The Cedar Bridge- Part 1

Enjoying use of the rainbow bridge over the creek in the front of the properly since December 2003 (see Speaking from the Ranch post of October 24, 2010); the cedar bridge will complete the loop over the creek in the back of the property. The genesis of the cedar bridge was twofold: 1) we needed a bridge over the creek in the back of the property to both walk and to drive across on the ATV, the John Deere and, now, the Ranger; and, 2) we needed a use for the large trunks of the huge juniper trees we planned to clear from the land (see Speaking from the Ranch post of September 29, 2010). Putting those two needs together, the cedar bridge plan was born.

In 2006 we cut down four very large cedar trees (with help from son-in-law Michael and his friend Tommy) in the area in front of the dogwood trees along the creek. Very little grass grew in this area due to the dense shade of the cedar trees. Once the trees were down, we chopped off all of the limbs and burned them in the usual brush burning pit. Four large cedar trunks were left. Rather than cutting those trunks into logs by cutting perpendicular through the trunk, using a special attachment on the chainsaw, we cut parallel to the trunk to create lumber. We cut both boards to use as beams to span the creek and thin wide planks for the decking on the bridge. Both Marcus and friend Larry assisted with the planking, but Ronnie and I did most of it.



Marcus and the planking



This was hard, dusty work requiring helmets with face shields and ear muffs. I also wore a face mask over my nose and mouth to reduce allergic reaction to cedar sawdust – that is potent stuff!
The bridge was designed on paper with the help of architect son Marcus. Although not a civil or structural engineer, as an architect he has an understanding of structure, stress, support and design. Over the last three years, the bridge was designed, re-designed, design-enhanced, design-modified, design-improved and ultimately, probably, over-designed. Although we initially wanted to only use cedar from the property, the new and improved design required adding plywood and other boards to ensure proper strength to support the equipment that we plan to drive over the cedar bridge.



Boards cut out of cedar to be used as beams



The span of the bridge is 32’ from bank to bank over a creek bed six feet below. The bridge will be six feet wide with two trusses on each side and two strong center beams all resting on large cedar logs as footers embedded in each bank.  We dug the holes for the footers with my father's old heavy pickaxe that is so heavy after a few "swings" I was out of breath and had to rest.  It's a heavy duty tool and did the trick with Ronnie and me switching-off using the pickaxe. 



One of the cedar trunks to be buried in the creek bank



Christy digging the hole into which the cedar trunk was later rolled-I'm not digging a grave!





Cedar trunk buried in the bank to be used as footer for the bridge. We flattened the
top with the same tool used to cut the beams and planks.