The Gilkey Bridge is a
covered bridge
A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...
in
Linn County in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
.
It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
as Thomas Creek – Gilkey Covered Bridge in 1987.
Carrying Goar Road, the bridge crosses
Thomas Creek about southwest of
Scio.
Gilkey Bridge and a covered railroad bridge next to it crossed the creek at the former community of Gilkey.
Gilkey was a station on the
Southern Pacific Railway line between
Crabtree and
Shelburn.
The station, established in 1880, was named for Allen and William Gilkey.
Allen Gilkey came to Oregon in the early 1850s and
settled
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area.
A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer.
Settle ...
nearby.
The bridge, long, was constructed in 1939. Damaged by an overloaded vehicle in 1997, it was closed for repairs, then reopened to traffic in 1998.
Just nine years later, the bridge was damaged again. Scot McKillop, an employee of Fisher Implements, left a service call at a nearby farm and was enroute to Albany when he started to cross the bridge. The hydraulic boom, which had been left extended, snapped power lines before it crashed into the bridge cover. The truck traveled three-quarters of the way across the bridge where it stopped, stuck sideways. There were no injuries, the truck was moved in about 5 hours, and the bridge lost about 50% of its load capacity.
The bridge was rehabilitated in 2017 in a $1.6 million project.
See also
*
*
List of Oregon covered bridges
References
5. Alex, Paul (September 19, 2007
"Farm truck damages Gilkey Bridge" Corvallis Gazette Times Retrieved May 30, 2020.
External links
{{Commons-inline, Thomas Creek-Gilkey Covered Bridge, Gilkey Bridge
Bridges completed in 1939
Covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon
Bridges in Linn County, Oregon
Wooden bridges in Oregon
Tourist attractions in Linn County, Oregon
National Register of Historic Places in Linn County, Oregon
Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon
Howe truss bridges in the United States