--- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, "Robert Brown" <kansas57@...> wrote:
>
> When I was a reporter for the Daily Times in ottawa I interviewed a
> retiring bridge tender and he told me several stories that I could
not
> print in a family newspaper, including uncounted numbers of couples
> who thought they were alone in the park below the bridge but in clear
> view of the tender.
>
> He also told about a fire on either the Ottawa bridge or the one near
> LaSalle (I don't remember after 25 years) which killed the tender
when
> he became trapped in his house above the burning cars. Does anyone
> know when this might have happened and if it was Ottawa or LaSalle?
>
Robert,
I don't recall any stories about a Q bridgetender dying in a fire, but
I do know a NYC bridgetender downriver at DePue (KKK-Streator-Ladd-
Zearing line) was killed in a fire in 1963 or 1964.
When the bridge was repaired the control shanty was moved off the
swing span to the north bank so if something ever happened again the
bridgetender would have an escape route to dry land.
BTW, I, too, worked for the Daily Times 1985-1994 as a photographer
and occasional feature writer. Still keep in touch with some folks
down there. About a year ago they completely assimilated the Streator
paper and moved the Saturday paper to the AM (still PM Mon.-Fri.).
Paul Carpenter is still there.
Did you ever get into the historic documents over at Reddick Library?
One item they had over there was a postcard showing the Q bridge at
Ottawa before it was a lift bridge. When the Corps of Engineers dug
out the Illinois Waterway in the 1930s, the Q simply cut the middle
span loose and added on the hoisting equipment to raise and lower it.
I would also be interested in hearing anything further about the Q
bridges in Ottawa and LaSalle.
Apologies to the rest of the list for the off-topic stroll down memory
lane.
Harold Krewer
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