Sometime ago I mentioned sharing the history of Wheeling's Suspension Bridge with you. I guess this is the day.
This will be a 2 part story, as told from the Bridges' point of view. Enjoy.
At one time I was a covered bridge. A very long time ago. Then when I was no longer safe they tore me down and began changing me into a suspension bridge. In the summer of 1849 the first cable was laid from Ohio to Virginia (West Virginia had not seceded from the Union yet and Ohio still claimed the Island), a span of 1,010 feet, to be the world's longest suspension bridge Boy, was I ever proud!
I watched as more cables were stretched across the Ohio River, then the timbers, planks, braces, supports, and finally the floor. I was looking good, really good. Then it was October 1849, there was a Grand Opening and a celebration of my completion. I had made history - the longest suspension bridge in the world! I cost almost $250,000.00. I can't even imagine what that would be. Wheeling was just a baby town, around 13,000 people, and in front of me at the north end tower there was a toll booth. Can you imagine, people had to pay to cross me.
It was just so funny - a man with his horse paid 10 cents A six horse carriage paid 15 cents. The four horse mail coach paid a huge $1.22 per month. Here is the really funny part - hogs and sheep cost 2 cents per head. I really didn't like the hogs and sheep because they always seemed to wait until they were on me before they made a mess. And sometimes the mess was really bad. I didn't smell quite so good then, but at least I was over the river, had a breeze under and over me, and I was, after all, beautiful.
At night I just glowed. I had 1,010 lights, one for each foot of the bridge length. I overheard one person asking why there had to be lights, that they should take them down. Then I heard the reply, "Take them down! You might as well try to take down the rainbow".
For 5 years I swayed with the breeze, watching the traffic come and go. Then suddenly in 1854 there was a tremendous storm racing through my Ohio Valley, right down the river, coming straight at me. I held on as tight as I could, but suddenly one of my cables snapped, then another and another. One extremely violent gust of wind turned me completely upside down, then I broke into three pieces and fell into the river below. My weight crashing into the river created a horrendous torrent of water, reaching a height of 40 feet, clear across the river. The tidal wave briefly flooded the city of Wheeling, along with parts of the Island.
I was gone, except for my twin towers, one on the Wheeling side of the river, the other on the Island side of the river. (This island divides the Ohio River here at Wheeling. On the Ohio side of the Island is Bridgeport Ohio).
All that is left of me are my towers.
Tomorrow I will tell the "rest of the story" as Paul Harvey used to say on his radio broadcasts. Until then, remember what today is all about, take a few minutes...say a prayer, and God Bless.
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