The Cataract Covered Bridge is one of Owen County’s historic treasures, the county’s only remaining covered bridge, one of six Smith Truss covered bridges in the state, and one of the finest remaining examples of that truss. Covered bridges have been built around the world for centuries, and during America’s rapid expansion and abundant timber supply they were built at an unsurpassed rate because covering a bridge protected its wooden trusses from rotting, while without a roof a bridge might last only four years. The first known covered bridge in Indiana was in Henry County in 1834, and by the 1880s Indiana had between 400 and 500 covered bridges. In 1876, the community of Cataract included mills and shops, and the bridge linked Cataract with residents on the other side of Mill Creek. In the late 1800s, as manufacturing moved from individually made items to mass production, the Smith Bridge Company introduced new techniques for covered bridge construction to compete with iron bridges that appeared after the Civil War. Rather than building covered bridges from scratch on site, Ohio native Robert W. Smith built the Smith Truss in the company’s factory in Toledo, disassembled it, and shipped it out for reassembly. In 1875, a flood destroyed the first covered bridge at Cataract and more than a dozen bridges in Owen County, while one of the few bridges to survive was the covered bridge at Gosport, which used a Smith Truss. One month later, when Owen County sought bids for a replacement bridge, the advertisement requested a Smith Truss, and the current bridge was completed in 1876. Extensive rehabilitation has preserved the bridge through rebuilding the wingwalls, repairing abutment, replacing and repairing truss timbers and lateral braces, and redoing trim, siding, and historical details. Funding came from the Indiana Department of Transportation through Federal Highway Transportation Enhancement Funds. Built in 1876, the bridge’s wood structure is 148 feet long; its abutments cost $1678.84, the bridge cost $2009.00, its materials are limestone and non-native white pine, its biggest timbers are 33 ½ feet long, its cut stones weigh 4000 pounds each, and it was closed to vehicular traffic in 1988.