Lined up in neat rows, the old bridge rails from the McCullough Bridge sit in the Hamilton Construction yard, along with new replacement rails at left. Each section is between 16 to 20 feet long and weighs about 6,000 pounds. World Photo by Lou Sennick

NORTH BEND — There’s nothing quite like owning a piece of history. People have bought hunks of the Berlin Wall, chiseled away at bits of Plymouth Rock and snatched up baggies, vials, pendants and other gimmicky goods stuffed with ashes from the day Mount St. Helens blew.

Soon, people in Coos County will be able to pick up their own scraps of local history, when the general contractor on the McCullough Bridge renovation project begins unloading sections of its old concrete guardrail.

It might take some time, but Springfield-based Hamilton Construction Co. intends to sell the 6,000-pound chunks and likely donate a few to the city of North Bend and the county for use in parks and public buildings.

“They belong here, y’know? Let the public use them where they see fit. They are just part of the history of the area,” said Kate Brownell, the job office manager for Hamilton’s North Bend office.

While the guardrails (more accurately described as bridge rails) will be up for sale, the company hasn’t set a price. In the meantime, Brownell is taking names and phone numbers. So far, she’s received about a dozen requests from community members, as well as from two North Bend city officials.

“We’ve got three more years on the project, so we’re not really concerned with getting them out of the yard in any big hurry,” Brownell said.

Completed in 1936, the McCullough Bridge and its ornate concrete rails were constructed by master bridge builder Conde McCullough. Each piece ranges from 16 to 20 feet long and will be replaced with steel enforced concrete replicas.

Brownell said some of the people who contacted her want to use the architectural pieces to decorate their yards and line driveways.

“I don’t know what they’re going to do, because it’s a pretty big piece of concrete,” she said.

Among the hopefuls are Mark Hodgins and his life partner, Marcia Jensen.

A North Bend resident, Hodgins said he’d like to buy four pieces of the rail to line a driveway at Jensen’s horse ranch off Hollow Stump Road.

“It’s a beautiful old bridge, so why not take advantage of the fact that they’re remodeling and get pieces for the house?” Hodgins said. “They’re going to have to get rid of them. At 6,000 pounds a piece, they’re not going to sell like hotcakes; I can tell you that.”

The idea to buy the bridge leftovers came to Hodgins and Jensen while visiting Gold Beach about three years ago. At the time, Hamilton Construction was finishing renovations on the Isaac Lee Patterson Memorial Bridge. Some portions of its rail already were scattered around the community.

“We kinda kicked ourselves for not seeing if we could buy some of them for the ranch,” Hodgins said.

Down in Gold Beach, Larry Prestininzi, the owner of Lex’s Landing, bought up nearly 50 of the Gold Beach rail pieces from Hamilton. He said he’s placed them throughout his property, and several serve as barriers to his boat launch ramp.

“It made so much sense to preserve them and keep them here,” Prestininzi said. “What better landscape can you have?”

Although he got most of the railing, Prestininzi wasn’t the only one to get his hands on pieces of this McCullough legacy. He also sold about three dozen to people in the community at about $600 a pop, Prestininzi said, adding that customers had to move the hefty railings themselves.

When work began on the North Bend bridge, Hodgins, a Realtor for Prudential Seaboard Properties in Coos Bay, decided to take advantage of this second chance and asked for a few chunks of his own.

Though Hodgins doesn’t know how much they’ll cost or if he’ll be lucky enough to get any pieces of the bridge, he said he’s willing to pay a few bucks and already has a flatbed truck lined up if the opportunity arises.

In honor of her late husband, Hamilton Construction gave two pieces of the Patterson bridge to Dawna Radford, the widow of Dennis Radford. He worked as a Hamilton superintendent on the bridge renovation during the early days.

The architectural pieces now serve as a reminder of her late husband and her own family history. All of Radford’s children and their spouses are in bridge construction, she added.

I thought that was pretty awesome, because my husband was part of this team,” she said. “He liked it here. He liked the bridge.”

Two segments line the driveway to her business, Four Seasons RV Resort on the Rogue River, which she and Dennis purchased a month and a half before he died in 2002.

These days, she sometimes thinks of Dennis when she looks at the bridge rails and often takes the opportunity to share the story with her guests — but only when they ask. Radford added she believes salvage from McCullough’s bridges should remain in the communities they came from. However, she said she might have to contradict herself if she ever relocates.

“If I ever sold this, I would probably have to take them with me,” she said.