The J.W. Spencer Ferryboat had it's last day at the Jefferson City crossing of the Missouri River when the new bridge opened in 1896 connecting the Kingdom of Callaway and Coles County. B.F. Oliver was there right above Bolivar street on the bluff with his new 8x10 field camera mounted solidly on a tripod taking photographs.

The large round pylon under the bridge was built to rotate that span of the bridge around it, allowing clearance for tall boats to pass up and down stream. As a boy I remember long waits watching as the bridge slowly turned to open. We would get out of the car and watch as the steamboat or barge would pass by. It was worth the wait.

When the Missouri River, "The Big Muddy" we called her, floods the river bottom land from bluff to bluff is covered with water. The summer of 1951 that happened. The top of the picture is north so the land there becomes one great lake of fast moving muddy water. My home was located on the north bluff about 7 miles down river from Jefferson City at the little town of Wainwright. My mother had two problems. First, all her farm land in the river bottom was under 6 feet of water and second there was a train for me to catch in Jefferson City. I was headed for the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. Of course the road was deep under water on the Callaway side of the river. All was solved when a friend, river trapper and fisherman offered a ride across the flooded bottoms in his John Boat. The currents from the swirling flood waters were swift, but we made it safely. Getting out of the boat I stepped well up on the roadway of the bridge approach. My mother would had a break from "The Only Child" for a couple weeks. A relief for her I'm sure.

This photo is available in a ready for frame print from the original master scan sized 12" tall x16" wide.