This image is of the Keokuk-Hamilton bridge that crosses the Mississippi River. I rode across it many times with my parents as a child. My dad hated driving across it and talking or misbehaving while on the bridge was forbidden. It was extremely narrow when meeting a semi (even when you were not meeting the semi on one of the "curves. I can remember my parents "pulling in the truck mirrors" while we crossed and I think there was at least one broken truck mirror as a result of meeting a semi
Traffic would stop on the bridge to let barges go through and I can remember getting "stuck" on the bridge waiting for a barge to cross. Sometimes we'd get out and walk on the bridge looking down at the water through the grate. The bridge does not have a solid concrete surface. It was always fun to look down at the water.
The bridge is still standing today and is used for railroad traffic. There is a newer bridge to the south which is used for highway traffic.
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| Keokuk--Hamilton Bridge,courtesy Library of Congress--heading east from Iowa side. |
There is a history of the bridge on the Library of Congress website as well--in PDF format.
Source information below:
- Title: 15. GENERAL DECK VIEW, KEOKUK HIGHWAY APPROACH, LOOKING E TOWARD THE BRIDGE. PHOTOGRAPHER: ROBERT A. RYAN - Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge, Spanning Mississippi River, Keokuk, Lee County, IA
- Medium: 4 x 5 in.
- Reproduction Number: HAER IOWA,56-KEOK,1--15
- Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted.(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html)
- Call Number: HAER IOWA,56-KEOK,1--15
- Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
- Place:
