This week, I’d like to feature a book called “2 Good 2 Be 4Gotten” by Dr. Max Decker. Written in 2012, the author of this book, Max, was my Cousin Twice Removed (my Grandpa’s first cousin.) His mother, Gladys Martin Decker, was a sister to Katie Martin Patillo (my great grandmother.) My second great-grandparents were Richard Cowden Martin and Tennessee James Martin.
I know that most people who have a James in their family and live just about anywhere in Missouri often claim that they are related to Jesse James. But most of them really aren’t second, third, or any number related cousins of the famous outlaw. So, you can believe me when I say that I have done research on our family genealogy, and I have not one shred of evidence that I am related to him either.
But I am related to the James family who lived down by Tecumseh, Missouri, on the banks of the North Fork River. In fact, there is a bridge by that name over that river and thousands of people have put-in or taken-out canoes, kayaks, and boats of all description throughout the years there. And it is named after my James ancestors.
If you live in this area, you probably remember the flood in late April of 2017. The West Plains area was hit hard when Howell Creek came out of its banks and Porter Wagoner Blvd. turned into a river. During that flood, down in Ozark County on Highway PP the James Bridge was demolished.
And it was a big bridge built in 1958. Ironically, the Missouri Department of Transportation was getting ready to build a replacement for it. In 2016, MoDOT offered the bridge to the public “free of charge.” It was described as “a five-span bridge with two polygonal Warren all-pony truss spans and three steel girder approach spans- for a length of 405 feet. The catch was the new owners had to relocate it. But alas, there were no takers for this mammoth project.
So, when MoDOT could not find a good way to get rid of the old bridge, Mother Nature stepped in and helped. In April 2017, a record-breaking rain fell on the Ozarks with the hardest hit areas in Texas, Douglas, Howell, and Ozark Counties. It was recorded that 8 to 12 inches of rain, and 15 in a few places fell over a three-day period. The North Fork raged, flooded, and knocked the James Bridge right off its pilings and left the broken, mangled pieces downstream and on the riverbanks. The river went an amazing 12 feet over the bridge.
Apparently, downed trees and debris had piled up against the bridge until something had to give. The bridge’s inch-and-a-half thick steel beams bent and twisted like ribbons. Flooding in homes that had not ever seen such a rise in water forced citizens to their roofs, where some waited for rescue for as long as 9 hours.
MoDOT promised a quick build time on a new bridge. The James Bridge had carried at least 700 vehicles a day. The lack of a bridge over the North Fork and another at Hammond Camp caused some residents, as well as first responders and law officers an extra hour trip just to get from one side of the river to the other. The James Bridge contract was awarded to a Kansas City firm for $2,636,575. Started in July, it had been promised to be built quickly with crews working six-day weeks.
The construction on the bridge was amazingly fast and it was ready to open in October. Several flooded houses in the area were still in the process of being rebuilt. But there was one last delay-
hauling the old bridge out so roadway guardrails could be installed. The proud old 1958 bridge, which nobody would take for free, was destroyed by a flood, cut up, and hauled away in small pieces. On October 11, at 3:30 pm, the first truck was driven across the new James Bridge over the North Fork of the White River.
This column, which started off as a story about a book somehow digressed into a tale of a broken bridge. That seems to be the way with my writing at times. One thought leads to another and off I go chasing it like a dog after a grasshopper. But before I conclude, I will include a little about the book I wanted to talk about- “2 Good 2 Be 4 Gotten- Ozarks Folklore and Culture During the Twentieth Century and Before”
Written in 2012 by Dr. Max Decker (1929-2020) this book is full of stories and memories of all things Ozark. The Folksay Chapter is full of sayings, bywords, strange place names, and epitaphs. He wrote about “signs” in the Ozarks, games kids used to play, ghost stories, church activities, and traditions. Next week, I will feature excerpts of this Ozarks tell-all. (Unless I meander off-topic again.)
