The Flint Hills of Kansas feature a rich heritage, including stone arch bridges. After trying wood and steel, Flint Hills counties began to build enduring bridges out of the material of the hills themselves.
Tag Archives: Stones
Clues to the Past: Cowley’s “New” Stone Bridges and the Oak Valley Culverts
A comparison of the Oak Valley, Elk County, Kansas, culverts with many of those in Cowley County, Kansas, suggests there were quite a few stone bridges built by local governments independently of the WPA in the 1930s.
The Classic Rubble Masonry Arch
Arches constructed of rubble masonry are classic structures. They can be impressively strong, have their own unique characteristics, and are easy to build. Many stone bridges using this type of construction remain in use.
Moving Large Stones Manually
There are several ways to manually lift and move large stones that are too heavy to simply pick up and walk away with. In this post, several simple manual ways to move those big rocks is shown.
Long Span Arches: Design and Limitations
Long-span stone arch bridges have challenged builders for centuries. In this post we discuss some of the design considerations as well as the limitations encountered in long-span stone arch bridge construction.
Arch Building 101
Arch building need not be a complicated process; rubble arches can be laid that are both easy to build and impressively durable. Many old medieval bridges in Europe testify to this.
The Secret of the Arch: The Principles
The arch relies on compression to create a line of thrust that holds the arch stones in place. In this post, we investigate some of the theory of the arch and its line of thrust.
The Story of the Clements Bridge: Part 3
The Clements Bridge in Chase County, Kansas, is a historic landmark open to foot traffic. Unfortunately, as shown in this post, it needs repaired to ensure long-term stability.
The Importance of Compression Part 1
In this series of posts we compare slab, truss, and arch bridges, and explain why compression is crucial to an arch and how the arch operating in compression makes it durable.
Mortar Maintenance Part 2: In Practice
Repointing mortar is a regular maintenance item in mortared structures such as stone arch bridges. In this post, we investigate the procedures for successfully repointing.