Skip to main content

The last covered bridges of the California State Highway System (California State Route 96)

By


California has numerous covered bridges which once served the highways and roads of the State.  In modern times most of the existing covered bridges in California have been converted to pedestrian use and a state of preservation.  The California State Highway System had two covered bridge holdouts which were active on California State Route 96 in Siskiyou County until 1950.  This blog examines the history of the Dillon Creek and Clear Creek Covered Bridges which were the last two structures of their kind on a California State Highway System.  Pictured above as the blog cover is the Dillon Creek Covered Bridge as it was prior to being demolished during 1950.  



The history of the Dillon Creek and Clear Creek Covered Bridges

What is now California State Route 96, and the Klamath River Highway was first defined by the 1919 Third State Highway Bond Act as Legislative Route Number 46 (LRN 46).  The original definition of LRN 46 was as follows:

"Klamath River Bridge on LRN 3 (future US Route 99) to LRN 1 (future US Route 101)"

The planned route of LRN 46 and the Klamath River Highway appears on the 1920 California Highway Commission Map.  


The August 1934 California Highways and Public Works announced the original run of Sign State Routes.  The entirety of LRN 46 and the Klamath River Highway was assigned as California State Route 96.  The attached article map displays California State Route 96 being applied over the completed portions of LRN 46 and the Klamath River Highway.  The Klamath River Highway between Klamath Glen and the Yurok Reservation ultimately was never constructed.  



The November/December 1950 California Highways & Public Works contains an article regarding the removal of the last two covered bridges from the State Highway System. The Clear Creek and Dillon Creek Covered Bridges are noted to have been located on California State Route 96 in Siskiyou County. The Clear Creek and Dillon Creek Covered Bridges were constructed during 1921-1922 by the United States Bureau of Public Roads when the Klamath River Highway was in a primitive state of repair. The Clear Creek Covered Bridge is noted to have been built with an eleven-foot-wide road deck whereas the Dillon Creek Covered Bridge had a fifteen-foot nine-inch-wide road deck. The modernized spans over Dillon Creek and Clear Creek are displayed in contrast to their covered bridge predecessors.



The modern Clear Creek Bridge can be found on California State Route 96 at Postmile SIS 32.65.


The modern Dillon Creek Bridge can be found on California State Route 96 at Postmile SIS R16.18.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

By
  Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Finding the Pre-Emption Road of New York State

By
  The Pre-Emption Road (or rather a series of roads named Pre-Emption Road) follows a survey line called the Pre-Emption Line, drawn in the early days of the United States. The story begins with Massachusetts and New York having competing land claims to modern day Western New York State that have their roots in colonial charters granted by the British. After the Revolutionary War ended, this land became the frontier of the nation and its settlement became a priority for the new American government. During this era, there were a lot of competing land claims that needed to be settled. It was no different with the land claims between New York State and Massachusetts. On November 30, 1786, Massachusetts and New York sent representatives to Hartford, Connecticut to resolve their competing land claims. In less than three weeks, the representatives had reached a compromise. Massachusetts would receive pre-emption rights, meaning the right to sell the land after the Indian title ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Day in New York: The Biggest Road Map Ever!

By
The NY State Pavilion 22nd April 2014 was the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the 1964-65 World's Fair in what's now known as Flushing Meadows Corona Park. There has been an active effort to restore the New York State Pavilion . It's an iconic structure, and has the potential to be a great attraction. I'm not just talking out of my hat here: Today's viewing event drew thousands. One of the organisers said they expected like 800 people to show up. My DP and I went-and we got there early- the event started at 11.00am, and we got there at 10, and the line was incredible even then:  we waited on line to get a number for two hours and another hour and a half to get our number called. We left the park at 3.00 pm, and one of my friends from a band said he had gotten his number, and was waiting to get in and wondered if we were still about. This was at 4 pm. One of the features of the Pavilion is that the floor is a giant NY State roadmap by Rand McNally, and ...
Post a Comment
Read more