19 October 2005: a brief note. This article was written in 1998 - true "BMX Basics" fans will recognize that the Rover in the photo is my original 1997 Discovery and not any of its more recent replacements. I recently received an e-mail from a Morgan County resident who was displeased with some of the phrases used in this article. I'd like to make it abundantly clear that I respect Morgan County and its inhabitants. We have returned several times since 1998 and expect to visit again, said expectations being somewhat tempered by the possibility that I will be dragged out of my truck and beaten to death by pitchfork-carrying residents. Any rancor you read below was directed at people who treat irreplacable historical artifacts with imperfect respect, not at the gentle people of this struggling county - JB
We started,
naturally, with a tour of the 6,000 square foot Kroger in
McConnelsville, Ohio. The aisles were too narrow for a normal grocery
cart, and there was no deli, bakery, pharmacy, or cappucino
bar. But... everyone was really nice, which I'm not used to at a
grocery store. Even though there were only two registers. Well, enough
of that. It's time to go off-roading. P.S. to my
competition: Don't you wish you had calves like mine? Hee hee.
We made a wrong turn on Township Road 201. It started out as a gravel
road, like most roads in Morgan County, but it became a dirt road
before long, and after that just two ruts in the ground. Here you can
see a concrete pad laid across a small stream, with a steel sheet laid
across it to keep the ground from eroding around it. This qualifies as
major civil engineering here, since most of the stream crossings don't
even have the steel grate. Eventually we made it to a dead end and had
to turn around...
Making the correct turn on TR201 led us down a steep gravel path to
the Helmick Mill bridge. Built in 1867, the original boards were
replaced with a tin roof some time ago. This was the only bridge we
found still in service, although it only led to a slim gravel road on
the other side. The sign says, "Bridge Limit 3 Tons." Not enough for a
Lincoln Navigator, but more than enough for the Rover, although some
of the noises the bridge made while I crossed would curdle your milk.
The next bridge we visited was the San Toy/Adams bridge, which was on
private property and very tackily blocked by some guardrails. It was
built in 1875 with the "multiple King post truss"
design. Obviously, it's been a long time since it has been used as
intended.
The third bridge of the day was the Barkhurst Mill Bridge. Built in
1872, it was very similar to the San Toy bridge. It was at the end of
a private road and, again, blocked by those hideous steel barriers. I
considered using Photoshop to wipe them out, but I think that you, the
reader, should see what happens when you let some local hick buy a
piece of history. In this case, and in others, apparently a big
guardrail is just the ticket to complement your
hundred-and-twenty-year-old wooden bridge. A simple "No Trespassing"
sign would have sufficed. Yuck.
Here's the Rosseau bridge, built at an unknown time but rather
unceremoniously yanked out and moved to the Morgan County Fairgrounds
in 1953. There were benches inside this bridge, as well as the usual
graffiti. I'm not sure which bothered me more---the closed-off bridges on Farmer Bob's property, or a bridge moved next to a pork exhibition stadium.
I suppose if you want authenticity you can buy your own bridge and put
it on your own land. One more to go...
This was the last bridge of the day, and maybe the best. It was
located on some of American Electric Power's camping lands. Built in
1915, it could be considered the "baby" of the group. Apparently, it
was "borrowed" from its original location some time ago, but the new
location seems reasonably authentic. A small pillar blocked any overly
enthusiastic Rovers from crossing, but the bridge was otherwise
unmolested. A particularly large piece of graffiti inside proclaimed
the love of "Nate - Peg - 1975." The bridge was sixty years old then,
and eighty now. Someday, confused archaeologists will date the bridge
at 1975 because of that, just like we date the Pyramids based on their
internal graffiti. Something to think about.
Overall, a fun day, and a sound reason to get another Rover. I wouldn't have wanted to make this drive in Mrs. Boswell's Passat. It would appear that there are over fifty covered bridges in Ohio. You could say that I have begun a journey, taken one step at a time, where the bridges are not passageways, but destinations in themselves. You could also say I have nothing better to do. Either way's fine with me.