CAPE GIRARDEAU'S MISSISSIPPI BRIDGE IS RICH IN HISTORY

Individuals fuss and fume trying to amass facts and figures about the mighty Mississippi and often what is unearthed is not altogether correct. The river is constantly changing depending upon the season of the year, and the climate. The given length from Lake Itaska, in Minn., to the outflow at the gulf is 2,340 miles, and that length remains fairly constant. But the width of the river varies depending upon rainfall and melting of ice in the spring.

Bridges that span the river are constructed to reach from shore to shore with adequate approaches on either side.

The Cape Girardeau bridge is 4,774 feet, 4 inches long, which when built was a record for a bridge of this design. The width is 20 feet with eight spans and eight piers. The deepest pier was listed as 71 feet, 7 inches below the low water gauge. The height from the bottom of the lowest pier to the highest point of the steel structure is 262 feet, 11 inches; the clearance over normal low water is 99 feet; the length of the steel work is 3,423 feet, 10 inches; the weight is 43,000 tons; and 15,752 cubic yards of concrete were used in the structure.

By the fall of 1928 when the War Department sanctioned the bridge for use, the cost of the structure had amounted to $1.6 million, a low figure compared to construction costs of bridges today.

The bridge project was financed by a concentrated five-day sale of preferred stock, which was undertaken by the Garjem Corporation early in 1925.

The stock was purchased by 1,124 residents and netted approximately $403,000. The balance, which amounted to over $1 million, was obtained from banks and first mortgage bonds were given as security. The bridge company was to pay a specified rate of interest.

Throughout Missouri at the time, highways were being constructed and surfaced with concrete. In contrast, the roads in Illinois through the southern part of the state were in bad condition. This was true of the roads that brought traffic to the Illinois side of the bridge. It was a deterring factor that kept motorists from using the bridge and thus paying the toll. The tolls had been counted upon to help defray the maintenance costs of the bridge, but toll revenue suffered.

A survey was made prior to construction of the bridge by Harrington Howard & Ash of the yearly number of cars that used ferry boats at the foot of Morgan Oak and at Thebes. They found that the number was about 17,000 annually and of this number the Thebes Ferry transported about 12,000.

Ford Bacon & Davis of New York City also made an estimate and found a million motorists, who had not traveled through southern Illinois, would use the bridge once it was constructed. Bridges do more to stimulate travel than ferry boats.

Three and a half years after the bridge was constructed, it was difficult for residents to understand why the bridge was doomed to failure.

When the bridge opened, over 30,000 people participated in the ribbon-cutting exercises, September 1928, when two days of gala festivities were held on the campus of St. Vincent's Seminary, at the entrance to the bridge. There was a dinner, a parade, a pageant of historical events, and activities on the river and on shore.

Twenty-two persons died and 112 were injured in construction of the bridge.

The human element can never be forgotten. When residents admire the structure today they should also realize it is more that just a traffic bridge, it's a memorial to the individuals who lost their lives to make the bridge possible.

This week of the Fourth of July, the Mississippi River Bridge at Cape Girardeau is making an impressive five-state celebration of Desert Storm Veterans possible in the Jackson City Park that was organized and arranged by the United Way Desert Storm Task Force Committee.

Veterans groups in both Cape Girardeau and Jackson are joining together to make this event possible with a 9 a.m. parade in Jackson, which will proceed down Main Street to Union, and on to the city park where an 11 a.m. celebration will be held in the band shell honoring veterans from throughout the region.

At 8 p.m., the Jackson Jaycees will present their usual Fourth of July fireworks display, complete with a band concert. The civic group annually has presented the fireworks display since Jackson's Sesquicentennial in 1965.

The tie-in made possible because of the bridge is reminisce of another Fourth of July celebration when Eads Bridge was dedicated in St. Louis on July 4, 1874, with a $10,000 fireworks display and riverfront and water events enjoyed by thousands of persons.

Fourth of July events connected with bridges are always an interesting chapter in the history of the structures.