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PRUNER
South Umpqua River
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T30S-R5W-Sec7
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____ - 1933
March 30, 1920: "In summary, he said the Pruner bridge, being the one over the river, was unsafe at the present time, and that it was standing only because of six bolts in all which are now in tension and holding a strain even in excess of the stress the bride should carry in traffic weight, by the weight of the bridge alone. Mr. Franklin gave it as his opinion as an engineer that the bridge was already taxed to 90 per cent of its carrying capacity, and be said if these six bolts gave way the bridge would crash. On direct examination he said one ten-ton truck would in his opinion prove 'the last straw which would break the camel's back' --it would cause the bridge to collapse. He said the bridge was poorly constructed and could not begin to stand the heavy traffic of the Pacific Highway, many of the posts having been repaired and sliced and piers and approaches having broken their contact. The Cow creek bridge, he declared, was in much better shape. He estimated that $43,000 would be required to place a bride over the river which would conform to the highway specifications, and said neither could be repaired to conform to the specifications as they now stand." (Roseburg Review)
April 1, 1920: "Canyonville.--Although some fifty automobiles had crossed over it in safety within the preceding 12 hours, a covered bridge spanning the Umpqua river near Riddle, Or., fell without warning Tuesday night while no one was on it. It was a complete wreck." (Capital Journal)
April 1, 1920: "Rumors of the falling of Pruner bridge near Riddle, were proven unfounded this morning. Considerable excitement was caused in Roseburg by the appearance of an article under a Canyonville date line in a Portland publication stating that the bridge has broken in two and had fallen into the Umpqua river. This was proven untrue, however, after telephone communication was established with residents of the community.
On account of the dangerous condition of the structure, it was closed yesterday by County Commissioner Edwin Weaver. A recent inspection by the state engineer who testified at the hearing just completed in this city, resulted in the discovery that the structure is held by only six bolts which are required to bear the entire strain. The bridge has sagged out of line almost a foot and a half and timbers and trusses are held up but is deemed too unsafe to permit further passage.
A bridge crew under W.V. Hurst, county bridge builders will start to work at once making repairs. False work will be put in and the bridge restored to its alignment, the damaged timbers removed and the whole structure put in good condition. In the meantime traffic will be diverted by way of the proposed cut-off road." (Roseburg News-Review)
April 7, 1920: "All of the bridges were found in good condition with the exception of the Pruner bridge near Riddle. This bridge is in very dangerous condition and was blocked some time ago by Commissioner Weaver on orders from Judge Stewart. The bridgemaster was instructed to start, as soon as conditions will permit, to make repairs and as soon as the low water season arrives falswork will be put in place and the structure repaired and strengthened." (Roseburg News-Review)
August 17, 1920: "D.W. Crosby, the widely known hotel man of Riddle, was here on business last night. The bridge over the South Umpqua river this side of Riddle is open for travel, but is to undergo extensive repairs soon." (Roseburg News-Review)
September 30, 1920: "The road between Riddle and Myrtle Creek was closed today and will remain closed during the time repairs are in progress on the Pruner bridge. The piers and supports of the bridge have been replaced with heavier material and the workmen are now ready to put in the timbers in the upper part of the structure. Traffic will be diverted over the cut-off route until repairs have been completed. The Pruner bridge was declared unsafe during the spring and a crew has been employed during the summer months in reconstructing it." (Roseburg News-Review)
October 25, 1920: "County Judge D. J. Stewart spent yesterday afternoon inspecting the Pruner bridge. The work is progressing nicely and the bridge will probably be ready for traffic in a week or ten days." (Roseburg News-Review)
March 15, 1927: "A crew is working on the Pruner bridge, and it is the supposition that the bridge will be open for traffic by the last of the week." & "The Pruner bridge was opened to traffic this morning, Monday." (Roseburg News-Review)
December 17, 1931: "Plans for the construction of a bridge to replace the present Pruner bridge at Riddle, and the location of a new road from Riddle to the Pacific highway, were discussed Tuesday by the county court and Oscar Cutler, state market road engineer. It will be necessary to replace the present Pruner bridge next year, as the present structure is held unsafe, and it is proposed to place it upon a new location, and build a road which will afford a shorter and more direct route to Riddle." (Roseburg News-Review)
February 17, 1932: "Residents of Riddle district have filed a protest with the county court against the proposed change in the location of the Pruner bridge and the projected new road between the bridge and the highway. It will be necessary this year to replace the old wooden bridge across the river north of Riddle, as the bridge is in a dangerous condition.
The state market road department desires when the new bridge is built to put it in a different location, and build a new connection to the Pacific highway. The proposed road takes off from the Pacific highway about a half mile south of the present Riddle junction, and would afford a straight connection with the bridge, shortening the distance from Riddle slightly more than one mile, and cutting the distance to all points north about a quarter of a mile. It would also eliminate many curves that exist on the old road." (Roseburg News-Review)
June 4, 1932: "Several remonstrances have been received by the county court regarding the proposed road and bridge connecting Riddle with the Pacific highway, and has set Tuesday, June 7, as a date for publicly hearing arguments. This project, which has been causing considerable agitation for several weeks, is to replace the present Pruner bridge with a new structure and to build a road direct from the bridge to the highway instead of following the present circuitous route. There has been much objection in the Riddle vicinity to the expenditure of this money and the route proposed. The matter was brought up several weeks ago, but due to an error found in the proceedings, the project had to be instituted anew." (Roseburg News-Review)
July 16, 1932: "The county is to start work within a few days on the new Riddle xut-off road and bridge, eliminating the present Pruner bridge and circuitous road." (Roseburg News-Review)
October 11, 1932: "Phil Kelley has resumed work at the Pruner bridge near Riddle after having been laod up for some time because of injuries received when he fell from a scaffold." (Roseburg News-Review)
October 6, 1933: "An experiment in bridge wrecking yesterday was completed with great success and will result in a saving of approximately $400 to the county in recovering the steel from the structure. The old Pruner bridge, which has been abandoned since the construction of the new Riddle bridge, was wrecked yesterday, using a plan devised by Commissioner Britt Nichols.
Dynamite was used to cut the supporting chords of the wooden bridge at the edge of the piers, and the explosion resulted in dropping the entire span, about 150 in length, about 30 feet. The span fell intact and was not warped or twisted in the fall.
The success of the experiment enables the bridge crew to complete the work of wrecking the structure and the recovery of the steel without construction of false work, thereby saving considerable expense and time." (Roseburg News-Review)