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When bridges fly…it’s not magic
By
Anita Walker, SHSI Administrator
History has come to life in the most fantastical way here in Iowa. And while the results seem like the stuff of Hollywood, the effort behind them has been painstaking, grueling, and tedious.
It sure felt like a Hollywood
set that gray March day at the Lodge in Wapsipinicon State Park. Hundreds
of local schoolchildren were given a holiday for a real life history lesson,
while even more camera-packing people from miles around withstood a damp
chill for a chance to see something they’d never forget: a bridge
fly.
The last trip it took, more than 100 years ago, the three sections of the bridge journeyed by rail from its manufacturer in Cleveland, Ohio, to Hale, Iowa. It became one of hundreds of bowstring bridges that connected commerce and communities across the state. But over the years, these bridges disappeared, and today the Hale Bridge is one of the last remaining of its kind in Iowa. So when it was slated to be replaced, Rose Rohr and the Jones County Historic Preservation Commission went to work to save it. That’s where the “painstaking, grueling and tedious” part comes in. The group knew it had something special, a piece of Iowa history, and it spent literally years assembling the local, state, federal and private partners to save the Hale Bridge.
The culmination of this effort happened in front of throngs of cameras and spectators. Two National Guard Chinook Helicopters lifted the three 20,000-pound spans of the bridge, maxing out their load limits (plus or minus the fuel on board), and flew them from Hale, 15 miles, to the Wapsipinicon State Park near Anamosa. There, each section was precisely and carefully placed on its newly constructed pilings over the river, a giant, powerful helicopter threading a needle.
People were amazed by the skill of the pilots. And they felt the grip of being part of something that would stand the test of time and memories. They watched a historic bridge make history. And they experienced the power of the old bridge to make a new kind of connection: generation to generation.
It really was like something out of the movies. And it is destined for its moment of broadcast fame. The History Channel’s Mega Movers’ cameras were there, filming a special segment on the Hale Bridge: the bridge that flew.
NOTE: The Hale Bridge feature will appear on the History Channel’s
Mega Movers Tuesday, June 27 at 10 p.m.
