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White River Junction, Windsor County

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Inventory Number: VT/45-14-55x
County: Windsor County
Township: Hartford
Town/Village: White River Junction
Bridge Name: White River Junction
Crosses: White River
Truss type: Squared-Timber Town Lattice & Arch
Spans: 2
Length: 350'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1867
Builder: James F. Tasker
When Lost: 27 Mar 1913
Cause: Flood
Latitude: N43 39.02
Longitude: W072 19.10
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: Bridge St. in White River Junction.

White River Junction Highway Bridge (foreground 1867-1913), Connecticut & Passumpsic Rivers Railroad Bridge in back (1848-1890), Hartford, Windsor County, VT
Richard E. Roy Collection

White River Junction Bridge, Hartford, Windsor County, VT Built 1867 Lost 28 Mar 1913
Richard E. Roy Collection

White River Junction Bridge, Hartford, Windsor County, VT Built 1867 Flood 27 Mar 1913
Todd Clark Collection

White River Junction Bridge, Hartford, Windsor County, VT Built 1867 Flood 27 Mar 1913
Margaret Foster Collection, NSPCB Archives

Comments:
James Tasker built this bridge with timber lattices and auxiliary arches that he used for crossing larger streams. A pedestrian walkway was added to the upstream side in later years. Per the Vermont Journal (Windsor), September 16, 1871, the covered bridge at White River Junction had two spans and was 423-1/2 feet in length. Per The Bethel Courier, April 3, 1913, "THE FLOOD IN VERMONT. Water the Highest in Years. Bridges Carried Away. The waters of White river reached their highest mark in years under the influence of last week's heavy rains, culminating Thursday [March 27, 1913]. Late in the afternoon the weather cleared, cold set in and the floods subsided very fast. The heaviest single loss in the White River valley was probably that of the large covered highway bridge at White River Junction, which went out under the impact of the Champlain Realty company's log drive that broke from its moorings at Sharon. It brought up against the bridge with tremendous force, lifting the big structure off its piers, turning it nearly around and sending it down stream till one end rested against the Passumpsicu railroad bridge and the other end against the south bank of the stream. Arrangements were made with the town of Hartford to destroy the bridge and meanwhile a cable was attached in order to keep the structure in place. It was built in 1869 and was repaired a few years ago at a cost of 8,000. It was 360 feet long. After carrying away the bridge, the log drive passed out of the White river into the Connecticut, and rested against the Boston & Maine bridge over that river to West Lebanon. This bridge was weighted with freight cars, as was also the bridge over the Passumpsic division. Thus held in place, they stood the strain successfully. When the covered bridge went out, it carried out the pipes of the Hartford Water company, which were strung along it, and as a result the village of West Lebanon and part of White River Junction were without water supply. The electric light system was put out of commission, too. Between 50 and 60 families were driven out of their homes in White River Junction Thursday by the flood."

Sources:
Vermont Journal (Windsor), September 16, 1871.
Burlington Weekly Free Press, April 03, 1913, Page 14
Allen, Richard Sanders. Rare Old Covered Bridges of Windsor County, VT, 1962, page 13
Conwill, Joseph D.. Images of America - Vermont Covered Bridges, 2004, page 67

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