Skip to main content

Wildcat Creek Covered Bridge - Lane County, Oregon

Image
By

 


Built in 1925, the Wildcat Creek Covered Bridge crosses the Wildcat Creek just as it meets the larger Siuslaw River in Lane County, Oregon. The bridge is also known as the Austa Bridge, after the nearby community of Austa located near OR 126 between Mapleton and Walton. The bridge was located along the old Stagecoach Road, which was the original route from Eugene to Florence on the Oregon Coast. Stagecoach Road hugs the hills along the Siuslaw River until it drops down to the narrow plain at the town of Swisshome. During the 1930s, both the road and the covered bridge were bypassed by the Linslaw Tunnel and the Mapleton Bridge when modern OR 126 was built. As a result, the Wildcat Creek Covered Bridge has a quiet existence just off of OR 126, making it ripe for passive exploration.

The Wildcat Creek Covered Bridge is 161 feet long, including approaches, with a main span of 75 feet. The bridge features a Howe single truss design, as the bridge does not have the wooden diagonal counters that you would find on a traditional Howe Truss covered bridge. The covered bridge features a window, but only facing the confluence of the Wildcat Creek and the Siuslaw River. This does allow for some nice views from both the bridge and also the shores of the river, as there is a nearby boat ramp providing Siuslaw River access.

I made a quick stopover to the Wildcat Creek Bridge as I was making my way down OR 126 west of Eugene. The access road to the covered bridge comes quickly from the main road as I had found. But once I had arrived at the bridge, I found it was easy to find parking and walk around. Overall, I found this was a nice stop to break up the driving along OR 126 between Eugene and the Oregon Coast.



Entering the covered bridge from the south.

The Wildcat Creek Covered Bridge crossing its namesake, the Wildcat Creek. From what I can tell, the Wildcat Creek follows OR 126 past Walton and towards Penn before veering away from the highway to the southeast.

North portal of the covered bridge.

Inside the covered bridge.

Siuslaw River.

There is also a nearby railroad bridge that crosses the Siuslaw River near the Wildcat Creek Bridge. The bridge for OR 126 is just south of the railroad bridge.


How to Get There:



Sources and Links:
Eugene Cascades and Coast - Wildcat Creek Covered Bridge
Travel Oregon - Wildcat Creek Bridge
Bridgehunter.com - Wildcat Covered Bridge 37-20-04
Labels:
Location: Wildcat Creek (Austa) Bridge, Siuslaw Rd, Walton, OR 97490, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

By
The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926.  Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California.  The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant.  However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes.  The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield.  In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range.   ...
2 comments
Read more

Trans-Sierra Highway Passes; Interstate 80 Donner Summit

By
Back in 2016 I attempted as many Trans-Sierra Highway Passes as I could upon my return to California.  I started with Interstate 80 over Donner Summit during the late winter on the way to Lake Tahoe and Virginia City. Donner Summit is actually located north of the 7,056 foot Donner Pass.  Donner Summit has a listed height of 7,277 feet above sea level which is listed at the rest area on the eastbound lanes heading towards Truckee. As I-80 begins to descend from Donner Summit there is an overlook of Donner Lake and Donner Pass. US 40, the Lincoln Highway, First Trans-Continental Railroad, and the Dutch Flat & Donner Lake Railroad all crossed Donner Pass on various different alignments to the south of Donner Summit. Previously I wrote a blog about Donner Pass which includes a history of early pioneer crossings, the Donner Party, the Dutch Flat & and Donner Road, the Lincoln Highway, and of course US 40 which can be found here: Old US Route 40 on Don...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

By
A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida.  One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region.  For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate.  Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century.  Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area.  The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...
4 comments
Read more