Glen Canyon Covered Bridge, Santa Cruz California
The Glen Canyon Covered Bridge was erected in 1892 at "the northern gateway of Santa Cruz" and allowed increased settlement of this part of Santa Cruz County. The bridge is one of three remaining covered bridges in Santa Cruz County from an era in which several streams and rivers of the county were spanned by such structures including the San Lorenzo River on Soquel Avenue in the middle of the city of Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County. The covered bridges in Paradise Park and in Felton also spanning the San Lorenzo river are also valued historic resources of Santa Cruz County but the Glen Canyon, now Delaveaga Covered Bridge, has its own unique historic value. It is supposed to be the only bridge known in Northern California to have been moved as part of a community historic preservation effort. Current information indicates that it is the southernmost covered bridge in the State of California.
The Glen Canyon Covered Bridge, now the Delaveaga Covered Bridge is one of three historic covered bridges preserved in Santa Cruz County. Only Humboldt and Siskiyou counties have a greater number of such bridges. The three bridges of Santa Cruz County each present a different engineering solution to the same problem of strong truss design: double Warren at Felton, double Warren without tie rods at Paradise Park, and Howe at Glen Canyon. The bridge, although relocated, is in the same general reparian, typographic and climatic region of the county and continues to traverse the same creek as it did in its original location. As one of the three remaining covered bridges from an era in which at least four such bridges existed in the county the Glen Canyon Covered Bridge represents an important remaining link to past transportation methods.
The contractor of the Glen Canyon Covered Bridge elected to utilize the Howe truss, a simple one for unsophisticated vernacular building because it involves modular components easily cut and assembled. Willaim Howe, a Massachusetts architect and brother of the inventor of the sewing machine, introduced his truss design circa 1840, and it was much used in the West as well as the entire country for timber bridges. The Howe truss design has proved both durable and functional which has contributed to the continued presence of the bridge and its ability to withstand a major relocation in 1939.
A unique aspect of this relocation is the fact that the bridge continues to serve essentially the same geographic area of the county, spanning the same creek and remaining in the same riparian and topographic area. The movement of the bridge is also an interesting engineering and historic feat in the heritage of Santa Cruz. According to a newspaper article describing the bridge in 1939, it bore then a legend admonishing motorists to "drive no faster than a walk." Probably the excessive vibrations caused by motor vehicle traffic had weakened the bridge appreciably contributing to the decision to replace it with a new structure. More importantly, increased traffic on Glen Canyon Road required a wider bridge than the single-lane covered one. As a result of this increasing urbanization, and proposed realignment of Glen Canyon Road the bridge was condemned on May 13th, 1939. Local preservationists expressed deep concern and initiated activities to save the bridge. Robert Burton, a Santa Cruz High School teacher and Historical Society activist, and Rose Rostron, the first female County Supervisor, joined forces with a Mr. Burns-Park to preserve the Glen Canyon Bridge.
Together through their intensive lobbying and community support, the County Board of Supervisors agreed to allow the relocation of the structure a short distance up Branciforte Creek. The bridge was painstakingly moved on rollers to a site just within Delaveaga Park approximately one-half mile north where its attractive surroundings and accessibility have made it "the most photographed of all covered spans, frequently featured in television and films".Articles in newspapers at that time, (Oakland Tribune n.d.) indicated that this was the first known movement of a covered bridge from one location to another. In its present location, the Glen Canyon Covered Bridge, now called the Delaveaga Covered Bridge is readily accessible to the public.
In 1981, the record rainfall in the Branciforte Creek watershed led to emergency measures undertaken to again preserve the bridge. However, except for minor damage to its replacement foundation resulting from logs and debris in the creek, the bridge withstood the flooding and remained in its current location in the park.
Bridge Description
The Glen Canyon Covered Bridge was built across Branciforte Creek on Glen Canyon Road in 1892 by contractor G. McKay for Santa Cruz County. It was subsequently moved in 1939 to save it from demolition by a volunteer crew to a location one-half mile upstream where it continues to span Branciforte Creek in Delaveaga Park. The structure itself has been noted in a number of publications as one of significance. American Bridges and Dams by Paul Zucker illustrates this bridge as a prototypical 19th-century vernacular type commenting that it would look at home in Vermont.
The bridge is 18 feet eight inches wide, 83 feet long, and measures 23 feet in height from the roadway to the peak of the roof. It is constructed of native materials, mainly redwood and fir. It features a wood shake roof with a nine and twelve slope, and vertical facing above the exterior horizontal cross beams. The portals are sheathed with 1 x 12-inch boards as were the sides to a height of 7 feet, 6 inches.
(1936)
