County looking to sell wood from covered bridge
FREMONT – The county commissioners and other county personnel are exploring different options for selling the wood recovered from the recent refurbishing of the 164-year-old Mull Covered Bridge, county Engineer Jim Moyer said.
“If anyone has an idea, let us know,” Moyer said Tuesday.
The county, park district and Ballville Township officials who helped with the restoration project are discussing their options, including holding an auction or selling the wood on the govdeals.com website.
The wood recovered from the historic bridge ranges from planks 3 inches thick and 12 feet long to oak boards 8 to 10 inches thick and about 16 feet long. Moyer said the wood can be used to make furniture or be kept for sentimental reasons.
Adam Decker, a Fremont-area contractor, said the wood is not worth much within the state, but the timber oak wood does hold value elsewhere.
“The wood is worthless in our area,” Decker said. “We don’t appreciate it here. But the further west you go, the more in demand it is.”
Decker said that, in this area, the wood would sell for about $1 per board foot.
“Out west, you can sell it for as high as $22 per board foot. That is more of an extreme. You could get at least $4 to $5,” Decker said.
Moyer said the county might not have time to fuss over the value, as the wood is being stored inside the county’s salt shed and needs to be removed before Nov. 1, when the county plans to start stocking salt for the winter.
He said the wood is a piece of local history, and the county wanted to make it available for sale in case someone in the area wanted to keep it for its historical value.
“The siding is newer, but some of that timber is 100 years old,” Moyer said. “We have use for it ourselves.”
Some of the wood, Moyer said, would be considered useless because the county could not remove some of the thick nails from the support wood.
The bridge, built in 1851, has become a local landmark. It is the only remaining covered bridge in the county and one of the few still standing in northwestern Ohio.
About 80 percent of the $330,000 restoration project is being funded by an Ohio Department of Transportation grant, said Andrew Brown, director of the Sandusky County Park District.
According to the park district, the bridge, which is a “town lattice” truss type, was built by the Henry Mull family to allow for safe access for trade to the Mull mill.
In 1974, the Mull Covered Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“The bridge is different than ones you see now. The bridge was built using timber in a longitude and perpendicular pattern instead of concrete and steel decks. They don’t use this type of wood,” Moyer said.
cshoup@gannett.com
419-334-1035
Twitter: @CraigShoupNH