Glenn Gordo standing
in front of the bridge
Glenn Gordo standing
in front of the bridge
Glenn Gordo (I like the
“Don’t Smoke” sign)
Yosemite > Pioneer History > 1957 Wawona Bridge Restoration >
These photos were taken in 1957 by Glenn Gordo, who supervised the original Wawona Bridge Restoration in 1957. Glenn Gordo, master craftsman and builder from Mariposa and grandson of a pioneering Portuguese couple, along with his crew, were recruited after a flood in 1955 damaged the bridge. Doug Hubbard remembers the bridge restoration:
Gordo and his workmen shored up the bridge’s sagging middle, used pieces of heavy pipe, and with a bulldozer-powered winch rolled it smoothly ashore. After months of intensive work, during which the deteriorating timbers, siding, and roof were replaced, the process was reversed and the bridge rolled back to its original position.
[Shirley Sargent Protecting Paradise (1998), p. 110.]
The photos here were developed Dec. 1957,
and scanned by Glenn Goro’s youngest daughter Karene Gordo Lane in 2008.
Karene donated the scans to the Yosemite Online Library in 2008.
The captions are from Karene’s older sisters, who remember the project (Karene was just a baby at the time).
—Dan Anderson
|
Glenn Gordo standing in front of the bridge |
Glenn Gordo standing in front of the bridge |
Glenn Gordo (I like the “Don’t Smoke” sign) |
Glenn Gordo getting on the tractor used to pull the bridge across the South Fork Merced River |
After the bridge was pulled across |
Glenn talking to his crew |
Bridge during reconstruction |
Glenn Gordo (probably inspecting the bridge) |
Glenn Gordo (probably inspecting the bridge) |
Bridge during reconstruction |
Glenn talking to his crew |
Glenn talking to his crew |
Wawona Covered Bridge (from Yosemite Nature Notes 1956) |
Wawona Covered Bridge (from Yosemite 2004) |
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/pioneer-yosemite-history-center/1957-bridge-restoration/