Black River Railroad Bridge, Corning, AR.  “This is a scene on Black River new bridge.  This is low water.  It gits all over the bottoms sometimes twenty five miles wide.  Good bye from one that hasn’t forgot you.  M. F. S."  Postmarked “Corning, ARK. June 26, 1908” “to F. P. Milligan, Maysvill, ARK, from MFS.” (Corning Library).

From the Clay County Courier:

"Tommie Russell brought by a section from the September 17, 1970 issue of The Courier, which shows [sic] picture of the Railroad [sic] bridge over Black River, taken in 1910.

"Accompanying the picture was [sic] article written by the late J. M. Oliver, Jr., who worked for several years gathering up old pictures and writing stories in preparation for Corning's 1973 Centennial Celebration.  The article, which we also found interesting, is being reprinted for the enjoyment of Courier readers who may be interested in area history:

" 'Anxious to get their railroad, the Cairo and Fulton, into operation in 1872, after the delay caused by the Civil War, bridges across the smaller Black and Little Red Rivers were being rushed to completion in 1872 and the line was opened from St. Louis to Little Rock in March 1875...  the longer bridges at Newport, over White River and across the Arkansas River at Little Rock were not completed until late in 1873 and the passengers ferried across the two streams to reach the terminal, shuttle trains operated between the two ferries.

" 'By 1910 the increased weight of the new locomotives and the increased size of the boxcar and longer trains made the early bridges obsolete and the Summer of 1910 found a bridge building gang camped on the banks to rebuild.  Piling had to be driven deeper and heavier iron work at the top with draw bridge at the near end since the river was still considered navigable and the river had to be open to boats to the Arkansas-Missouri state line.

" 'Corning citizens enjoyed strolling down to the bridge to check on progress and quite naturally, L. D. Oaks, the photographer of the local scene, showed up one day with his camera.  The bridge crew posed from the topmost parts of the structure and the local viewers contended themselves by posing in the safer position on the tracks.  No identifications are possible at this late date but the ubiquitous lad who always made an L. D. Oaks scene is perched in barefoot splendor in the foreground.'  The picture is from the Anna Lindsey collection and was among hundreds of pictures that made an appearance locally in the years leading up to our Centennial."

Submitted by Danny Moore