History
Written by David Smothers
Our family has owned the land that this bridge sat on since 1936, and for us, it was a part of the family. When I was a kid (And as an adult, for that matter), every time I went to visit my grandparents, there was the after lunch walk down to the bridge, it was a tradition. One that my grandfather and great grandfather did long before I was born. I would throw rocks in the creek from it, fish off of it on rare occasions...and since I loved bridges as a child, I felt so lucky that my family had their OWN bridge. This bridge withstood the flood of 1951 intact, and lived to see many more years. We found out that the county intended to replace it in late 1996, and I was NOT happy to say the least. We were ignorant, or powerless... but looking back now, I wonder if we didn't have some legal power to force them to rehabilitate, instead of remove the bridge, since they could not replace the bridge without moving equipment on our land. It WAS in bad shape, it would shake when my brother would just run across it... but I still have regret that more couldn't be done to save it. I would have been happy for the county to close the bridge and the road there, since the daily traffic was about 4. But that was something the rest of my family wouldn't consider. The county weren't complete jerks, as they said if we brought in equipment large enough to lift it, then the bridge was ours for the taking, but we didn't have money for that, and my mother didn't seem to want to see it sit someplace else, anyway. They did cut a T-shaped piece of the truss for us with the concrete nameplate, and we still have that, and our memories. My grandmother died about 3 months before this bridge was replaced, so we just said goodbye to her and it in the same year. I miss my grandmother much more, of course, but the bridge was like a loving pet that you must say goodbye to.. we just had to accept it's life was over, I suppose.
