Sarvis Fork Covered Bridge, Sandyville West Virginia
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- West Virginia
- Covered Bridges
- Long Truss
On May 24th, 1886 the Jackson County Court appointed D. K. Hood and Elias Stone to visit the ford on Mill Creek on the property of John Carnahan to determine the most suitable location for a bridge and to estimate the required span length and abutment height. It was decided that the location would be on the site of an old bridge above Carnahan's Ford. The clerk was authorized to advertise for bids for the abutments on May 21st and William Quincy and J. Grim were awarded the contract for the piers on August 4th. On October 13th, the clerk was authorized to advertise for bids for the building of the superstructure, and on December 13th, the contract was awarded to R. B. Cunningham. The material and style of the abutments and superstructure were to be like those of the then current Angerona Bridge. Payment for the abutments and superstructure were established at $3.40 per perch (16½ cubic feet) and $9.00 per linear foot respectively.
For reasons not mentioned in the court records, the court, during its session on April 13th, 1887, ordered that all work and matters relating to the building of the bridge be discontinued. Approximately one year later, on April 11th, 1888, William T. Green and others asked the court to order that the building of the bridge be resumed. The court honored the request and on May 7th appointed D. K. Hood and John Hamilton as commissioners to locate and obtain land for right-of-way from John Carnahan and James McKown for a new public road (to join public roads located on both sides of Mill Creek). A 20 foot wide right-of-way was obtained without expense to the county and during this time, Quincy, Grim, and Cunningham resumed work on the bridge. The abutments and superstructure were completed for costs of $1573.65 and $1044.00, respectively. On November 11th, 1889, a contract for the bridge fills (i.e. earthwork) was awarded to Wesley Sayre for a cost of $59.75 and a contract for the woodwork at the bridge approaches was awarded to T.T. Hartley for $180.00. The bridge, which was completed some time during the months of December 1889 and January 1890, was 116 feet long and had a total cost of approximately $2,860.00.
On April 9th, 1924 the county clerk asked the State Road Commission to provide the court with an engineer who could make plans and specifications for abutments to be built along Sandy Creek at or near the property of William Weekly. Bids were advertized for dismantling the bridge at Carnahan's Ford and rebuilding and replanning it on abutments to be constructed at the site near Weekly's. On July 2nd, 1924, C.R. Kent, R.R. Hardesty and E.R. Duke were awarded the contract to relocate the bridge for $1050.00. The site chosen is the present location of the bridge.
It is interesting to note that another bridge was constructed, during the time that work on the bridge at Carnahan's Ford was halted, at or near John Carnahan's property, but at a distinctly different location than the previous Sarvis Fork bridge. The history of this bridge is also included, because in the past, it was mistakenly applied to the present Sarvis Fork Bridge.
On June 14th, 1887 the Jackson County Court ordered that a notice be published in the Jackson Herald for bids to be accepted for building a bridge across the run at John Carnahan's stable where the Ripley and West Columbia Turnpike cross the run. The bridge was to be built of wood and the deck was to be supported on timber bents.
The contract was later awarded to George W. Staats to construct the bridge, fills, and approaches for $64.00. Work was completed sometime during the months of December 1887 and January 1888. William Hickel and John Hamilton, commissioners appointed by the court to examine the construction of the bridge, reported on January 11th, 1888 that the work had not been done in accordance with the contract. Staats was held accountable by the court in the future for any damage to the structure or losses or damages suffered by persons using the bridge resulting from defective workmanship or material.
It can be noted by looking at the court records that there were two bridges at or near John Carnahan's property. The bridges were built at different locations, constructed by different people using different materials and for sizably different costs. Because the entries in the records pertaining to the construction of the bridge over the run near John Carnahan's stable come between the entries involving the bridge over Mill Creek, it is easy to overlook pages involving the latter bridge.
The primary evidence for believing that the bridge constructed over Mill Creek in 1889 is the present Sarvis Fork Bridge is that the records referring to the bridge's dismantling and relocation in 1924 refer to the original site as "Carnahan's Ford". Carnahan's Ford is the same location recorded for the bridge built by Quincy, Grim, and Cunningham over Mill Creek. The location of the other bridge was recorded as "the run near John Carnahan's Stable". Other evidence involves the material used for the abutments. The bridge built by George Staats was supported by "timber bents", while the superstructure built by Cunningham rested on stone abutments. It is unlikely that a bridge the size of the Sarvis Fork Bridge would be supported on timber bents. Finally, the cost of a covered bridge the size of the Sarvis Fork Bridge would commonly be between 1000 and 3000 dollars. It would be extremely difficult at that time to build a bridge similar to the Sarvis Fork Bridge for only $64.00.
Bridge Description
The Sarvis Fork Covered Bridge is 11 feet-8 inches wide and has a length of 101 feet 3 inches, which is the center-to-center distance between the opposite endposts. It has red wooden siding and a sheet metal roof. The trusses, which are of the patented Long type and are constructed almost identically to those of the Staats Mill bridge, have 13 panels; each approximately 9 feet 4 inches long and 12 feet 5 inches high. Each panel has double diagonals comprised of two 6 x 7-inch members, which slope toward the centerpost, and a 6 x 7-inch single center diagonal, fitting between and bolted to the double diagonals. As in the Staats Mill bridge, the tops of the single diagonals fit into the notched tops of the 6 x 7-inch verticals, while the bottom ends rest on bearing blocks. The top chord is made up of an 8 x 8¾ inch member sandwiched between two 5 x 8¾ inch members while the bottom chord contains a 74 x 10½ inch member sandwiched between two 5¾ x 10½ inch members. A curious broken-back arch composed of 3½ x 11½ inch members, spans the length of both trusses. It is non-functional since there are spaces between many of the arch sections. The ends of the arches rest at the bottom end panel joints and are not securely fastened. Whether the arch is an original part of the bridge or was added at a later date is not known. It is questionable whether the arch ever added to the bridge's load-carrying capacity or served as a stiffening device.
The bridge is heavily reinforced with steel stringers and supported on a dual-bent system. This modern reinforcement completely supports the wooden deck so that the trusses are no longer subject to live loads.
Portal (1979)
