Representative Ike Skelton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Contact: Lara Battles or
Saturday, May 14, 2005	Whitney Frost (202)225-2876

SKELTON SPEAKS AT HIGHWAY 13 MISSOURI RIVER BRIDGE DEDICATION

Lexington, Missouri – The Missouri Department of Transportation held a ceremony to dedicate the new Highway 13 Missouri River Bridge, which will be known as the Congressman Ike Skelton Bridge. Attached below please find Congressman Ike Skelton’s (D-MO) dedication ceremony remarks:

Remarks of Congressman Ike Skelton (D-MO)
Dedication of the Congressman Ike Skelton Bridge
Saturday, May 14, 2005

Thank you so much, Joe Aull, for your generous introduction. Members of the Missouri General Assembly, Ray and Lafayette County neighbors, and my fellow Missourians.

Today, we dedicate an engineering feat – the magnificent new bridge across the wide Missouri. What an opportunity to kindle pride in our community and pride in our state. This is truly a moment to remember.

Anyone who lives around here or who travels along this portion of Highway 13 can testify that for years people have asked, “when are we going to get a new bridge?” More recently the question has changed to, “when is that new bridge going to open?” So believe me, I think it is impossible to exaggerate what a very happy day this is for those who have waited so long for this day to arrive.

According to the Roman orator Cicero, the greatest of all virtues is gratitude. And, I want to express my gratitude to my neighbors, the members of the Highway 13 Missouri River Bridge Dedication Steering Committee, the members of the Missouri Department of Transportation, and the members of Missouri’s General Assembly for the naming of this bridge. Most of all, I am grateful to my wife, Susie, for her tireless support that allows me to carry out my public service. I must add that I am pleased that so many of my high school graduating class are with us today.

I acknowledge this honor with a deep sense of humility. Representing Missourians is such a privilege, as I have had a love affair with the State of Missouri all my life. Suffice it to say that I will endeavor, in the days and years ahead, to merit this high honor.

This day opens a notable chapter in the history of Ray and Lafayette Counties, and in the history of our state. The taxpayers generously paid for the bridge and the surrounding roads, with the politicians and government officials setting aside the money – almost $53 million in federal and state funds for the bridge itself. But the achievement lies in the skill of the designers, engineers, and laborers whose work translated our dream of a new bridge into reality, providing us with a safe way to travel and taking us into the future, across the wide Missouri.

But because this is such a momentous day, it is appropriate to look back and reflect on the previous chapters of our history that led us to this place today. This is a bridge over truly historic waters – the wide Missouri.

The river is central to the history of those who have lived in this region. The Indians who lived along its banks inspired the river’s name. The word “Missouri” is believed to have derived from the Indian word for “canoe”, and the Missouri Tribe were known as the “people of the wooden canoe.”

French trappers encountered the Missouri Indians in the late 1600s in present day Saline County. Another native group, the Little Osage, lived in this area during the 1700s. Scholars say that both tribes used the river for transportation and trade with the Europeans.

In addition to the heritage of the Indians who made their home along the river, the legacy of the French trappers endures. The names the French gave to the tributaries that flow into the Missouri River still adorn our maps: Tabeau Creek, the Lamine River, Chouteau Creek, and the Moreau River.

After the fledgling United States of America purchased the Louisiana territory, Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery traveled these waters, following the river across the continent. In fact, our new bridge is quite near the spot in present-day Ray County where Lewis and Clark’s party of explorers made camp in June 1804.

Fifteen years later in 1819, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expedition to explore the Missouri River and its tributaries demonstrated the potential usefulness of the river for the movement of goods, settlers, and troops. It also led to the Corps’ assignment to tame the river for navigation, removing the treacherous snags that endangered boats and steamboats.

The Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham immortalized the jolly flatboatmen who plied the waters of this river as the frontier opened in the early to mid-1800s. The flatboatmen were known for their songs, their chanties, including the beautiful and haunting American folk song, Shenandoah. The now-familiar boatmen’s song, which told of a trader who loved the daughter of Indian Chief Shenandoah, made its way down the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers to the American clipper ships, and thus around the world.

In the years to come, steamboats made the river their home. From about 1819 to 1881, steamboats paddled the river, taking settlers west and carrying trade goods and merchandise. Lexington became a major steamboat port, where manufactured goods from St. Louis and other points east were unloaded , and raw materials were loaded to travel down river.

Local shores witnessed one of the darkest days of the steamboat era when the steamboat Saluda called on the Port of Lexington in 1852. Encountering problems with the river’s current and heavy running ice, the Saluda’s boilers exploded and more than 200 passengers and crew perished.

During the War Between the States, steamboats carried troops and acted as armed transports, patrolling the river for Confederates attempting to cross the wide Missouri.

In the days before a bridge crossed the wide Missouri here, ferries enjoyed brisk business. The first ferry was established in 1819 by Lexington’s founder, Gilead Rupe. Both the steamboat and the ferry operations lost customers as railroads began to lay their tracks throughout the west, but the ferry business held on, providing river crossing services until the opening of the bridge in 1925.

Attempts to bridge the river between Lafayette and Ray Counties were made in 1889 and 1894, before what we now call the “old bridge” was built across the wide Missouri. Construction began in 1922, and the bridge opened on November 25, 1925. Even today, we can relate to the excitement and the anticipation of those citizens who were anxious to use the bridge for the first time.

As we dedicate the new bridge, we open a new chapter of our history on the Missouri River. For almost 80 years, the old bridge has served us faithfully. But after decades of service, it didn’t take an engineer to spot serious problems. With portions of the old bridge floor falling through, and the crumbling of the sides, and the rusting of the superstructure, many have feared that our continued use of the old bridge was an invitation to tragedy. The new bridge comes none too soon.

The safety factor is the most immediate benefit of the new bridge for those who cross the wide Missouri at this point. Countless drivers have suffered from white knuckles on the steering wheel every time they crossed the old span.

Safety comes first, but we cannot underestimate how important modern and well- maintained roadways are for local economic development. A bridge that meets modern standards will enable companies and manufacturers to deliver and receive the goods they need to conduct business. It will allow farmers to safely transport agricultural goods. It will allow residents and visitors alike to travel freely and frequently.

This bridge symbolizes progress and that essential quality of American optimism:

faith in the future;
belief in ongoing prosperity;
and our continuing effort to improve our country that has allowed America to prosper.

For thousands of years, the river has been witness to history. The new bridge will bear witness as those who cross the wide Missouri follow this road and add new chapters to the history of America.

Today, we celebrate. This achievement is a milestone for our state of Missouri. When you cross the bridge over the Missouri River, look down, and in your mind’s eye, imagine the boatmen of the early 1800s as they pole their flatboats down the river toward the Port of St. Louis. And, if you listen intently, you will hear them singing that chanty of the day..........

Shenandoah, I long to hear you,

Away, you rolling river,
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you,

Away, I’m bound away,

‘Cross the wide Missouri.

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Congressman Ike Skelton (D-MO) serves as Ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. For further information, please contact Lara Battles or Whitney Frost at (202)225-2876, or check Congressman Skelton's web site at http://www.house.gov/skelton.