Hogback Covered Bridge

The Hogback Bridge was also built by Harvey P. Jones and George K. Foster in 1884 using the Town lattice truss with queenpost overlay. The Hogback spans 98 feet over North River, four miles northwest of Winterset. While most of the covered bridges were named for nearby landowners, Hogback was named for the hogback ridge at the west end of the valley (its convex curve resembling the curve of a hog’s back).

Farmers living near the bridges maintained many of them in order to defray a county poll tax of usually fifty cents. This tax was placed on men over the age of twenty-one and had to be paid before one was allowed to vote. Thus, any able-bodied man who could not afford to pay the poll tax, could grade the roads or paint the bridges to pay off his debt.

Location

1879 Hogback Bridge Rd.
Winterset, IA 50273