More Water Under The Bridge

The relaxing sound of water accompanies this short slideshow of photos of Kay's Bridge taken by John MacLeod around March 11th 2011 after a couple days of rain. The water flows freely under this dry stone bridge which we built last October at the DSWAC Rocktoberfest event held in Landon Bay Park near Gananoque Ontario.

We first visited this Canada Parks Biosphere property over a year ago to see about building a dry stone bridge there for our four-day international dry stone walling festival and coincidently that day the creek level was at the highest John had ever seen it.

John showed us the place where he thought a bridge would look good and I took a few pictures.

The sound and sight of the rushing water was quite spectacular.

Later that week I took some time and did this preliminary rendering of what a bridge might look like there, to use in promotional material to advertise the special October bridge building event. I just went back in my files and found this picture and am pleased to see that it's not that far off what it actually ended up looking like. The volume of water in both pictures is about the same.

Maybe the rails on the drawing are not the same and the arch is not as flat as the one we ended up building but everything else is pretty much water under the bridge.

It's all water under the bridge.

Was thinking today with my hands about what a lot of work it is to build a dry stone bridge. Here is an amazing picture of the beautiful bridge DSWA Mastercraftsman Norman Haddow built in Scotland about ten years ago. The burn (Scottish word for creek) is in flood and actually going around the bridge, yet it stands firm and unmoving 6 years later. The fact that it is not made of solid concrete and can let some water through it must contribute to its strength against the force of the water.

I thought too of the amount of time and effort and stone that went into building Cornish Hollow Bridge, a small roman arch dry stone bridge which DSWAC members constructed in July of 2007 north of Cobourg Ontario. This bridge was the second one we built after having Norman Haddow come here from Scotland and teach us about bridge construction at Hill and Dale B&B in Port Hope Ontario where ten members of the DSWAC built a six foot span dry stone packhorse bridge. Leigh Bamford and I were involved in both bridge projects.

We used up over 40 tons of stone in the building of Cornish Hollow bridge which had a whopping 12 foot span. That's a lot material. In comparison, however I was considering the amount of water that has gone under it since the day it was built over four years ago.

This represents a huge volume, as you can see the bridge is actually built in a flood plane and sometimes in spring run off water has to go around it as well. And yet even with it having had so much water go under it , if were it to fall down, even in say, the next fifty years, that wouldn't have been enough water, would it ? The life time of the bridge would still have been too short for the volume of water that the builders expected would flow under it. The bridge would not be considered to have been a success either.

Even though the bridge may have done a great job and allowed water to flow unobstructed and unnoticed, it would still not be enough water to not make a big thing about it 'not lasting'.

I think that it is fair to say however that concerning bridges, if we were going to use an expression like 'that's all water under the bridge' we should be referring to a long enough lapse of time (relative to the normal lifetime of a properly built bridge, perhaps) so that certain things we have done or said in the past that we were hoping to merely 'dismiss', reflects an understanding of just how much time and water we are talking about.

A handsome bridge, shining in the winter sun.

'Bridges'

by Bill Staines

There are bridges, bridges in the sky. They are shining in the sun.

They are stone and steel and wood and wire. They can change two things to one.

They are languages and letters. They are poetry and all.

They are love and understanding and they're better than a wall.

There are canyons. There are canyons. They are yawning in the night.

They are rank and bitter anger. They are all devoid of light.

They are fear and blind suspicion. They are apathy and pride.

They are dark and so foreboding and they're oh, so very wide.

Let us build a bridge of music. Let us cross it with a song.

Let us span another canyon. Let us right another wrong.

And if someone should ask us where we're off and bound today,

We will tell them building bridges and be off and on our way.

The picture of the 'Bridge In Winter' is Kay's Bridge, a completely dry stone bridge built in 2010 at Landon Bay Centre in Ontario Canada during the Canadian dry stone wall festival - Rocktoberfest. The picture was taken last January.

A big thanks again to the many walling friends from the States, Britain Ireland and all over Canada who journeyed to the 1000 Islands biosphere park to participate in this event (as well as three other dry stone projects) last October, and who came to share their knowledge and build bridges.

'Hand' Rails

We used the same handrail design for the Rocktoberfest bridge last Thanksgiving as we did at the Macdougall public bridge which we built in Russell Ontario last year. The idea was something Scott Cluett came up with to solve the problem of not using up valuable bridge width with stone copes or parapets. Having the handrails secured beyond the 6 foot wide bridge surface gives ample room for two people to walk on the bridge side by side.

After I went over the final shape and dimensions with him, Scott who is a part time blacksmith ended up fabricating the metal brackets for both bridges. (He also drove all the way to Rockport Ontario with his wife Cindy and their son and two girls, and hand-delivered the brackets on Thanksgiving Saturday in time for the brackets to be installed. Thanks Scott )

They are made of heavy steel and have a thick rust resistant coating. The 4 brackets which span the width of the bridge and have sockets at each end, are built into the bridge just above the voussoirs. Stones are fitted around them and then over them, with a final layer of pitched stone over that so that they are held quite secure. Metal or wood posts can be inserted into the square 4 inch sockets connected to the brackets and then handrails attached to the posts.

In the case of the Landon Bay Centre hiking-trail bridge, which is being called Kay's Bridge, the posts and handrails are made from local red cedars. There was some concern while we were building the bridge that the protruding metal sockets would look out of place and/or the wooden posts and handrails would not look correct on a stone bridge. We were pleasantly surprised to see how unobtrusive the metal is and how the handrails and stone work together to create a pleasing rustic look.

Gathering in the woods.

Where are all these people going? They don't look like ordinary hikers - and there are so many of them! They all seem very excited about getting somewhere further down this trail. Let's go see.

Here they are, all gathering in the woods. This is like in the middle of nowhere. Are they watching an outdoor sports event or listening to a concert? Perhaps they are watching actors perform in some forest glade.

What can it be that's so interesting? Look at their faces. Such anticipation. They look like they are waiting for something special to happen at any moment . Every eye is on whatever it is that's taking place down in the ravine just below them. The crowd is hushed and focused on some sort of activity off towards the creek.

There it is! They are watching people remove a wooden form, which is all that was supporting a beautiful dry stone stone bridge that the stone-workers just finished building in the forest.

The spectators were wondering if it was going to fall down. Amazingly, it didn't ! No cement. No concrete. No saws. No bobcats or heavy machinery. Just people moving stones and relying only on gravity and friction. Twenty-five tons of rocks and stones, just hanging there in the air. Wow! This is like some giant magic trick with rocks. Most of them have never seen anything like this before, ever !

When they get back down the trail and into their cars and drive home, none of their friends and family are going to believe what they saw today.

Getting our hands muddy.

For the last two days we slogged in the hot muggy day preparing the base for the bridge we will be building at the Canadian Dry Stone Festival at Landon Bay. Landon Bay is on the 1000 Islands Parkway near Rockport Ontario. It is a biosphere reserve run by Parks Canada and part of a bigger geologically and ecologically diverse area called the Frontenac Arch. A few months ago we built a special arch outside the Biosphere Reserve Center just down the parkway. Now we are looking forward to adding a bridge.

We had to dig with shovels and then with our hands in the mud until we found bedrock by removing all the loose sediment. Then we wrestled a number of huge stones around to be able to start building the two piers for the 12 foot span bridge we plan to complete on the 4 days of Rocktoberfest coming up on Oct 8, 9,10,11 on the Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend. We are using a sandstone material that has been stored on the Landon bay property for many years.

The bridge will span a small creek which is a tributary of Halstead creek which flows into the St Lawrence. The bridge is to replace an old wooden bridge which we first had to take down and carry off the trail. The new dry stone bridge will be built by a team of wallers from all over Canada. It will connect a hiking trail that runs along the west side of the park and is part of a network of interesting nature trails throughout the park.

John Macleod who works at the park, and is involved organizing the many outdoor nature programs at Landon Bay is excited about the new bridge which will hopefully be a stunning addition to the park. People will be able to see it being built from higher up on Cross Cemetery Road which runs parallel to the forrest and the stream just west of where the new 'festival bridge' will be built.

Photoshop rendering of how the new dry stone bridge will look from the road.

While we were having lunch John told us enthusiastically " The view from the road presents an excellent vantage point for people to appreciate how the bridge is built, especially elderly people who might not normally walk such a long setion of trail to be able to see it."

Saluting the flag.

It seems appropriate to honour the flagstone industry today by combining the flag of Canada with the 'flag' of patios paths and pool surrounds. Most wallers, masons and landscapers in Canada have at some time or other had to do flagwork. Often this kind of work is where they first start out handling and shaping natural stone. Later they might go on to build stone retaining walls and traditional free-standing dry stone walls, or they may just stay with it as a full-time occupation. With their backs to the burning sun, awkwardly crouched down, painstakingly shaping and chiselling the contours of the stones so that the joints are all a consistent width, ( and with no ugly 'sawn' edges ) many a patriotic flagstone 'craftsperson' has helped raise the standard of flagstone across the nation.

'Flatwork' is a term used for doing phony flagstone, out of poured concrete that has been stamped and then stained. Sounds awful, doesnt it? Contractors are trying to make it look like real flagstone, but eventally, after time, it looks like what it really is - a manufactured aggregate portland cement product.

I like to think that doing the real thing in a garden with natural flagstone creates a much higher standard.

In terms of actually raising the flag material, we have done that too. Here is a clip (below) of dry stone 'wallers' from all over the world raising a large piece of flag at our Canadian Dry Stone Wall Festival last year. The thick 6 inch slab of flag was slid up and over, to be used as a lintel stone over the window of the traditional dry laid Scottish Blackhouse we completed over the three day 'Rocktoberfest' here in Canada. This October we will be building a dry stone bridge over a babbling creek near 1000 Islands at Rockport Ontario in Landon Park on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

Meanwhile this Canada day we should stand and raise our 'hands' to salute the men and women who are laying flagstone every day and laying it properly. When it's done right it can look beautiful and last for many years.

Hand Spans

Last Saturday and Sunday many hands got together to acquire more dry stone walling skills by building together a small double-arched dry stone bridge which I designed as a workshop project for heritage masonry instructor, John Scott's students at Algonquin College in Perth Ontario.

The exercise was fun as well as challenging. Decisions had to be made concerning the specific structure, the best proportions and shape for such a bridge to accommodate the many hands that would be working on it at one time, the actual size of the project, whether the kind of local random limestone material that had been provided (which was donated by Tackaberry Quarry) had enough variety of shapes and sizes to build such a structure, whether enough corner stones would be found in the mix and/or if not whether this rough bubbly type of limestone could be adequately shaped to provide enough good corner stones for the double set of vousoirs we would need.

We had to consider the time frame too, taking into account both the weather and whether the project suited the varying skill levels of participants ( some returning graduates, some first year traditional masonry students) The whole thing seemed like a great stretch; a great leap of faith. Though we would not be bridging any water, we would be bridging a big gap of uncertainty and apprehension. There was an element of risk . Not that there was any physical risk, but there was a healthy 'concern' for doing it right and having a successful structural, good-looking bridge as a finished project (rather than just giving ourselves the opportunity of improving our walling skills) and this kept us very focussed for the full two days.

Hands got bashed. They got muddy. They got wet and sweaty even in the gloves they were wearing. They got worn out carrying and gripping and hammering. They lifted heavy stones and struggled to place them precisely. They got pinched and scraped. They were called upon to fit securely thousands of hearting stones too. They were required to constantly feel the contours of spaces and cavities to interpret the proportions and send messages to our brains as to the shapes of the specific stones that were needed.

They got confident placing each rock in such a way that it didn't !

They acquired new skills to wedge vousoirs, pin interior vault stones and fit horizontal stones into the radiating angles of arch stones. They performed their tasks well. And then our hands celebrated by getting their arms to wave them excitedly at the camera.

My hands are tired now. They want to curl up and go to sleep.