Bridging History at Yosemite

Workers restoring the oldest covered bridge in state

by Francis P. Garland
Stockton Record - November 3, 2002

WAWONA -- Craig Struble has a laptop computer on his desk and a cell phone in his pocket, but these days he's looking at life largely from a 19th-century perspective.

It's his job.

Struble, a historic-preservation specialist for the National Park Service, is restoring and repairing a covered bridge that has spanned the Merced River's South Fork since Johnson -- Andrew, not Lyndon -- sat in the White House.

It's the Wawona covered bridge, one of only two covered bridges in the entire National Park Service system and the oldest such bridge in California.

The bridge, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the oldest in Yosemite, originally was built as a truss bridge by Galen Clark, an early homesteader who put up a way station for travelers en route from Mariposa to Yosemite.

But after the Washburn family of Vermont, an area known for its covered bridges, bought the bridge and some other Wawona property, they converted it to a covered bridge in 1878. It was thought that covering a bridge -- and keeping its wooden trusses dry -- could extend its life by as much as 40 years.

The bridge remained in place for most of the next 124 years, although it underwent a major renovation in 1957 after it sustained extensive flood damage. At that time, the entire bridge was moved off its piers and onto dry land, where it was rebuilt and then rolled back into place.

More work was done in the mid-1980s, but the bridge remained in use until its wooden pieces had rotted so badly that federal highway officials closed it last year. The bridge eventually reopened to limited horse and pedestrian travel, but now it's off-limits again as workers reach into their figurative 19th-century toolboxes to find the proper fixes.

A team of consultants hired to look at the failing bridge came up with three potential solutions, two of which called for total reconstruction. That, however, would have run counter to the Park Service's historic-preservation philosophy, which calls for preserving architecture and historic artifacts for future generations to enjoy.

So the Park Service opted for restoring the existing bridge by replacing selective pieces. That will enable the bridge to reopen to horse-drawn vehicles, pedestrians and some Park Service vehicles, although it will be closed during periods of high winds and heavy snow.

Workers are removing and replacing seven rotting, 30-foot transverse floor beams, upgrading some undersize timber components to resist wind and snow-load conditions, repairing the bridge pier masonry, increasing support structures and replacing hand-hewn timbers with the help of 19th-
century tools such as broadaxes.

Mortise and tenon joints typically used in 19th-century timber-framing work will be used in the restoration.

The work is slow going and about twice as expensive as a regular repair job, because the crew is trying to replicate yesteryear's craftsmanship. For much of the project, that means using hand tools instead of power saws and other time- and work-saving electric gadgets commonplace in today's construction arena.

At the same time, though, the crew must make the improvements significant enough to last awhile. "It's a balancing act," said Struble, the bridge-project manager who considers historic preservationists such as himself and his crew "part craftsman, part conservator."

It's also a challenge, and one the crew enjoys, said Fred Grin, a carpenter on the Wawona bridge project.

"We test our craftsmanship and skills daily, and we run into problems that most people in general construction don't have to deal with," Grin said. "But every day, you get satisfaction from your accomplishment, and you know in the end, when you finish, this thing will be here another 100 years."

The trick, Grin said, is being as perfect as you can with imperfect tools and materials. "When someone walks up," he said, "you want them to not even know it's been touched."

Not everyone is cut out to work historic-preservation jobs. "You have to live with imperfection," Struble said. "A lot of carpenters would get frustrated with the pace."

Crew member Marty Vittore said those working on the project must have a "passion for preservation. If you don't like doing it, you're not going to last."

Vittore said working on historic-preservation projects such as the bridge makes him realize the quality of the craftsmanship that existed decades ago. "You can see these guys were really good," he said. "They took their time and made tight joints. Everything fits; there's no sloppy work.

"Sometimes you see things and you have to scratch your head and wonder, 'Exactly how did they do that, using these tools?' "

The likely answer, Vittore said, is that those workers weren't in a major rush to complete the job. "It wasn't like nowadays, where the quicker you can get your houses up, the more money you can make," he said. "And if things fit reasonably well, that's good enough."

Struble, who hopes to have the $450,000 project finished by mid-December, said the goal is to make the bridge solid enough to hold up for many years to come. "We've been doing the same things over and over again on this bridge," he said of past repair jobs. "We're trying to bust out of that cycle."

* To reach Lode Bureau Chief Francis P. Garland, phone 736-9554 or e-mail garland@goldrush.com

This article appears courtesy of Francis P. Garland and the Stockton Record.