Rugged individuals armed with hand tools, sweat, and ambition began building covered bridges in Oregon during the mid-1850s. These bridge builders often camped out at remote sites, living off the land or contracting with local farmers for food. Early owners of covered bridges financed construction by charging tolls--3¢ for a sheep, 5¢ for a horse and rider, and 10¢ for a team of horses and wagon. In the early 20th century, the state provided standard bridge and truss designs to each county, and most of the resulting structures incorporated the Howe truss. With the abundance of Douglas fir and the shortage of steel during the world wars, the construction of wooden covered bridges continued well into the 1950s, mainly in the Willamette Valley. During the 1920s, Oregon boasted more than 350 covered bridges.

The remaining 52 covered bridges in the state of Oregon. Complete with page numbers, maps, directions, crossroads, and GPS coordinates, this book has a colored photo of each of the bridges and depicts the history that exists in the state. I am not a historian, but I wanted to include a little bit of information pertaining to each bridge. This is information was obtained from a variety of searches, books and asking questions of the people that live in the area. By either exploring the bridges as we did or just taking them one at a time when you have the time. My hope is that you enjoy exploring and finding these hidden treasures as much as I did.