A4. THE PERKINS JOURNAL, Thursday, January 30, 2014
Connnuni00v
HISTORY
:Continued from Page A1
ipiling were delivered and
iwork was started under
'the direction of Tom
'Coverdale and A. G. Wil-
liams during the summer
ignd the usual low water
period. Mickey Cochran,
ill Dillon, Gene McNutt,
and Charles French fur-
rushed the teams to haul
the lumber and drive the
piling. The whole male
tiopulation went to work
merchants, doctors,
teamsters, and farmers.
All worked side by side
in organized team work.
'Some of those helping
with construction were J.
A. Hockett, Frank Bice,
;William A. Hoagland,
,1. L. Hudiburg, John
:leaves, Frank Lockett, W.
O. Annis, John Hudiburg,
Charlie Stewart, Sam R.
Stumbo, Carl Coverdale,
James Westlake, Jim
:Vandever, Fred Cline,
George Johnson, Alvin
Hudiburg, D. L. "Bird"
Porter, J. W. Teter,'and
Enos Teter.
On September 1, 1891,
three weeks before the run
to open the Iowa and Sac
and Fox the bridge was
completed and Perkins
truly was the "Gateway"
to the new country. The
single lane bridge was
740 feet long with hand
rails on either side. A
dedication celebration was
held at the bridge prior to
the opning. Two queens
wer%,chosen, one white
and one Indian, syrii-bol-
izing"the joining of the
lands of the white man on
the nh side of the river
with the Indian country on
the South side. Miss Nellie
Stumbo (Mote), of Anglo-
Saxoh'decent, the daughter
of S. R. Stumbo, and Miss
Mellie Tohee (Dole), of
Indian decent, the daugh-
ter of Chief David Tohee,
met in the middle of the
bridge and each chris-
tened the structure with a
bottle of wine. Then Miss
Stumbo spoke these words,
"We anoint this bridge as a
token of peace and good-
will toward all men. May
the friendly intercourse of
these two races be forever
sealed by the mingling of
this wine." Then the crowd
of about 1000 people
listened to such orators
as Hen. Horace Speed,
Colonel Ross, William T.
Little, E. G. Guthrie, F.
H. Green, F. B. Lilly, and
Captain Bain.
Heavy Spring rains in
1897 washed away the
bridge at Perkins, the first
wagon bridge to be built
across the Cimarron River
in Oklahoma. During the
night of Sunday, April 25,
1897, two spans of the
bridge collapsed near the
center. The last person
believed to have crossed
the doomed structure was
Rev. Buckner of Guthrje,
crossing with horse and
buggy about 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday morning a crew
of men went to work using
ropes and poles to remove
drift lodged against the
remaining part of the
bridge, but were ham-
pered by heavy rain which
began falling at noon. By
Wednesday morning the
entire south half of the
bridge had been washed
away and two sections
near the north approach
had collapsed. There
was no hope of saving
the remaining part of the
bridge and the river con-
tinued to rise and flood the
lowland areas.
Perkins city officials,
realizing the inconve-
nience the washout would
cause the traveling public
and possible negative
effects on the business
community, held a special
meeting and appropriated
money to build a boat,
which was placed on the
river. John K. Linder and
George McNair, two old
Missouri River boatmen
were hired to operate
the boat. They had been
stranded here on account
of the flood.
The Kansas City Star
published the following
article about the Perkins
bridge in January 1898.
"This is the greatest
bridge building town in
Oklahoma. When the
flood which inundated
West Oklahoma last spring
poured into the Cimarron
from the Cottonwood,
the sea of water, with its
currents of tons of debris,
swept away the long
bridge across the Cimarron
at this place as if its only
made of cobwebs. Its loss
was a blow to the business
interests of the town, and
public-spirited citizens
began at once to replace
the bridge.
"The bed of the Cimarron
is wide and its sands are
deep at this place, and the
work was difficult. The
bridge was completed
last month and the event
celebrated by the citizens
from towns and country
for miles around. W.A.
Knipe of Perkins made
the address of the day and
Miss Maude DeVault, a
daughter of one of the
founders of Perkins, drove
the last spike.
"The bridge is 900 feet
in length, the longest truss
bridge in all Oklahoma,
and the only truss bridge
for wagons across the
Cimarron River. No one
will be permitted to put
signs or advertisements
on it. The most notewor-
thy point is that the bridge
is on a thoroughfare strait
from Arkansas City to Per-
kins and is much traveled
by home seekers who cross
the river into Southern
Oklahoma. It is the big-
gest thing of the kind in
this part of Oklahoma and
free to all travelers.
"The first bridge was
built by the citizens of
Perkins in the Summer
of 1891, and opened in
September of that year
for the run into the Sac
and Fox and Iowa reser-
vations. It was the great
road inducement which
built up Perkins."
The Payne County
Board of Commissioners
awarded a contract for a
new steel bridge across
the Cimarron River at
Perkins to Midland Bridge
Company of Kansas City,
Missouri, on September 8,
1903. Construction was to
be completed within six
months. In 1902, the road
and bridge tax for the Per-
kins Township was eight
mills, and even with the
new five-mill levy for the
bridge, the township road
and bridge tax for 1903
was only seven and one
half mills.
The new bridge became
part of a legal battle, and
a temporary injunction
was issued against its
construction. On January
18, 1904, Chief Justice
Burford of the Territorial
Supreme Court dissolved
the injunction and sus-
tained all contracts which
insured erection of the
bridge.
The Perkins Journal
reported on June 30,
This leaflet was printed showing a plat of Perkins and Oklahoma and stated that Perkins
was the "gateway" to the Iowa and Sac and Fox lands to be opened by land run. These
were mailed to chambers of commerce, public officials, and any citizens whose manes were
available in Kansas, Missouri, eastern Nebraska, southern Iowa, and parts of Illinois and
Indiana.
The bridge built in 1897 was 900 feet in length, the longest truss bridge, in all Oklahoma,
and the only truss bridge for wagons across the Cimarron River.
//i
Cimarron river bridge at Perkins, spring 1903. A contract for a new steel bridge was
awarded by the Payne County Commissioners in September 1903, but due to a legal chal-
lenge, construction was not completed until September 1905..
1905, "E. E. Board and J.
H. Siple, of Nevada, Mis-
souri, who have charge
of the building of the
Perkins bridge arrived
in the city Friday and
begun the arranging of
the preliminary work for
the erection of the steel
bridge over the Cimarron
south of Perkins. On July
5 the work will begin and
will be completed in six
weeks."
See HISTORY, Page A5
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