Pass Creek 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 the city of

Drain Drain may refer to: Objects and processes * Drain (plumbing), a fixture that provides an exit-point for waste water or for water that is to be re-circulated on the side of a road * Drain (surgery), a tube used to remove pus or other fluids from ...

in Douglas 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 sover ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. It originally carried

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

es over Pass Creek before being moved a few hundred feet from its original location in 1987 and reassembled behind the Drain Civic Center. From then through 2014, when the city closed the deteriorating bridge completely, it carried pedestrian traffic. Pass Creek is a tributary of Elk Creek in the

Umpqua River The Umpqua River ( ) on the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States is approximately long. One of the principal rivers of the Oregon Coast and known for bass and shad, the river drains an expansive network of valleys in the mountains west ...

basin. Although the official date of construction of the bridge is 1925, members of the Umpqua Historic Preservation Society say the bridge was built in 1906, according to

Oregon Department of Transportation The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Depar ...

. In either case, an even earlier bridge carried a

covered wagon The covered wagon or prairie wagon, historically also referred to as an ambulance or prairie schooner, was a vehicle usually made out of wood and canvas that was used for transportation, prominently in 19th-century America. With roots in the he ...

route over the creek at this same location. The route, an 1876 extension of the

Overland Stagecoach ''Overland Stagecoach'' is a 1942 American Western film directed by Sam Newfield and written by Fred Myton. The film stars Robert Livingston as the Lone Rider, Al St. John as his sidekick "Fuzzy" Jones, and Dennis Moore as Sheriff Smoky Moore ...

, opened between Roseburg in the interior and Scottsburg near the

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Columbia ...

. Records from 1895 show a covered railroad bridge next to the covered stagecoach bridge. The rail bridge then carried the

Oregon and California Railroad The Oregon and California Railroad was formed from the Oregon Central Railroad when it was the first to operate a stretch south of Portland in 1869. This qualified the railroad for land grants in California, whereupon the name of the railroad so ...

, later acquired by the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

. The 1925 bridge carried First Street over the creek downstream of its 21st-century location behind the civic center. By then, the railroad bridge next to it was a

steel truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, o ...

structure built in 1906. The 1925

Howe truss A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a bridg ...

bridge had few notable architectural details and no windows, although it had cedar siding and some hand-hewn timbers likely recycled from an earlier bridge.

References

{{reflist Bridges completed in 1925 Covered bridges in Oregon Pedestrian bridges in Oregon Road bridges in Oregon Bridges in Douglas County, Oregon Wooden bridges in Oregon Tourist attractions in Douglas County, Oregon

See also

References