Buckeye Furnace Covered Bridge, Wellston Ohio
Buckeye Furnace Covered Bridge is in a remote section of eastern Jackson County on a township road just southwest of old Buckeye Iron Furnace. The name of the bridge comes from the furnace which was built some 20 years before the bridge. Like all Jackson County covered bridges of which there is any record, this bridge is a Smith truss. This truss plan enjoyed great popularity here in Ohio, the home of its inventor, and many of our largest and finest covered bridges were Smith trusses. The Buckeye Furnace Covered Bridge was built in 1872, probably using pre-fabricated trusses erected by local labor.
This bridge is historically important because it is the last such span left near an old iron furnace. Buckeye Furnace is a State Memorial and has been renovated by the Ohio Historical Society who also rebuilt the surrounding complex to look as it did in the days of the Civil War. This whole area, including the furnace and covered bridge, lies within the Wayne National Forest.
The old covered bridge gave access to the furnace village from the west and continued to serve this area long after the old furnace went out of blast in 1894 and the surrounding village disappeared.
Bridge Description
The structure under consideration is a one-span wooden truss covered bridge spanning Little Raccoon Creek three miles southeast of Wellston in Milton Township sec. 26, Jackson County, Ohio. The site is less than one-quarter of a mile southwest of old Buckeye Furnace.
The bridge has vertical, high-boarded siding, a metal roof, slightly projected portals and stone abutments.
This bridge is known as the Buckeye Furnace Bridge and is built on the Smith truss plan which was patented in 1867 and again in 1869 by Robert W. Smith of Tipp City, later Toldeo, Ohio. The Smith trusses in existence today are all built on the 1869 patent, #97,714, which truss expert Raymond E. Wilson of Swarthmore, Pa. has divided into four distinct types, according to variations in construction details. These variations, while improvements on the 1869 patent, were never patented themselves. The Buckeye Furnace Bridge is a 6-panel Smith, type 3. The Smith truss features braces set at a 45° angle between 60° counterbraces welded to the top and bottom chords. The type 3 Smith truss had rigidly fastened roof and floor stringers. Another feature of the type 3 Smith truss is the addition of extra diagonal braces found in the center panel. Mr. Smith claimed that the advantages of his truss type were to be found in the method of bracing, its cheapness, lightness and equal distribution of the load. The Buckeye Furnace Bridge is 68½' long with a 58½' clear span. It is 16' wide overall with a 13'7" roadway. The overhead clearance is 12'.
West portal, south side of bridge, looking northeast (1974)
Interior view of trusses (1974)
