Latta Family Collection: The Latta Bridge on Jasper Avenue, 1936, by Izola Mottershead
Date: 1936
The new bridge was completed in 1936 and turned out to be an exciting source of entertainment for us. It was also the cause of sibling rivalry and WAR! Before too many years rolled by, David had become bold enough to shinny along the girders under the deck of the bridge and secure a thick rope which hung down to the ground - about 40 feet. The rope had two large knots tied in it near the end - one for feet to tenuously stand on and one for hands to cling onto for dear life.
Looking at the bridge from below, it looked like giant Meccano Set creation, standing on great steel I-beams which rose out of solid cement footings. We watched its construction from our kitchen window, and saw the workmen below toss red-hot rivets from a fire straight up to the riveters, who scooped them out of the air and hammered them into place.
On each side of the gorge, three tall I-beams - spaced about eighteen feet apart - were joined by two horizontal bands of angle-iron zigzagged with smaller strips of metal, the first a few inches off the ground and the second half-way up the pillars. It resembled a table with six legs braced with crossbeams for stability. Double angle-iron beams rose on the diagonal from the lower middle joints to the middle of the outer pillar. They were joined by twelve-inch squares, which were just far enough apart for my skinny legs and groping fingers and toes to inch their way up to the middle girder, a good twenty feet off the ground. From this point, unlike my brothers who could scurry up that "ladder" and shinny across the center girder lickety-split, I had a painstakingly slow journey. This is where the "war" started because I was taking up precious time. Both hands would grasp the cold, hard steel, legs hanging like spaghetti, bum being inched steadily forward, eyes frozen on my hands. Reaching my destination, I would turn and put my back against the welcome security of the pillar, then reach out to grab the rope as it was heaved toward me. But my arms were shorter and my courage weak, so it took many tires before I would finally snag it. Then things really got hot! The whole time I was trying to work up the nerve to jump, my brothers were threatening my body with serious damage. It didn't matter what they screamed at me, it still took what seemed like forever to me, to squelch my fear like a true Latta, lift my rump off my safe spot, and then - with a scream, not of Tarzan but of terror, which eased its way up from my churning stomach, past my new adult teeth, only to be whipped from my lips as I plummeted earthward, I soared like an eagle and was triumphant again!