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

The case to move Interstate 73 in Southern Ohio onto US 33

By
Every decade or so, Ohio pushes to revisit the proposed Interstate 73 that would connect Michigan to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It's been happening since Congress legislated the route in 1991.  Within Ohio, Interstate 73 generally follows the US 23 corridor from Portsmouth through Columbus to Toledo, and into Michigan. Since High Priority Corridor Five was created , Ohio has really done nothing to move forward with Interstate 73.  Sure, there have been feasibility studies here and there.  But actual dollars and construction just haven't occurred. The US 33 Nelsonville Bypass appears to have been built to Interstate standards. However, Ohio has been slowly upgrading US 33 to a full freeway through Southeastern Ohio.  Bypasses of Lancaster and Nelsonville opened in 2004 and 2013, respectively.  Other sections of two-lane road are being twinned, some to freeway or, at a minimum, to expressway standards.  Currently, a $274 million widening project in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Local Sign Find - The last remnant of Business Interstate 95 between Kenly and Rocky Mount , NC

By
As you head north on Interstate 95 at Exit 107 for Kenly and US 301, you'll notice something odd about the overhead sign for the exit.  Peeling off the sign for all that can see is the word 'NORTH' off-center from the US 301.  This old sign (probably close to original from when this section of I-95 opened - more on that in a little bit) gives a hint to a short-lived Business Interstate Route that ran from here to Rocky Mount. The last hint of the Kenly-Wilson-Rocky Mount Business I-95 (Shaun White - August 2020) Interstate 95 in North Carolina has a unique history.  But one of the overlooked and forgotten pieces of Interstate 95 in North Carolina is the 38 mile section between Kenly and Rocky Mount.  When opened to traffic in late 1978, it was the next to last piece of Interstate 95 in North Carolina to open replacing a four lane US 301 from Battleboro through Rocky Mount and Wilson to eventually tying back into the Interstate in Kenly. Though it was not delayed in l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nostalgia fast food with style - Returning to Rax

By
Nostalgia. It sells. It evokes, and more accurately, warps memories of days gone by.  Things were better, simpler, and we eat it up. Nostalgia can make you drive three hours and over a hundred miles out of your way just to reconnect with a dying fast-food restaurant you last enjoyed in the early to mid-90s.  That person was me - that restaurant was Rax. I could go on about Rax's history, but in short, Rax was briefly a very popular roast beef fast-food chain.  Growing up in the 80s and early 90s in Western PA, Rax was the good fast-food spot.  The milkshakes.  (Personally, the chocolate chip milkshake was heaven.)  Uncle Alligator Kids Meal with the chocolate chip cookie. Take that McDonald's Happy Meal!  The fancy salad and hot foods bar.  Going to Rax was special.  Like so many similar restaurants, various investments, management decisions, etc., led Rax to almost disappear overnight.  By the time I graduated college in late 1999, abou...
Post a Comment
Read more