BCAA

Fall 2013

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Crossing Overin Oregon 51 covered bridges, built more than a century ago by industrious pioneers facilitating travel in their wild, wet new home, connect the pastoral back roads of Oregon by Liz Bryan E xploring the slow, small roads of Oregon's Willamette wine country when the quiet hills and vineyards glow in harvest colours and new vintages await can be extra rewarding for those with a taste for pioneer history. The area around the small city of Cottage Grove is speckled with 20 covered bridges. Reminders of the horse-and-buggy days of 19th-century settlement, these relics set the route for a leisurely two-day roadtrip – equal parts treasure hunt and paper chase, with the bridges as weathered sentries along the trail. But why were these bridges covered? On the rainy coast, wood rots quickly and without a roof, bridges hand-hewn from local timber did not make it past a decade. But with covered sides and a peaked roof (like the cabins the settlers built for themselves), the structures would remain sturdy for 80 years. Or longer. 20 W e s t wo r l d p20-23_OregonBridges.indd 20 >> Fa l l 2 0 1 3 At the height of pioneer settlement there were scores of covered bridges in Oregon territory. Pioneers driving their wagons from farm to market depended on them for safe passage across the creeks and rivers that poured into the valley from the Cascade Mountains and willingly paid the tolls: three cents a sheep and five cents for a horse and rider. Most of these nostalgic wooden bridges have disappeared. But in Oregon there are still 51 of them, all carefully maintained as monuments to a bygone era. oregon's covered bridges (top) The current Currin Bridge dates to 1925; (above) Dorena Bridge crosses the Row River; (opposite) Chambers Bridge is Oregon's only surviving covered rail bridge. DAY ONE: Cottage Grove Circle Drive Billed as the "Covered Bridge Capital of Oregon," Cottage Grove makes a perfect base for a wine and history roadtrip. The first settlers arrived here via the Oregon Trail in 1848 and the town makes the most of its history, not to mention convenience, located as it is just 32 kilometres from Eugene on Interstate 5. (top) Liz Bryan, John Trax/All Canada Photos 13-08-19 2:06 PM

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