Pass Creek Bridge

The Pass Creek Bridge sits behind Drain's Civic Center, though it began life crossing Pass Creek at a site that has carried a bridge since at least 1876, when the original span served stagecoaches on the Overland Stagecoach route linking Roseburg to the coastal port of Scottsburg. An 1895 record even shows a separate covered railroad bridge standing alongside it, later used by the Southern Pacific. The current structure's official build date is 1925, but members of the Umpqua Historic Preservation Society argue the span actually dates to 1906, and some of its hand-hewn truss timbers may be recycled from that 1876 predecessor, potentially making them the oldest bridge lumber still in use anywhere in Oregon. Unlike most of the state's covered bridges, this plain cedar-sided Howe truss structure has almost no ornamental detail and no windows, having been built for pure function rather than architectural show. In 1987 the bridge was physically relocated a few hundred feet from its original crossing on North First Street to its current site, where it served pedestrians for over two decades before being closed to all traffic in 2014 due to deterioration. Though excluded from Oregon's 1979 statewide covered-bridge NRHP nomination at the city's own request, Drain is now working with Oregon Heritage and the state parks department to prepare a formal National Register nomination aimed at unlocking rehabilitation funding.