Posted by Webmaster on June 29, 2007 at 21:32:53:
In Reply to: Tuscumbia Bridge Dedication posted by Webmaster on June 29, 2007 at 21:31:26:
As the Band neared the bridge it was observed that a car bearing Missouri license No. 1 was following closely. One of the occupants was our honored Governor, Hon. Guy B. Park, who had not been expected before 12 o'clock, but he arrived in time for all the festivities.
It had been arranged for Mr. T. H. Irwin of the State Highway Department to "officially" open the new bridge for traffic, but through a misunderstanding of the hour, he was late in arriving. However, his brother, Hon. W.C. Irwin, who had no little hand in bringing the question of the Department's right to build a bridge over a navigable stream, before the Supreme Court, was present and substituted for his brother.
Mr. Irwin recalled the progress which had been made in the mode of transportation across the Osage River here; how that the crude flatboat was first, then the ferry boat, and then the suspension bridge, which was , when built in 1905, the only bridge for public traffic between Warsaw on the Osage and the mouth of the Missouri River.