Village Squire, 1978-04, Page 46West Montrose covered bridge is the last of its kind in Ontario. R
Mrs. Hartwick looked after this for several
years, before passing the task along to her
son Lloyd at the age of 13. Every day he
cleaned the glass chimneys of the two
lanterns and poured in the kerosene at
home. Using a long pole with a hook on the
end, he hoisted each lamp onto a sturdy
beam 13 feet above the bridge deck.
His job ended in 1950 when the
department of highways installed three
100 -watt bulbs.
Also participating in the 1954 ceremon-
ies were W.H. Geisel, reeve of Woolwich
Township, and his father, John Geisel, 87,
who had helped cut and carry the timbers
when the bridge was built. Mrs. B.C.
Woods who had resided within a stone's
throw of the bridge all her life flipped the
switch to inaugurate the new lighting.
In 1959 a new bridge was built over the
Grand River near West Montrose at a cost
of $107,291 and highway 86 was re-routed.
The covered bridge was recognized as a
provincial historic site Aug. 28. 1960.
Further restoration work was carried out
in 1966 when the bridge supports were
placed by modern components which
Were disguised to look unchanged from the
original timber construction. The highways
department constructed a bailey bridge
inside the frame to reinforce the structure
and safeguard against overloading. At
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INTERIORS
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291-3150
PG. 44. VILLAGE SQUIRE/APRIL 1978.
present there is a five -ton load limit.
Most of Canada's remaining covered
bridges are in New Brunswick. In the
United States. where most of the bridges
are concentrated in Pennsylvania. Ohio
and Indiana. there is a National Society for
the Preservation of Covered Bridges. Joe
Meiser of Guelph. who works for the
ministry of agriculture and food. is a
member of this organization. He told me
that in 1965 there were 1.156 covered
bridges listed in the United States, and 10
years later there were less than 100. He
has an outstanding photographic history of
these covered bridges. many of which have
since been demolished.
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