Postcard from the Past: Bridge Across the Platte Goes Down the River

The following article appeared in the May 27, 1897 issue of the Saratoga Sun:

The bridge built by W.B. Cowan across the Platte River near his place for the accommodation of  himself and neighbors went out last Saturday and came near being the cause of the loss of the lives of three men.

The bridge has been out of repair for a year or more and was being repaired at the time it went out.

James Cowan, James Deegan and John McFarlane were engaged in the work when the part they were on was carried down the stream. The men were all three submerged and escaped with difficulty.

James Cowan was fortunate enough to catch a floating log over which he threw one arm and swam to the shore with it, landing well downstream. Deegan managed to float on some portion of the bridge until he passed under an over-hanging tree, the branches of which he caught and swung himself free from the icy flood.

McFarlane was thoroughly drenched but managed to save himself with difficulty, for the pier was washed out from under him.

Mrs. W.B. Cowan had a narrow escape also. W.B. Cowan had just driven her up to look at the work. She stepped onto the bridge intending to walk out on it, when something caused her to go ashore. She was only fairly well out of danger when the structure went out.

 When the trouble was over, part of the men were on one side of the river and part on the other, though all were safe. It was a close call for all three of the men.

Excerpts from a letter written by W.B. Cowan, dated June 1, 1897, gives a more colorful account of the near tragedy. 

Cowan wrote, in part, “Now I’ll tell you of the event which made May 22 memorable and might have proved a tragedy. At this time of year, the Platte River is a wide, deep and rapid stream carrying away the snow from the mountains on either side of the valley 10,000 feet above sea level. This last winter, the snow has been very heavy and the river was in a tearing torrent. We have a bridge over it something like this…” But, then, that’s a story for the next Postcard.