The Josiah Hess Bridge
during the No-Name Storm of July 28, 2006

A second historic covered bridge over Huntington Creek was severely damaged during the Wednesday No-Name Storm of July 28, 2006.. The Josiah Hess Bridge is a few hundred feet off Winding Road, about a mile above the East and West Paden twin bridges. The bridge was in danger of collapse through Friday morning as a result of an heavily eroded abutment on the south side, downstream.

We took pictures of the Josiah Hess bridge two hours after the twin bridges collapsed, with water abated by several feet. At that time the bridge did not show the damage because the abutment was under water.

 

The abutment that is in most danger is the one partially hidden by the tree in the foreground on the left side.

Notice that the window of the bridge appears to be level in this picture. Compare it with a following picture.


  The bridge has long been a popular spot for picnics.
 

We visited the bridge at 6:30 Friday.

A slight sag in the window is evident on the left of the bridge


 

On closer examination, the sag in the south end of the bridge becomes evident.

It becomes alarming when viewed from the underside of the bridge.


The Press Enterprise reported in their Friday edition that president of the Columbia County Covered Bridge Association, Chris Young, said that builder John Lapp would arrive Friday morning with a crane--or at least would arrive as soon as a moving permit could be obtained. Lapp hoped to support the bridge with a steel beam. The Fishingcreek Covered Bridge Association hired John Lapp and his crew to do the needed temporary work. The Association Secretary, Robert Parks, told us "What a guy, he came out almost at the drop of the proverbial hat. He assessed the situation and got it going within hours!"

It would have been difficult to get a crane to the location before Friday evening because roads to support a crane had not been inspected. For example, Winding Road from "Hickory Joes" at Route 487 toward the Twin Bridges was seriously undermined but not so marked by the highway crews. Two-lane traffic on that stretch of the road was NOT advised.. Additionally, several bridges that a crane would have to cross were completely under water during the flood and the foundations had not yet been certified as safe. Route 587 between Lightstreet and Orangeville remains closed and will probably remain closed for some time.

The Josiah Hess bridge is designated PA/38-19-10 and is a single span Burr Truss 110' long, with a clear span of 105'2" and a 15'5" roadway. The bridge was built in 1875 by Joseph Redline and W.J. Manning for $1349.50 and is found on a bypassed section of the former LR19068 called Covered Bridge Road (now T563) in Fishing Creek Township. The bridge was repaired in 2004 when the Covered Bridge Association spent $24,000 to replace the main wooden support beams.

To put the age of the structure into perspective, the Josiah Hess bridge was built in the year that people started giving up tobacco, paraffin wax and spruce resin in favor of a gummy substance made from chicle with the unwieldy name of "Adams New York gum--Snapping and Stretching." Today, we shorten it to "gum." It was the year of the verdict of guilty brought in against a member of the Molly Maguires accused of murder. The bridge was laboriously constructed the year that Alexander Graham Bell and his associate Thomas A. Watson made a discovery that lead to the transmission of sound through telegraph equipment.

 
The bridge abutment downstream is in danger of letting go, and here too a fault line can be seen. Both the north and the south abutments can be seen, and both have been seriously eroded.
  The bridge abutment on the north (and more secure) side of the bridge. Notice that a fault line is evident running from the top of the stone abutment to the bottom.

Notice that in the photograph on the left, the one side of the bridge was supported by a single rock. How long it can hold was not known during the morning hours, but as crews arrived during the day to shore up the bridge, hope appeared brighter.

For the repairs to the bridge, a bulldozer created a path on the right side of the bridge.

  The path-sized road was then filled in with "large potato size" stone. About ten loads of the baseball-sized stone was pushed down and around and under the abutment that had washed out.

Temporary shoring was added on the upstream side to support the bridge. When the water recedes enough they will do a more permanent job. The Association has advanced the contractor
$15,000 to get the work underway.

The next picture was taken at 5 PM Friday and shows the upstream abutment on the near side which seems secure, although piling was added at the creek level and out of the view of the camera to support what was just hours before under water. On the far side of the picture, the abutment is gone and the bridge hangs as if suspended in midair. A 10x10" beam is now suspended by chain and should keep the downstream side of the bridge from getting in trouble until a permanent fix can be completed.



A big log on the bridge deck is chained to the temporary 10x10 beneath the deck to stabilize the left side. This is what the top side looks like, in case you don't understand the term "big log."


Picture courtesy of Robert Parks

The contractor decided that using the crane to lift the bridge might/would let the remaining stones of the abutment fall. Because of the way the bridge is constructed, it can not be lifted. It is not an integral unit and would probably separate, wood pins would shear, etc.

Covered bridges will always defy all logic! Computer programs show they should all have failed decades ago!

Reflect for a moment on the memories that this bridge has, of our ancestors who have passed under its covered peaks. Contributions for the safeguarding of the bridge are needed, with total repair costs not yet estimated.

Contributions can be sent to The Columbia County Covered Bridges Association, c/o Chris Young, 529 Zaner-Rohrsburg Road, Orangeville, PA 17859. Checks may be made out to "CCCBA."

Additional photos can be found here courtesy of Robert Parks and the Covered Bridge Association.

The Columbia County Covered Bridges Association. held their regular meeting July 3 at the Stillwater bridge and discussed the future of the Josiah Hess Covered Bridge. Contractor John Lapp attended and presented some proposals of varying costs.

Because of the way the current flows at the bridge, a high-water event tends to wash away the stones regardless of their size, from the upstream side of the South abutment.

Many questions were asked of Mr. Lapp and it was decided to form a three-man committee, including Mr. Lapp, to determine the best approach to a long-term solution to the problems of the bridge. The majority of members prefer to put in a concrete base with wing walls to prevent the water from washing away the foundation. Though this may take away from the original stone construction look, the bridge will be on a firmer base.

It was also decided to mount a campaign for donations toward the repair costs. President Chris Young has already received over $1,000 toward repairs. Donations should be sent, payable to CCCBA, to:

Columbia County Covered Bridges, Assn.
529 Zaner-Rohrsburg Road
Orangeville, PA 17859

The July 8, 2006, Press Enterprise reported that the Josiah Hess covered bridge will be stabilized with a concrete abutment sometime in August. Although the historic look of the original bridge will be lost, the Covered Bridge Society cannot afford to lay stones for the abutment as in the original. The newspaper reported that "The Columbia County Covered Bridges Association had considered using stonework for the new abutment's upper section and concrete for its lower part." The Association hopes for some funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.