A pier that supported a historic footbridge in Zinc collapsed earlier this month as workers began to repair it.

The bridge had spanned Sugar Orchard Creek for 87 years.

The Zinc Swinging Bridge was the oldest known suspension bridge in Arkansas and the only pedestrian bridge of its kind in the state, according to the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Marion Newman, a Zinc alderman, said the bridge must be repaired. It was a landmark in Zinc, a Boone County town that has 103 residents and no paved streets.

"This is an old town," Newman said. "A lot of people come back, and that's what they remember most, the swinging bridge."

There's a little money in the town's general revenue account to repair the bridge, but if more is needed, the town will hold a pie supper, Newman said.

An 8-foot-tall concrete-and-shale pier that supported the bridge had been cracked for years, Newman said.

"It was just getting worse," he said. "We were fixing to close the bridge because it was getting dangerous. We were fixing to repair it, and it just came down."

Robert Scoggin, a historian with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, said the pier split apart when the bridge cables were removed to begin repair work.

"In fact, the wiring was probably holding it together," Scoggin said.

The damaged pier must be removed and a new concrete pier poured out in its place. Newman, 74, said he plans to use a backhoe to begin digging a 4-foot-deep hole for the new pier this week. There's no time to apply for a grant.

"We're just going to do it ourselves," he said. "We're going to try to make it last 200 years."

Scoggin said using new cement to replace the pier is normal.

It shouldn't be made to look exactly like the pier that collapsed, he said.

"If you're going to rebuild it, you probably want to use the newer stuff and make it safer and stronger," Scoggin said.

"In historic preservation, you want people to understand that this is an addition or change."

Ralph Wilcox, National Register and survey coordinator for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, said building a new pier shouldn't threaten the bridge's National Register status.

Built by miners

Newman said the bridge was built by miners who were out of work because of the floods of 1927. It replaced an older bridge that was washed out by floodwaters.

Nita Gould of Tulsa, a preservationist with family roots in Zinc, filed the application to get the bridge listed on the National Register.

Zinc was a thriving mining town from the late 1800s until the early 1930s, according to the registration form. The pedestrian bridge was one of the few structures left from Zinc's heyday as a mining town, Gould wrote.

"I wanted people to remember the town," Gould said.

"I wanted to preserve Zinc's history. ... When I was a child, I spent several weeks during most every summer with my grandmother in Zinc. Running around, just being a kid in the hills."

The bridge, at 8039 Washington St., was constructed with two concrete piers, metal cables, woven wire and wooden planks, according to the registration form.

The bridge's highest elevation above ground level is about 16 feet.

The eastern concrete pier is 12 feet tall.

The shorter pier in the creek bed provided a center support for the bridge, which was anchored to a hill on the other side.

"Heavy cables mounted through concrete and firmly planted into the rocky hillside below support the west landing," according to the registration form.

The bridge was still being used in May, Newman said. Five or six families use the bridge regularly, he said.

When rain is heavy, they leave vehicles on one side of Sugar Orchard Creek and walk home over the bridge.

"Although the water in Sugar Orchard Creek seldom rises above its banks, this little creek has been known to become a roaring river during heavy rains, making vehicular crossing over the slab impossible," Gould wrote in the registration form.

"Consequently, the Zinc Swinging Bridge has and continues to provide a much-needed method of pedestrian transport across this seemingly harmless creek to the other side of town."

Many of the bridge's wooden planks were replaced in the 1960s and '70s, according to the application.

Depression photos

During the Great Depression, the mines closed, and many of Zinc's residents moved away. In the early 1930s, Zinc had a school, newspaper, telephone office, stores and hotels, according to the registration form. But none of those things exist there now.

Ben Shahn, a photographer for the Farm Security Administration, went to Zinc in October 1935 to document the situation.

His photographs on the Library of Congress website refer to Zinc as a "deserted mining town," although some men can be seen hanging out in front of a general store.

One of Shahn's photos carries the caption: "One of the few remaining inhabitants of Zinc, Arkansas."

Gould said it's difficult to get accurate historical population figures for Zinc. For one thing, the definition of Zinc Township apparently changed over the years.

For another, many of the residents of the boom mining town apparently lived in tents, so some of the workers were transient.

Newman said the town of Zinc has had other priorities that put the bridge restoration on hold for a couple of weeks.

On June 8, an arsonist set fire to both of the area's rural fire stations.

The fires destroyed the roofs and damaged several vehicles. Insurance won't help with the repairs, Newman said.

Instead, people who live in Zinc have been working on the repairs.

No arrests have been made, but there's a reward out for information pertaining to the fires, Newman said.

NW News on 06/23/2014