Oregon Creek Covered Bridge - Freeman's Covered Bridge, North San Juan California

Date added: July 16, 2023

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The covered bridge over Oregon Creek has been used continuously since its construction over a century ago. The actual construction date is in question, however, Thompson and West indicate that Tom Freeman built a bridge across Oregon Creek in 1858 and in 1871 built another a little above the first at a cost of $2,500.00. The original bridge was washed away subsequent to the construction of the new bridge.

Other references quote various dates, including 1860, 1861 and 1862 as the year that the bridge was constructed.

In any event, this bridge is either the oldest, or one of the oldest covered bridges in the western United States still in general use.

Tom Freeman, who built the bridge, operated it and another bridge across the Middle Yuba River nearby, as toll bridges, apparently until his death, in 1892. Subsequently, Yuba County acquired the bridge and still operates it. The date of acquisition is unverified, but is thought to be about 1910.

The bridge is unique in the annals of American covered bridge building in that the portals curve to meet the traveler at either end.

In 1883, the failure of the English Dam far upstream on the Middle Yuba River sent a mass of water flooding downstream. The high flood waters surged upstream in Oregon Creek, lifted the bridge from its abutments and carried it away. When the flood waters subsided, the bridge was found some 50 yards below its original location. Mr. Freeman hired a logging contractor, Solon Chatfield, to return the bridge to its abutments. However, during the flood the bridge had been turned end for end and the west end of the bridge was placed on the east abutment and the east end on the west abutment as it has remained to the present time.

The bridge has been free to public use since Tom Freeman's death in 1892. Today it furnishes the principal access to the nearby Oregon Creek Campground, operated by the Tahoe National Forest.

Bridge Description

This covered bridge across Oregon Creek, in Yuba County, has a span of approximately 83 feet.

The bridge itself is a Howe Pony Truss structure. The hand-hewn wooden Ponderosa Pine beams are approximately 16 inches square and are still sound. The sides consist of wooden siding and the structure originally had a shake roof. The abutments were originally of unmortared stone construction. The east abutment appears to be as originally constructed, however, the west abutment was faced with concrete at some later date. Yuba County replaced the wooden siding and the shake roof with corrugated tin because of the snow loads.

The structure is owned and maintained by Yuba County and is located on lands administered by the Tahoe National Forest adjacent to the Oregon Creek Campground.