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WARREN BEDSTEAD PONY TRUSS
1910 Tillman 71N2160E1690003 Illinois Steel Br.
1912 Lincoln 41E0820N3490004
1913 Okmulgee 56E1010N4000008 Missouri Valley Br.
1914 Creek 19E0840N3690003 Kansas City Br.
1914 Tulsa 72N4017E0780007 Oklahoma Iron Works
The small group (12) of Warren bedstead ponies which remain in the state seem to share the general advantage of truss leg spans, that is, their end posts extend below the deck directly into a substructure. Many bridge companies included this type in their structural inventories and volunteered sketches and detailed specifications whenever counties contemplated purchasing new bridges. Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron, one such firm with a strong presence in Oklahoma, built a 74-foot Warren bedstead over Moore Creek in 1913, as Okmulgee County established roads between the county seat and smaller communities to the southeast. Another good example of the type, dating from 1914, and the only structure identified as erected by Tulsa's Oklahoma Iron Works, whose bridges may have been designed by engineer R. K. Hughes, stands on Snake Creek near Bixby (Figure 57).
Warren bedsteads as represented in Oklahoma comprise an important asset, for like other variations on basic truss types, they illustrate design innovation and adaptation as well as the industrial capacity of bridge companies. The flexibility in design and function is a further reminder why the steel truss became an American success story.
Figure 57. The Warren configuration is evident in this bedstead made by the Oklahoma Iron Works. Bridge 72N4017E0780007, 41 feet long and 13 feet wide, sits over Snake Creek, south of Bixby.
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