OREGON COVERED BRIDGES

GRAVE CREEK COVERED BRIDGE

Built in: 1920
Bridge Length: 105'
County: Josephine

The Grave Creek Covered Bridge is one of the few covered bridges that remain in southern Oregon. From Vancouver B.C. to the Mexican border, it is the only one visible from the I-5 freeway. Be sure to visit the Applegate Trail Interpretive Center while in Sunny Valley. It provides a first hand look into the local area, history, fabulous displays, theatre & more.

In the fall of 1846, the first emigrant train from Fort Hall, Idaho, to travel the southern route to the Willamette Valley camped on the north side of this creek, then Woodpile Creek. Martha Leland Crowley, 16 years old died of typhoid fever during this encampment and was buried 150 feet north of the creek on the east side or a white oak tree that was later removed for the present roadway, Thus the name "Grave Creek"

When James H. Twogood laid out his land claim in the fall of 1851 and filed it on May 1st 1852, he named it the Grave Creek Ranch in memory of that unfortunate incident.

McDonough Harkness, his partner, was the first postmaster of Josephine County in the newly named town of Leland on March 28,1855. Harkness was killed by the Indians in April 1856 while riding dispatch for the Army during the second Indian War of southern Oregon which started in October of 1855. For more information see our: Sunny Valley Page in City Profile Section.

 Grave Creek Covered Bridge, Sunny Valley, Oregon

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WIMER , OREGON COVERED BRIDGE


The Wimer Bridge is a covered bridge over Evans Creek in Jackson County in the U.S. state of Oregon.^[2] The version that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1927.^[1] This structure, 85 feet (26 m) long, carried East Evans Creek County Road over the creek in the rural community of Wimer.^[3] The creek is a tributary of the Rogue River, which it joins at the small city of Rogue River.^[4]
An earlier covered span, built in 1892 by J. W. Osbourne, crossed the creek at this location, according to local residents and an engineering database.^[2][5] The 1927 bridge replaced the older span.^[2][5]
After the 1927 bridge deteriorated, local residents refurbished it in 1962. However, by the mid-1970s the bridge was closed after further decline. Repairs in 1985 led to reopening with an eight-ton limit, later reduced to three tons. Before further repairs were undertaken, the structure collapsed in 2003.^[2] It fell 40 feet (12 m) into the water, injuring three people who were crossing the bridge.^[6]
In 2008, with the help of federal funds and local labor, the bridge was replaced with a look-alike using trusses reinforced with metal braces, laminated beams that look like timber, concrete approaches, and industrial roofing made to resemble wooden shakes. The one-way bridge, still 17 feet (5.2 m) wide, as was the original, has a load limit of 10 tons.^[6] This version of the bridge opened to traffic in February 2008

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Lost Creek Bridge

 The Lost Creek Bridge is a covered bridge near the unincorporated community of Lake Creek, in Jackson County in the U.S. state of Oregon. The site is about 15 miles (24 km) east-northeast of Medford. At 39 feet (12 m) long, the structure is the shortest covered bridge in Oregon.^[1] It carries Lost Creek Road over Lost Creek,^[1] a tributary of Little Butte Creek.^[2]
The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.^[3] In that same year, it was closed to vehicle traffic. A newer concrete bridge runs parallel to the wooden bridge and serves as a bypass.^[1]
Anecdotal accounts and limited evidence suggest that the bridge might have been built as early as 1878. If confirmed, this would make it the oldest standing covered bridge in the state. The Oregon Department of Transportation says that the official construction date of 1919 may actually refer to a renovation of an older bridge.^[1]

Eagle Point Covered Bridge

 The covered bridge, also known as Bridge 202, was originally located at Antelope Creek. This queenpost truss covered bridge was built in 1922, and relocated by the citizens of eagle point to its current location across the Little Butte Creek in 1987. Bridge 202 is one of only 50 covered bridges in Oregon that were originally built to handle vehicles. The covered bridge is the pedestrian and bicycle access across the Little Butte Creek, and very active school route, as the Main Street Bridge is closed to pedestrians.

<sup>McKee Covered Bridge 


The rustic, well-known covered bridge spanning the Applegate River, just eight miles from the California border, was built in 1917 by contractor Jason Hartman and his son Wesley on land donated by Aldelbert "Deb" McKee.</sup>
The bridge was used from 1917 to 1956, originally serving the mining and logging traffic. In 1956, the bridge was declared unsafe for vehicular traffic.
Features of the Mckee Bridge include a Howe truss design, flying buttresses, open daylighting windows at the roofline, and a shingle roof.
Lindsay Applegate, for whom the stream is named, prospected the area on the way to the mines in California. The discovery of prosperous mines caused a north-south route to be developed in the area, and the covered bridge was used as a rest stop, until 1919, because it was halfway between Jacksonville and the Blue Ledge Cooper Mine to the south.