ZINC, Ark. (AP) - A bridge into the past - a swinging one - has been rebuilt by citizens of this small town in northern Boone County, and this one still has a working purpose.
Marion Newman of Zinc, a former mayor, recalled some of the history of the bridge over Sugar Orchard Creek.
He explained that a bridge had been built across the creek for access to the town from the mines and residence. That bridge, which was built about 75 yards downstream from the swinging bridge, washed out in a 1926 flood and it’s assumed miners built the swinging bridge about 1927.
Since that time, the bridge had been used by residents who live on the other side of town from the creek. Heavy rains can turn the creek into a raging river and it’s not possible to cross on the low-water bridge.
“In the spring it gets up pretty good,” Newman said.
So, he said, those people would park their cars on the town side of the bridge and walk across to their homes. It’s still available for that today.
But time had taken its toll on the bridge. The center pier, which was made of concrete and shale rock (not known for its stability as a foundation), had broken and the bridge was becoming dangerous.
Newman said that when they started taking down the cable to repair the bridge in late spring 2014, the whole thing fell in.
“I don’t know how it lasted as long as it did,” he said.
The bridge itself belongs to the town and the people in the community initiated the work to rebuild it.
Newman, his son, David, and daughter, Nancy, joined current Mayor Robert Franklin “Frankie” Buie in providing the initial volunteer work.
Three people were hired to begin the job, but they soon quit. Three youth in the area were then hired to help volunteers get the job done.
Newman said they wanted to make sure the center pier would last, so they dug four feet into the ground to form up concrete.
After forms were built and it was time to pour concrete, they found the nearest concrete pump truck was in Springfield, Missouri, and the town couldn’t afford it. But, they put Arkansas ingenuity to work.
They fastened a 55-gallon barrel to a backhoe using chains. A concrete truck would then fill the barrel and it was hoisted above the forms, pouring in one barrel full at a time.
“It looked pretty strange,” Newman said, “but we got it done.”
The entrance to the bridge, which is much higher than the roadway on the town side, had formerly been accessed by rocks stacked up with no mortar sealing them.
So the town decided to build steps leading to the entrance with cable handrails at the sides, the Harrison Daily Times (https://bit.ly/1d5VH19 ) reports.
Since the rebuilding was completed, a variety of people have visited the bridge. Newman said a man from Crane, Missouri, who had grown up in Zinc made the 80-mile trip just to walk across the bridge.
Newman said the town had originally budgeted $8,000 to repair the bridge and actually spent a little more than $10,000 - some money had to come out of the town’s emergency fund.
Still, the improvements the residents made to the bridge should make it last a lifetime.
“If we don’t have a big earthquake it’ll be there for a hundred years,” Newman said.
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Information from: Harrison Daily Times, https://www.harrisondaily.com
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