This project started long ago, I can’t remember exactly when, but it goes back to when I first looked at the initial farm. There were three properties all controlled by the same family. They all went up for sale at the same time, sold, and then logged, albeit by different logging companies. Not knowing better, when I ran across these properties I thought they where all owned and controlled by the same person or company. I soon learned the true story and after several months of negotiations, we ended up buying the best property for our initial Christmas tree operation. Over the years one of the other properties languished and was never sold, I always kept track of it and at one time we almost purchased it. The only problem for me with this property was Trout Creek; it flowed directly through the middle of the property and limited the amount of plantable Christmas tree ground. Fast forward to 2004, again after lengthy negotiation, terms were agreed upon and we were now the owners of this second 40-acre parcel. The property is just 40 acres away from our first and makes for easy accessibility between the two properties.
I am first and foremost a lover of nature. I approach the Christmas tree farm and this bridge project with that in mind. It was always known that some method of crossing Trout Creek would be necessary. First and probably easiest option would be a culvert. There are obvious problems with culverts. They can easily be clogged during a heavy down pour and over time are prone to wash out and known to block fish passage. Considering there are beaver present in the stream, this would also give the beaver a great starting point for a new dam and compromise the culvert. The next solution would be to go over the top of the creek. Over the years I had seen ads for rail road flat car bridges in the Capital Press. I always thought this would be the perfect option for our application.
After some research I discovered that the US Forest Service would have jurisdiction over this project because we are in a forest zone. First was the application process which required us to describe the process we had in mind and how we would protect the stream and other wetland resources as we executed this project. Approval was surprisingly easy and I encourage anyone wishing to attempt a project like this to contact their state forester. Next was the implementation. The property had been logged about five years prior and we did not have to deal with large timber. We did however, have to deal with a lot of brush and some lower than anticipated ground. This picture is from mid winter well before we started.
Here we put in a silt fence to control erotion.
This is dad working the crawler as we cleared away some of the debrit, most of which was pulled out away from the creek.
Brother Lee and nephew Sheldon taking a break on the log as we cleared away some brush.
Of course Lucy was there to help. We finally had to put some pink marking tape on her collar as she just disappeared against the background of fresh dirt.
Terri coming out to inspect the clearing before we poured the concrete abutments. This is a far cry from where we first began.
They started with footers first and then the walls on top. Everything looks good, well almost everything. The concrete contractor missed the mark just a bit.
We used a lot of #5 rebar in the footers and forms.
