The Wingham Advance-Times, 1989-07-25, Page 10ttt
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jZQ, aid znarried'Iml
r Shortlythereafter he trans-
- formed his park -time contract'
business Into G. E. Gibson a
Company.
That same year, he tendered f
and received his first govermue
job, a contract to, builfl a bridw
Riverside. "I vividly recall "OW
my last $500 for the securit
cheque", he said. "Later 1 'wa
called to Toronto for an intervie
with the engineer_ who wanted
see if 1 had sufficient experience
do the job."
Mr. Gibson got the contract an
hasn't looked back since. Amon
his many accomplishments are th
• first overpass' on Hwy, 401 nea
• Windsor, at .least one bridge i
•every county and township west o
Tomrttoiexcept York, and miles an
miles orsidewalks and culverts al
over Western Ontario.
.but $
.111,4-1cc,
...••••••
sesmiled, renien.bering
/11 the bridge ‘-c as Mr.
White's vehicle Was crossing
'Ile wasn't hurt, but it took us
or several hours befOre we mull a
nt boat from Corrie to FA .
41,.t He was "hanging 104-- to an 04,tree
,g stump in the middle of the river
y and we walked out to him While
s hanging onto the boat since none of
w us could paddle. We had to pull
to him off the log. That's how scared
to he was."
CONSTRUCTION
'Within days after the coOapse of
and the'bridge„ surveyors and engineers
g were assessing the damage and
e awarded the contract for the new
r bridge to Mr. Gibs.
r! At the end of April construction
• on the new bridge beg, Mr, Gib-
son vividly recalls the hard week
I involved. . • • A
"We luid no MacWrite only a
,
pOrtU
e. 12 feet, deep to ;excavate the old •laPS‘041110 brf
foundation. After we redirected the
river we realized the task at hand.
Workers dug down to solid rock -for
the new foundation and many of us
had sore backs and some even
quit." 4,4
Recalling details .of his profes
onal career Mr. Gibson said h
had the area pretty well,covered.
Although he doesn't remember just
how many bridges he built, he said
I there were many.
• Closer to home Mr. Gibson built
the first concrete sidewalks in.the
• Village of Wroxeter in 1920 and
nine years later the bridge over the
Maitland River in the village.
WROXETER BRIDGE
In April 1929, heavy rains and
high winds caused a flash flood
which destroyed the old bridge and
• the dam.
e
few horses and we had to tfig.ovqrGordon',
,„
•"I was right • -there when it hap11 -
petted, said Mr. ,Cibson. "I saved
some -lives when I told people to
get off the bridge. The dam went
first and people-viere cOnlihg Otifto•
.„,
It took approximately 10 days to
clean out the remains of the old
bridge. •
Roy Patterson was the head engi-
neer for the county and supervised
the work. Mr. Gibson remembered
a good working relationship with
the engineer. •
• "He would visit the site on
• numerous occasions just to see how
we were doing but didn't, always
look over our shoulders.*
After the excavations we coni-
e
itsX er?„..
e,•::, Oilai*
the'pr9‘Veclings. , . ,.., , :,:::,::::.•,,..:-- .: - , . ... ,,,., *:. ,,i:,...,,
. • ,,,,,..
, . ., , ,,, *- .i•• . - • ',,:.• - • , ,,,
151.00d-Wo;kers started pain!tng.th ' ectwthelatt 'ounit*r-04949, : ,
„, .,,.,„.
2.
-
concrete. lower walk. and 2:2;.,n:Whert *elirstrArmie across •0
d an
ments. The bridge's tw 55 foot „ Said
•
s never
OUt wall had set -- ,
spansn.rest on the centret slitiii,,po# . saKLMr.: Gibson.. A ;,... : ,0'14i. hhnnn:tilb:e' _, Y
.
wh h builtonce the lower• inivr4Iglikilalr'ye'airc-' “kithw ad goTPs rob/At-n*1"i:: '
..
coqr- .s . -...'- --_:... ..., youngest daughter 'Lula, b*. ', ' ' - 'walk .,6uta
, .., , S • • • • .
. . • ago; and last year he lost 4it _ breakfast, light-
the
Mr. Gibson said he got: lumber - scins and another daughter ,are stillstarted'cdu
from a lot in the swampto built the „ alive. . • ...,: - - ' .. , . 'Itit s
.'
false -work for the spans. This part ' -
of the construction took thelongest When he retired his sons took *:
to coMplete. Steel was used t6 over G.: E. Gibson andCoincOanY •
Gibson is proud of the- facttheof --
f°ree .--the. concrete stiructtite andMi ''yb
earu
t
st.PV,:.'G°tibsheorn' jobs
tail: !tor natrtaecr:::
inalstructurt still stands after near- ingbu8-44PO-P.begitile SOY OmPet" -
ly 60 years.
.., • . . • . . itive with companies from the
"They did•change the rail*? and dSes 'rk41•8 weekends, forcing:
it has been repaved n he said ' But smaller ones like his own to-do the
• - .
as far as t.he main part goes, it is all. same r o . is, . , --
- original."
' - "After a :,while. it was too m ch
• In 1929 it cost $11,0voyto-hMlt the wto for ‘someoir else," •
• ,„„, and therlinY sons), decide.; to
ridge. Estimates of Ways cot Mr. Gibson, whokept quite busyrun ,
as high .as over a million dol- with gardening and curling up to
lars• Work Amittiolloi4getivas, ' 6 1 "1 two years Op, says the secret for a
-0.1 (10. a I- 4,5f - :a-, ,,, 1, ' ,;., . ; , , , , .. • -
•
".•
,„•*” ' •
41 24 51
tp•Aze
•••••
ck door
•
severe
gh4 •
tthen
•
sem is still quite -active. While 1
Extremely alert m
Uses. a cane, he still maintaini.
brisk -pace. Today Mr. Gibso
spends a lot of time reading'an
he's still pretty independent.
had his driver's licence renewed
last year and owns a car.
"I have someone to clean and
cook for me but 1 still drive which
means I can go where I want when
I want."
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