This also carried traffic to Manchester, Hgw. 55, for many years.  In a deed from John L. Spurlock to the McMinnville & Manchester Railroad in 1858 there is a reference to "a bridge built by the County."  This probably was a wooden bridge.  Later an Iron bridge was built just below the present Railroad bridge and the power dam.  This was replaced several years ago.  For additional information on this bridge see page 34 of the book (or go to the next website page) .

According to John Argo the first bridge was located at the upper end of the bluff at the lower end of nursery bottom and below the present bridge.  It was never completed but persons could walk across it.  It apparently was washed out in the flood of 1872 while under construction.  An "iron bridge" built shortly before 1902 was destroyed by the 1902 flood.  John Argo said the new bridge was built by the County after an agreement was made that others would be built in other parts of the County.  Bridges built at the same time over Hickory Creek, Lusk Ford (Hgw. 70S) and Hennessee ford were destroyed in the same flood.  Following the flood the bridges were all replaced.  The 1928 flood again washed out the Beersheba bridge.

The Tennessee Electric Power Co. [T.E.P.Co.] in 1916 when the Rock Island dam was built.  It is located a short distance up stream from the old Blanks Mill dam.  The bridge was raised and lengthened in 1924 when the Rock Island dam was raised.

below a spring branch on which the mill of the same name was located.  The bridge was built by the County in the early part of the 20th. century and was first called "Johnson's Bridge" after the owner of the mill at that time.  The bridge was raised in 1924 when the Rock Island dam was raised.  The Brady-Haston bridge served as a crossing for the wagon road from Hickory Valley to Rock Island.  It is mentioned in an 1862 deed to Joseph W. Taylor.

Webmaster note: The bridge was partially named for Carroll Haston, son of Charles Thomas Haston, son of William Carroll Haston, son of David Haston, son of Daniel Haston.

1924 by the T.E.P.Co.  Raising the dam 35 feet flooded out the Butts and adjacent fords.  The bridge was washed out in the 1929 flood and replaced by the Power Co.

The suspension bridge was built in 1924 by the T.E.P.Co. to replace an old bridge at a lower level.  It is located just upstream from the Burroughs & Taylor Factory. This company made men's work clothes.

is very close to the old Chattanooga Ford.  The suspension bridge was built in 1924 by the T.E.P.Co.  It was washed out in the 1929 flood.

Webmaster note:  This foot bridge ("swinging" or "wire" bridge) was rebuilt after the 1929 flood and was in use for several years.  It was located behind Fraiser's Chapel Methodist Church.  A Boy Scout camp was located at the site of the bridge and ford, some time prior to the mid-1950s.  In the early 1960s, Wayne Haston and a friend walked across this bridge carrying hunting guns.  The bridge was in a dangerous state of disrepair at that time.  The cables were rusty and the existing floor planks were rotting and some of the planks were completely gone.  In the 1950s, Dave Guy (who lived north of the river in "Fox Hollow") was employed, as needed, to keep the bridge in good repair.  Apparently, no one replaced him on this task when he moved his family to upper Hickory Valley.  By that time, many of the families in that community had automobiles and could get from one side of the river to the other by means of Butts Bridge.

structure.  It was built by Asa Faulkner in connection with the erection of the Falls City Cotton Mill.  Mr. Faulkner employed James McGiboney to build and operate a saw mill and grist mill at the Great Falls before he began work on the Cotton Mill.  McGiboney sawed out all the timbers for the bridge.  This bridge was destroyed in the 1902 flood.  The next bridge was a steel structure erected in connection with the construction of the first dam and power house for the Tennessee Power Co.  The third bridge was erected  in 1923-24 by the T.E.P.Co. in connection with raising the dam 35 feet.  Perhaps of interest is the fact that the longest span in the bridge had one time been part of a bridge across the Cumberland River in Nashville.  The structure was dismantled and stored by the Nashville Bridge Company.

two earliest bridges on the upper Caney Fork.

The bridge had 3 spans resting on rock-filled log cribs.  Joe Slatton said that 2 of the piers were visible in 1920 when the reservoir level was very low.  There is a reference to a "valuable bridge" in White Co. deed bk. O, p. 276-77 in 1846.  On pages 166-67 of the same book in 1851 there is a reference to "ferry and boats."  By that time the bridge was probably out of service.  Florence Woods said the last man to cross the bridge was a peddler name Redder.  The bridge had become "very ramshackle" and it fell as he was crossing.  His horse "Doc" carried him over but Redder had a nervous breakdown and was laid up for several weeks.  The remains of the bridge were washed out in the flood of 1852.  Spence Frank told the writer that the bridge was very old.

Caney Fork.  When the Dam was raised 35 feet in 1924-25 the bridge was raised a like amount.  After all preparations had been made, including installation of new columns a crew of 250 men started from each end, racing to reach the center of the bridge first for a bonus of $500 to the winners.  The job was finished in 10 hours.

of Cane Creek and the other crossed Cane Creek at the mouth of the creek.  Both bridges were raised in 1924-25 when the Dam was raised.  The bridge over Caney Fork was washed out in the 1929 flood and not replaced.  The bridges were referred to locally as the River Hill bridges.  The name is that of a small community that formerly was located on the hill above the river on the White County side.

Webmaster notes:  The bridge across the mouth of Cane Creek was still in decent shape as late as the early 1960s, and could be crossed by automobile at that time, although there was no where to go on the east side of the bridge except to turn around and go back across the same bridge.  At that time, the road that went around the east side of Cane Creek (along the western & southern edges of Fork Mountain) had been closed since probably just after the 1929 flood.

Fork.  It is in Van Buren County.  The steel was moved on barges from the Yost Bridge on Rocky River.  Dry Branch was built by the T.E.P.Co. in 1925.

by the T.E.P.Co. in 1925.

by Van Buren County sometime prior to 1925.

Dam and about 8.9 miles above the mouth of Rocky River.  It was a covered wood bridge according to Miss Florence Wood.  She said it was built by Gumberry (?) Johnson, was very shaky and in fact it was never really built right.  It burned sometime prior to 1923.  The second bridge, located about 1/4 mile above the Goodbar Mill.  It was built in 1923 or 1924 by the State on Hgw. 30 from McMinnville to Spencer.  It was one of the first concrete arch bridges built in Tennessee.  Truly it is a beautiful structure.

Warren County.

built by Warren County about 1900.  All four were washed down in the 1902 flood.  Nashville Bridge Co. salvaged the spans at Hennessee and rebuilt the bridge.  The flood of 1929 again dropped the three spans into the river.  The T.E.P.Co. had the bridge rebuilt.  One new span was purchased and two spans were salvaged out of the original three.  The writer understands that a new modern bridge was built at this location in the 1960's and one or more of the old spans were moved to another location.

The County built the bridge.  It was one of the few bridges not damaged in the 1929 flood.

below the mouth of the Calfkiller River.  It is on the Doyle-Spencer Road.  The bridge was raised in 1924 by the T.E.P.Co.  It was partially destroyed in the 1929 flood and rebuilt by the Power Co.

was built in the 1920's by the State.  It is at the location of McClures Ford.

This is downstream from the present Blanks Bridge.  It was a covered wood bridge.  The bridge broke, according to Mill Florence Woods when Sam _____, a peddler was crossing with a 6-horse team and a wagon load of goods.  The driver got on the lead horse and went on to Dillons.  He stayed there for several weeks - sick from the shock.  The flood of 1872 washed away the remains of the bridge.

concrete arch bridge at Goodbars.  Mill Florence Woods told the writer that a saddle belonging to Belle Miller, sister of Joab, was in the bridge at the time it washed.  She also said that at one time the stage from Sparta crossed at McElroys (crossed the Caney Fork River), then followed the road to and crossed the Miller bridge.  It then proceeded on past the Jeff Gross place and back into the main stage road (Present Hgw. 70S approximately).  The stage regularly stopped at McElroys for dinner.

below the old Laurelburg Mill.

into the Caney Fork.  It was built in the latter part of 1925 or early 1926.  It took the place of a ford.  When built there was practically no wagon traffic on the road which really was more of a horse trail. It was built by the T.E.P.Co.

Webmasters notes:  This creek was also called "Wallace Creek or Branch," or at least it was in the 1960s.

not wash out in the 1902 flood.

by the T.E.P.Co. and was replaced after being destroyed in the 1929 flood.  It was built at the lower end of Big Bottom.  At the time Dodson's Store stood at the top of the hill above the bridge.  Back in the early 1920's women in Big Bottom made heavy men's socks from home-spun yarn from local sheep.  They traded them at Dodson's for coffee, sugar, notions, etc.  and the writer bought several pairs at 35 cents a pair.  They were worn with high top boots and never did wear out.

Webmaster's notes:  Local people of the area also referred to this bridge as the Amos Dodson Bridge, after the man who owned Dodson's Store. 

Bonnie V. Dycus was a water boy for the men who built the Mitchell Bridge.  There was a wire (or swinging) foot bridge at the location of the Mitchell Bridge, prior to the bridge that was built by the TN Electric Power Company.  Source: Bonnie V. Dycus, December 26, 2003.

bridge across Collins River at this location was built by the County about 1900.  It was called the Lusk Bridge after the nearby Lusk Ford.  It was damaged in the flood of 1902 and replaced by the County.  When Highway 70S was improved by the State a new and heavier bridge was constructed in the same general area.

downstream from the Hgw. 70S bridge.  It was built several years after the Civil War.

Tennessee Power Co. in 1915-16 when the Dam and Power House were built.  It was raised by the T.E.P.Co. in 1924.  This bridge and River Hill* were the only two on the main river above the Dam that were not damaged by the 1929 flood.  Albert Kuhn, who lived at the top of the hill on the White County side of the River kept the drift wood coming down the river from piling up against the bridge.  He worked a good part of the night with a pike pole.

*Webmaster's note:  The River Hill Bridge that crossed the Caney Fork was destroyed, but the other bridge at that location that crossed Cane Creek was not destroyed.

built by the Mayberrys.  Starting from the White County side of the river it crossed to the Island.  There was a gap to allow stopping on the Island and then it continued across the slough to the Warren County side.  It was a rough wood bridge resting on rock filled log pens.  It was probably built about 1814 or 1815.  (This is base on names and dates on land transfers.)  The bridge was damaged in a flood and in poor condition when Peter Buram rebuilt it around 1826.  One of the older natives said that Buram repaired the bridge "in a very ungainly manner."  People referring to something that was not straight or poorly constructed would say, "It's as crooked as Peter Buram's bridge."  The property was sold to General John B. Rodgers, including the bridge in 1838.  The bridge was not kept in good repair and was badly damaged in the 1852 flood.  General Rodgers cleared the remains from the river, and again put the ferry in operation.

It was a short distance downstream for the Shells Ford Mill.  Note - The name is frequently written "Shellsford."

by the T.E.P.Co. in 1924.

Webmaster's note:  This bridge was located about 1/2 mile south of the current location of Haston's Chapel Church of God.

river and in the town of Sparta.  Goodspeed refers to it in 1887 as being one of "only three bridges in the County of any size."  The original bridge has been replaced.

where it joins Cane Creek.  It was built by the T.E.P.Co. in 1924. This bridge and Simmons Bridge are on the road from Cummingsville to and up Cane Creek.

Webmaster's note:  Actually, the Simmons Bridge was on the road that runs from the Cane Creek road north toward Hickory Valley, but only about 1/2 mile from where the road to/from Hickory Valley intersects the Cane Creek - Cummingsville Road.

and spring-branch where the Tosh Mill was located.  It was built in 1915 by the Tennessee Power Co. and raised in 1924 by the T.E.P.Co.  It was washed down in the 1929 flood and rebuilt.

It was at the site of the Hash Ford.  It was named after Fielding Yost, the great football coach and Director of Athletics at Michigan.  He was one of the three men who really were responsible for the start of the Great Falls Development.  The bridge was built by the Tennessee Power Co.  On January 1, 1925, a clear cold morning, 2 barges were pushed up the river, anchored under the bridge and the steel work was lowered on to the barges.  They were pushed down Rocky River and up the Caney Fork to Dry Branch.  The steel was used in the Dry Branch and Forsythe Branch bridges.

The bridge was first called Simpson's Bridge after the man who had it built and owned the mill at the time.  According to J. A. (Jim) Baker of Campaign it was a wood bridge supported on wood poles and was about rotted out in 1912.  Jim actually saw it in 1912 when he was working with the survey party on the first survey for the Great Falls or Rock Island power project.  The first bridge was replaced with a steel structure - probably about 1915.

Webmaster's note:  This bridge was also known by local people as the County House Bridge, due to the fact that it was very near the White County "County House" (Poor House).

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Bridge Notes

Goodspeed's History of Tennessee, 1887 states that there were only three bridges of any size in White County and lists Simpson Mill, Sparta and Gillens Mill bridges.  It further states that there were no bridges of any size in Warren County.  The county histories were written by different men and their ideas of size might have been different.

Foot bridges across small streams were sometimes built by felling a tree and dropping it across the stream.