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Columbia
and Northumberland Counties, Pennsylvania
(WGN
38-19-41/38-49-07) (WGCB PA-19-41/PA-49-07): (c.
1850-1880) A single-span multiple Kingpost with Queenpost truss 63'
8.5" over South Branch of Roaring Creek. Located: On
Jepko Road (TR 805, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania; no obvious marking
in Columbia County, Pennsylvania), approximately 2.5 miles north of Bear
Gap, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. Directions: From
the Northumberland County, Pennsylvania side of the Krickbaum Covered
Bridge (WGN 38-19-32/38-49-12), travel
through the bridge, and turn left on Happy Valley Road (TR 302 - Columbia
County, Pennsylvania). Go 0.6 mile to jct. (no road name visible),
turn left and continue 0.5 mile to the iron bridge. (You will pass a road
entrance from the right.) After an additional 0.4 mile, go straight
on Bear Hollow Road (TR 800 in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania) for
another 0.4 mile. Cross a concrete and iron bridge, travel to a “T”
turn left to the covered bridge. Built at a cost $565.00 and named
after John Richards, who originally owned a farm near the site of the bridge.
The date of the bridges construction range from 1852 in Zacher’s “The
Covered Bridges of Pennsylvania” and the “Statewide Covered Bridge
Assessment”; before 1871 In the Columbia County Historic Society’s
Publication, “The Covered Bridges of Columbia County”; 1875 in the
1989 edition of “The World Guide to Covered Bridges"; to 1880 in
the pamphlet printed by the Columbia-Montour Tourist Promotion Agency,
Inc. The structures truss design also varies from Queenpost in the
World Guide to Covered Bridges, Queenpost with modified Howe in Zacher’s
book to multiple Kingpost in the Statewide Covered Bridge Assessment.
The authors of the book “Pennsylvania Covered Bridges, A complete Guide,”
came to the conclusion that it is a modified multiple Kingpost overlaid
with a Queenpost Truss. (Since there are no metal rods evident, which
would be present in a Howe Truss, that truss was not used.) It was
built on a skew, with off set portals and crosswise planking laid on a
slight diagonal. The structure rests on concrete abutments, has concrete
wing walls and parapets, and is covered with vertical board siding.
Also known as the Reichard Covered Bridge, in Columbia County the
County
No. 31 Covered Bridge
and in Northumberland County the County No.
17 Covered Bridge. When photographed on April 18, 2005
the bridge was closed to motor traffic and no indication as to why.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 8, 1979.
(Apr 2006) |
