Posted By The Miller on January 6, 2009

While the covered bridge was gone it was a great time to get an excavator down by the old mill dam.  A temporary road was built into our millpond to provide access for work on the new bridge.  This had completely shut off the water on the mill side of the creek.  And, Todd Crane had donated the use of his excavator for the

Big Dam Job

covered bridge project.  So, there it sat on the mill parking lot about 100 ft. from the dam.   I asked Todd if he could dig out the log jam and trash that was plugging the large hole in the dam next to the mill.  The next time they were doing some work for the bridge project they swung over and dug out the trash.  They also hauled it over the hill for me … about 5 dump truck loads.  This way I only had to pay for the time worked not the delivery and pickup of the machine.

Since the water was shut off we were able to dig the rest of the mud and trash out by hand.  Yes, by hand because there was so much stuff …rocks, chunks of cement, bottles, sticks …etc we couldn’t use a shovel.  Oh yeah and snakes.  We killed about 7 snakes during the process.  Normally I would ignore them and they would go away.  But not these snakes … they were very aggressive.  I did find 2 Coke bottles from the 50s that were not broken.

Then we started building the forms.  This took longer than expected because I wanted to restore the old wash out gate that was in the dam.  This is a gate down at the bottom of the dam used to flush out mud and …. stuff from the millpond.  We had a tight deadline - get the cement poured before the new covered bridge was set.  Because with the bridge in place we could not get the cement truck down next to the dam.  We managed to get it all done in time.

Mike Roe

Bridgeton Mill

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Posted By The Miller on December 15, 2008

We cut the ribbon on the new covered bridge Oct. 1st 2006.  Since then I have been busy working on the mill.  The blog was so frustrating to work with I gave up.  Now, I have a new site for blogging.  Hope this one works better.

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Posted By The Miller on September 10, 2006

As you can see the bridge is almost finished. The last piece of the arch was put in on Friday. The big jobs left are the siding and the roof. We didn’t have enough $$$$$ for the hand split shake roof so we are going with a metal roof. A lot of folks wanted a metal roof because it doesn’t leak like a wood shake roof and it is maintenance free for many years.
The History Class from Turkey Run High School came and helped with staining the siding. They worked 2 days and painted all the batten strips. (The siding is called Board and Batten - The siding is 12 inches wide and is verticle on the bridge. There is a small 3 inch board that covers the gap between the 12 in. boards and it is called the batten) We decided to use solid color stain instead of paint because it does not peel like paint. The paint on the old bridge was always peeling. If you look close you can see the kids have a lot of paint on them. They were haveing a lot of fun and painted each other along with the boards.

Mike Roe
Bridgeton Mill

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Posted By The Miller on August 29, 2006

The Covered Bridge was set across the creek today. Everything went smooth. There were many folks watching the historic event. It is a wonderful sight to see a covered bridge out the mill windows again. We have a sign that says “Most Beautiful View in Town” near the window that everyone looks out of. After the fire I covered it up with a poem that a lady in town had written about the bridge and fire. Today I took down the poem and let folks see the old sign. Of course the bridge is missing a few pieces. But, Dan thinks it might be done in about 4 weeks.

MIke Roe
Bridgeton Mill

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Posted By The Miller on August 20, 2006

The plan is to move the covered bridge on Monday August 28, 2006. 16 months after the fire. There is a nice photo on this blog. I hope it comes through. Once it is set the arches, floor, roof and sides will be added.

MIke Roe
Bridgeton Mill

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Posted By The Miller on August 2, 2006

The first post for the bridge was attached on Tu. The photo on the right is Ben Hill checking it for level. The photo on the left is the progress at the end of the 3rd day (Wed). They almost finished all the posts on the first span. I will put more photos on later. I don’t wasnt to shock the blog.

Mike Roe
Bridgeton Mill

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Posted By The Miller on July 31, 2006

Thought I would try posting a photo on the blog. I see a photo …. hope you can see it. This is the long board I told you about. It was 38 ft. 5 in. long. I believe it was from the longest log we cut. The guy at the end of the board is John Burris. He is one of the volunteers and is there most days.
I thought I would try another photo and it has appeared. The photo on the left is the stone guys cutting a stone for the abutment. The abutments are all done …. I just wanted to get some of the photos from the past on the web.
The assembly of the bridge started today July 31, 2006. It will be a few days before we see something that looks like a bridge. They started with laying out the lower chord. I will try to get more photos on in the future. I don’t want to press my luck this time.

Mike Roe
Bridgeton Mill

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Posted By The Miller on July 20, 2006

Still no photos on the blog. Do you think they are in cyber space? Oh well. They have been dumping dirt to build the ramp for the covered bridge. They plan to build the 2 spans side by side and then roll them up to the old bridge site where they will be set with cranes. (It is a double span - that means 2 spans or 2 bridges that meet in the middle of the creek on the center pier). Dave is still working on the pieces. Hopefully he will be done soon and the assembly will start.

Mike Roe
Bridgeton Mill

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Posted By The Miller on July 12, 2006

I don’t see any photos on the blog. So, I won’t waste my time trying to put one on.
We have been making the pieces for the bridge and have finished all the ones we are doing at the site. The larger pieces are being done by Dave at his shop. He should be done in two weeks. So, the assembly should start around the first of August.

Mike Roe
Bridgeton Mill

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Posted By The Miller on June 28, 2006

The sawing of the logs for the Bridgeton Covered Bridge is finished. There should be a photo of one of the last boards. It is 14 inches wide X 2 inches thick and 38 feet 5 inches long. It is from one of the longest logs we sawed. The board only had a few small knots in it at the end. I hated to cut it . So, I took a few photos first. I hope it comes through cyberspace because it was a beautiful board.
This is the end of Phase One. That is where we get the logs and saw them up. Now we are starting Phase Two. This is where we make the pieces. The bridge is going to be like a big kit or puzzel. We make the pieces first and then assemble it. Dan thinks it will take several weeks to make all the pieces.

Mike Roe
Bridgeton Mill

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