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Y or Bruce Sutliff, Columbia County

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Inventory Number: PA/38-19-22x
County: Columbia County
Township: Sugarloaf
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Y or Bruce Sutliff
Crosses: East Branch Fishing Creek
Truss type: Queen
Spans: 1
Length: 56' span, 76' overall
Roadway Width: 14'
Built: 1887
Builder: J.M. Larish
When Lost: 15 Aug 1983
Cause: Arson
Latitude: N41 18.266
Longitude: W076 21.917
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: Near the village of Central on Stevens Hill Road (T757), off LR 19075.

Y Bridge, Sugarloaf, Columbia County, PA. Built 1887 Arson 15 Aug 1983
Todd Clark Collection

Y Bridge, Sugarloaf, Columbia County, PA. Built 1887 Arson 15 Aug 1983
Willaim & Ida Cook Photo, 1960, Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Society of Pennsylvania

Comments:
County # 156. Cost $602. 3-panel truss. The bridge probably got its name from the "Y" formation of the nearby Bloomsburg & Sullivan Railroad tracks, used for turning trains back toward Bloomsburg. Per The Columbian (Bloomsburg), June 10, 1887, "At the residence of Bruce Sutliff, in Sugarloaf township, on Thursday, the 9th day of June, A. D. 1887, at 2 o'clock p. m., a new bridge to be erected over the east branch of Big Fishingcreek, near Bruce Sutliff['s], in said township, to be a wooden brace covered bridge, 65 feet between abutments, 16 feet wide from out to out. Abutments to be built by contractor, so as to admit of skewback three feet from top of wall plate and 9-1/2 feet high above low water mark to top of wall plate, wing walls to be 16 feet on west side and 12 feet on east side of bridge and to be 3 feet above grade of road." The bridge was seriously damaged by the 1975 flood, then repaired. It was later burned by a fire widely suspected of being arson.

Sources:
Lane, Oscar F.. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 1972, page 62
The Columbian (Bloomsburg), June 10, 1887, p.2.
Kipphorn, Thomas. Information received by email, May 2006

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