postcard
Tom Rodgers was considered a mechanical genius by many in town. In 1860 he designed a 57-foot-long stone bridge to go across the narrows of the lake and replace the floating bridge, which had mysteriously gotten loose from its mooring along the north shore. The first floating bridge, built in 1824, was constructed of logs, heavy timbers, and planks, and was secured at either shore with self-adjusting inclines of about 35 feet. Where the inclines rested on the float there was about 25 feet covered with water. In 1828 it was voted at the town meeting to "pay Royal Copeland for sundry articles lost by his father in passing over the floating bridge." There was a second floating bridge built in 1860, at a cost of $4,000. At the 1883 town meeting the town voted to "raise the passage between the upper and lower lake so that boats can pass through." A timber framed tower was built above the bridge and the "draw" was operated by the person desiring to pass from one pond to the other. In 1935 the bridge was widened to 35 feet, regraveled, and tarred. The draws were replanked with 3-by-6 foot timbers on edge over steel beams. Later a Tarvia mat was placed over the planking. In 1947 the present concrete bridge was built.
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