadline Members of his staff helped plan our The next Newsletter is scheduled Ashtabula County bridge tour in the Fall to be mailed in early March, of 2018. His presence on the tour was a therefore, anyone wishing to highlight for many of our attendees. He submit articles should send them by February 15, 2021. Articles is a gentle, humble man with a wealth of and photos can be emailed to knowledge and experience. At each stop [email protected] or mailed to he enlightened us on details of that Bill Caswell at the address above. particular bridge. His presence made the trip much more interesting and enjoyable. We appreciate any information sent in even if we cannot ultimately I learned that his “soft-spoken” nature resulted from esophageal use it in the Newsletter. cancer. The struggles he faced battling cancer, seem to have given him more drive to live every moment to its fullest. His positive outlook NSPCB Website on life is an inspiration to those he comes in contact with. www.coveredbridgesociety.org NSPCB Publications are printed by Quality Press, Inc. of Concord, New Hampshire - 2 - NSPCB Newsletter Winter 2020 / 2021 President’s Message I hope that this message finds you healthy and well. For those of you who are frontline healthcare workers or first responders, thank you for the work you do putting your health and safety on the line for the rest of us. The loss of any of our historic covered bridge is tragic, but this quarter we lost two of the more unique structures. Unfortunately, due to its remote location in eastern Washington, not many of you likely had the opportunity to visit the former railroad bridge near Colfax. I am grateful that Jenn and I were able to explore the area in the summer of 2017 as we were preparing for the Society’s tour of covered bridges in Oregon. Full details on this story are included in a separate article. Then, on September 25th, Gérald Arbour informed me that the deck truss bridge in western Québec had partially burned in a suspicious fire. This bridge which was probably built in the Colfax Bridge, Whitman County, early 1950’s was only rediscovered a few years ago. As a deck Washington August 24, 2017. truss bridge, the Town truss was under the roadway surface. Due to its remote location in western Québec, very few have visited this site. In September, Jenn and I made an unscheduled trip to Kentucky to be with my Dad during his final days. After the funeral, we wanted a couple days to ourselves, so we drove up to northeastern Indiana. We had never been to that part of Indiana before and since the Society recently donated fire retardant for the Spencerville Bridge, we wanted to see it along with others in the area. Unbeknownst to us, local residents were setting up for an event happening that day. While there we had the pleasure of meeting Mary Diehl and her husband Don who took this photo of us with Mary. Mary has been a driving force behind the planned repairs to this structure. She grew up near the bridge and her father was also active in preserving the history of the area. Thanks to Cheri Bushee, I have a Spencerville sweatshirt which has been getting plenty of use now that the weather is cooler. Over the past few months I have spent lots of time going through many boxes of Topics and Newsletters which have been donated to the Society over the past four decades plus multiple copies of issues kept by Dick Roy during the years he and June were in charge of the mailing. The goal is to pick out the best examples of each issue for the Society’s permanent collection. While doing that one can’t help but stop and read a few along the way. I was especially affected by some things I wrote in the first couple Newsletters after David Wright’s passing promoted me into this position. Although we follow a few stories each quarter, there are still many more bridges which are quietly rotting away without anyone noticing. At the time I asked for members to make us aware of those which are in need of repair but have not been on our radar. The following quarter I wrote about the responses to that article. One of them was Kentucky’s Grange City Bridge (KY/17-35-05), which seven years later, is finally receiving long overdue repairs. Sadly, some of the others, were not saved. Pennsylvania’s Dimmsville Bridge (PA/38-34-02) was on that list. Although there was some local interest in repairing it, the bridge ultimately collapsed on April 11, 2017. That 2013 article is being reprinted in this issue with the hope that some of you will make us aware of other bridges which are in need of help. Thanksgiving will have already passed by the time you read this, but I hope you are able to make the best of the remaining holidays in this strangest of years. Hanukah, Christmas and New Year’s will be very different this time around and we can only hope that 2021 is better. Do what you can to stay safe and protect those around you. We will chat again soon. Bill Caswell - 3 - NSPCB Newsletter Winter 2020 / 2021 2021 NSPCB Meetings & Events All meetings begin at 1:00 PM unless otherwise noted. Restrictions on public gatherings due to COVID-19 altered the 2020 schedule and we do not yet know how 2021 might be impacted. If you plan to attend a meeting, please check the website (www.coveredbridgesociety.org) or contact Bill Caswell at [email protected] a couple days before the event to inquire if it has been necessary to make any last minute adjustments to the published schedule. Saturday, March 27 – Masonic Lodge, Boscawen, New Hampshire. The normal date, March 28, is Palm Sunday. Sunday. April 25 – 350 Revere Beach Blvd., Revere, Massachusetts Sunday. June 27 – Contoocook Railroad Depot, Contoocook, New Hampshire. Saturday, July 24 – Milhender Room, Haverhill Public Library, 99 Main Street, Haverhill, Massachusetts. Presentation on Haverhill area covered bridges. Sunday, August 22 – Annual Picnic, Beaver Meadow Village Community Room, Waumbec Road, Concord, New Hampshire. Lunch at noon, meeting starting at 1:00 PM September 18-20 – Covered bridge tour of western Indiana. Saturday, October 23 – NSPCB Annual Meeting and Dinner, Brigham Hill Barn, North Grafton, Massachusetts. Meal at noon, meeting starting at 1:00 PM. August Meeting Like the July meeting, the August 23rd gathering was a combination of live and virtual. We were joined by new member Kim Chandler who shared her interest in preparing a book on the history of New Hampshire’s standing covered bridges. Kim has since entered into an agreement with History Press for the book. September Meeting With the strict COVID policies in place in Vermont, we were not able to hold the picnic in Lunenburg as planned. We attempted to skip the picnic and hold a virtual meeting instead. Unforeseen circumstances shortly before the meeting date left us with no one available to run the meeting so it had to be cancelled.