Iowa
Old Press
Maquoketa Sentinel
Maquoketa, Jackson County, Iowa
August 10, 1854
MISSISSIPPI BRIDGE
The work on the Railroad bridge across the Mississippi at this
point is steadily progressing. This morning we noticed that the
stone work for the bridge from this city to the island is all
completed, but about five or six feet on the abutment adjoining
the city. There is a strong force at work on that, and the
contractor, John Warner, Esq. thinks it will be completed in
about two weeks, ready for the superstructure. The abutment on
the Iowa shore for the bridge across the main channel of the
river will contain about 800 rods of masonry, 500 of which is
already laid and the work would have been commenced upon the
piers before this time, but for the rise in the rivers. The
grading of the island is going ahead rapidly, and will probably
be completed in a very few weeks.-Rock Island Republican,
29th.
[Transcribers note: In 1856 the steamboat Effie Afton
struck this bridge and sunk. A lawsuit followed for obstructing
navigation against the company that built the bridge. Abraham
Lincoln defended the bridge company in the lawsuit. -Transcribed
by K.W., May 2009]