Hayden Bridge (Springfield, Oregon)

The Hayden RR Bridge, is a truss bridge located in Springfield, Oregon, spanning over the McKenzie River. The bridge initially served as a traditional railroad bridge, starting as part of the first transcontinental railroad in Utah, before being shipped to its current location to serve as part of the Marcola line, whose primary use was the distribution of lumber. It later closed down due to the closure of the area's lumbermills, until it was converted into a pedestrian bridge in 2019. It is one of the few remaining wrought-iron, Phoenixville bridges still standing, and the oldest intact bridge in the state of Oregon.

Location

Hayden Bridge is located in Springfield, Oregon, near the intersection of the Marcola, Old Mohawk, and Camp Creek roads. Its milepost was 649.50 on the Southern Pacific Railroad when it comprised part of the railroad during its use as a railroad bridge. The bridge spans the McKenzie river, where it runs parallel to a road bridge comprising part of Marcola road, which is also named Hayden Bridge. Nearby the bridge are the Eugene Water & Electric Board's (EWEB) water collection facilities.

Craftsmanship and design

Hayden Bridge is a fabricated truss bridge constructed of wrought iron. Today, fewer than 75 of such bridges exist. The bridge is also a Phoenix bridge, being a creation of Phoenix Bridge Works, and as such also incorporates Phoenix columns, a rare design where the bridge is composed of hollow wrought iron columns. Such a design was an innovation in wrought iron bridge technology, created before steel bridges came to effectively replace wrought iron bridges. The bridge is one of only two Phoenixville bridges still in existence in the Pacific Northwest.

In terms of its truss, the bridge employs a through-truss design; more specifically, it uses a double-intersection Pratt truss, or a Whipple-Murphy truss, also a rare design. The truss is pin-connected, with the columns riveted together at their phalanges to form hollow beams. Because of the multiple web systems employed by this design, this causes the structure to be statically indeterminate. It is also the first bridge design to be calculated to support its intended load using scientific processes.

The bridge also incorporates cast-iron connections and decorative pieces, including ornamental medallions and railroad brake-wheel designs. The brake-wheel designs are located on the corner portal brackets, whilst the medallions are located at the crossings of the diagonal portal bracings. These elements, along with the nameplates, compose the only cast-iron parts of the bridge.

The bridge currently sits atop granite slabs, which are in turn set in concrete abutments.

History

In 1882, the bridge was fabricated by Clarke, Reeves & Company, Phoenixville Bridge Works in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. It was then bought and constructed by Central Pacific Railroad with the intent for it to span over the Bear River near Corinne, Utah, where it was erected as a trestle bridge in 1882, replacing an older wooden bridge as part of the first transcontinental railroad.

During the turn of the century, the bridge was bought and shipped over 1,000 miles away to be re-erected in its current location over the McKenzie River in Springfield, Oregon by Southern Pacific Railroad. It was moved to Springfield and reassembled in its current location along the Southern Pacific Railroad line in 1901. The bridge was then leased to the Oregon and California Railroad as part of its branch line (which became known as the Marcola Branch), and used as part of a logging railroad from then until 1979. Traffic increased in 1912 due to the prohibition of log driving down the McKenzie River, which forced all traffic to go through the railroad.

During the bridge's time as a route for logging and railroad tie shipments, the operations of the rail line supported by the bridge slowed down as the operations of its client mills ceased. This was caused by the shutting down of the Booth-Kelly Lumber Company mill at Wendling, Oregon in 1946, which was the only location that the line served until that point, which led traffic across the bridge to dwindle. This can mostly be attributed to the practice of cutting down trees too quickly, more than they were replaced via replanting.

In 1960, Weyerhaeuser bought the Marcola Branch, extending it to reach its Calapooya Tree Farm, allowing for it to make shipments between there and Springfield mill by 1962. However, in 1967 the company developed concerns that the bridge could completely collapse due to failures in its truss, as well as over its below-standard vertical clearance and load limit. As trucks became cheaper to ship lumber than by rail and as the timber surrounding the Marcola line vanished, the use of the bridge ground to a halt as the last train traveled over it on September 3, 1987. The bridge was abandoned on September 3, 1987, when the rail line that it supported closed down, and retired from service in 1989.

Ownership

The bridge was owned by Central and then Southern Pacific Railroad from 1882 until 1960, when it was bought by Weyerhaeuser. Weyerhaeuser owned the bridge, until they sold it to Workin' Bridges, an Iowa-based non-profit organization under the North Skunk River Greenbelt Association, for $1 in June 2016. The reason for the transaction was that Weyerhaeuser wanted to avoid liability for the increasing number of bridge jumpers frequenting the location. Weyerhaeuser considered moving the bridge to another location at a cost of over a million dollars, but when that proved infeasible they considered its outright demolition. A 2014 press statement that they planned to destroy the bridge caught the attention of Julie Bowers, a member of Workin' Bridges and executive director of the North Skunk River Greenbelt Association, who contacted the company and arranged the sale.

Renovation and preservation

Hayden bridge remains as one of the best-preserved iron bridges in the United States, and is the oldest standing bridge in Oregon.

The bridge was nominated for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1981; however, the nomination was objected to by the owner (Weyerhaeuser) the following year, resulting in the property not being listed. Although the property is not listed on the NRHP, it is officially recognized as eligible to be listed. The bridge was also the subject of a Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) survey in 1990. The survey was conducted at the request of the Oregon Department of Transportation due to the bridge's historic importance.

After selling the bridge to Workin' Bridges, Weyerhaeuser donated an additional $25,000 to the group to help turn the area into a park. After that, the organization worked with both Lane County and the city of Springfield to seek approval for improvements to the bridge, due to Springfield's urban growth boundary falling in the center of the McKenzie River. By 2018, wood floors were installed in order to turn the track into a rail trail, with future plans to install side railing and security gates. The organization then received an anonymous donation of $100,000 in order to fully renovate the area. The bridge had railing installed and was converted into a pedestrian bridge in 2019, with over 40 people attending the opening ceremony. Bowers then stepped down and left it up to the surrounding community to raise an additional $100,000 to fully convert the area into a park.

Search for new owners

Since its closure the bridge has been a popular place for swimmers to dive into the water of the underlying river. This has caused liability problems for Workin' Bridges, which is unable to afford the cost of someone becoming seriously injured while jumping from the bridge. Because of this, the organization is currently trying to donate the bridge to someone who will take it. This has included asking Lane County and the city of Springfield to turn the bridge and 3.73 acres of the surrounding area into a park. However, the county has not accepted the offer, with one spokesperson stating that the county did not have the resources to add another park. The bridge is also in the middle of multiple right-of-ways, which include those of Lane County, the city of Springfield, and EWEB. Both the liability issues, the multiple rights of way, and other factors have increased the difficulty of finding new owners.

See also

*List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon
* Nels Roney – engineer who erected the bridges of Lane County during his time. He also repaired Hayden Bridge's approach when it was damaged in 1907.
* Capon Lake Whipple Truss Bridge – another example of a Whipple-Murphy truss bridge

Notes

References

Further reading

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* Kariel, David (June 1980). "National Register Nomination Form for the Booth-Kelly (Hayden) Bridge". University of Oregon, Eugene, items 7 & 8.
* ''Records of the Southern Pacific Railroad''. "Bridge Index", p. 139.

External links

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*Listing at th
Oregon Historic Sites Database

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Bridges in Lane County, Oregon
Pedestrian bridges in Oregon
Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon
Rail trail bridges in the United States
Railroad bridges in Oregon
Wrought iron bridges in the United States
Pratt truss bridges in the United States
Whipple truss bridges in the United States
Springfield, Oregon
Bridges completed in 1882
Relocated buildings and structures in Oregon
Portable bridges
Bridges over the McKenzie River (Oregon)