MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Officials and Virginia Department of Transportation contractors survey the bridge over Big Walker Creek after it collapsed June 4 under the weight of a concrete truck.

Courtesy of the Virginia Department of Transportation

The bridge that once crossed Big Walker Creek on Virginia 713 in Giles County was built nearly a century ago.

WHITE GATE -- The June 4 collapse of the "old wagon bridge" that for nearly a century connected several families to the outside world has stirred memories of a community's coming together to make life easier.

Meanwhile, Virginia Department of Transportation contractors are working to erect a new bridge across Big Walker Creek at Virginia 713.

Bill Bane has lived at Cedar Grove Farm along Big Walker for 85 years and has memories of playing on and around the bridge his daddy helped build.

In a gray folder, Bane keeps a copy of the 1912 agreement struck between the Giles County Board of Supervisors and residents living along the creek to jointly finance construction of a bridge. Before, the families had to drive their horse-drawn wagons across shallow areas of the creek to get back and forth from their farms.

"There were fords all up and down that creek," Bane said. "But when the creek was up, a wagon couldn't make it across."

The effort to build a bridge was led by A.J. Francis of White Gate, according to Bane's records. It was Francis who contracted with Virginia Bridge & Iron Co. of Roanoke to buy steel trusses for the 158-foot, one-lane bridge.

Francis pledged $100 to the bridge project. Bill Bane's father, J.W., pledged $50. At least 14 other residents also gave money. A note on the agreement shows a total cost of $469.

A letter between Francis and Virginia Bridge shows delivery of the trusses was delayed for a time in February 1913 because of bad weather. A second letter dated March 17, 1913, from the iron company to Francis indicates the residents were "well satisfied with our work" on the completed bridge.

According to Bane, the men of the community built the wooden decking and maintained it. Until about 1916 when the first cars came to White Gate, the horses and wagons were the only traffic to cross the bridge, Bane said.

The bridge was little changed from those days on June 4, when the driver of a truck belonging to Franklin Ready Cement of Rocky Mount tried to cross the bridge.

Witnesses said there was no warning, no sounds to indicate a collapse was imminent. When the 95-year-old bridge gave way, it simply fell into the creek.

The driver, Paul Bowman, 29, of Bluefield suffered a cut to the back of his head during the wreck and was treated at Carilion Giles Memorial Hospital in Pearisburg.

Bowman was charged with destruction of property, a Class 6 felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $2,500 fine. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 15 in Giles County General District Court.

At the time of the wreck, Virginia State Police Trooper K.W. Spencer said Bowman was hauling more then 15 tons of concrete. VDOT had posted a sign on the bridge warning that its weight limit was 8 tons.

Hazardous materials crews were dispatched to the creek to clean up an estimated 10 gallons of motor oil that spilled as a result of the crash. The bridge collapse occurred not far from the site of a fuel tanker crash in February that dumped about 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the creek.

The truck's cement "bowl" stayed in the creek until Monday, causing some concern among neighbors. Because of the weight and odd shape of the bowl, officials had to order special equipment to remove it, causing the delay, VDOT spokeswoman Heidi Coy said.

The new two-lane bridge was already under construction when the old bridge collapsed, and residents -- including several Amish families that still cross the bridge on horse-drawn wagons -- now use a temporary bridge erected by crews to carry construction equipment across the creek.

Today, Bane said he likes to drive down to the bridge site and rib VDOT officials that it took probably less than a month to build the first bridge, while it's taken several months for work crews to pour one abutment for the new bridge.

The new bridge is expected to cost $1.1 million and to be completed sometime this fall, Coy said.