Photos around Cape Archives

January 12, 2011

Mississippi River Towboat Launch

With this splash, the Mississippi River gained a new towboat. A cursory search of the Google News Archives didn’t turn up a story about the launch, but I know The Missourian did a story. If and when I find it, I’ll post an update.

The launch happened just south of the Missouri Dry Docks, shown in the photo. Note St. Vincent’s College and Seminary, now River Campus, in the background of some of the pictures.

Gallery of launch photos

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery. The gallery is in time sequence order.

January 10, 2011

Mississippi River Photography

Based on other frames filed with this one, I was on my way to another river assignment when I saw these tourists (I assume) shooting a family portrait on the riverfront.

I shoot a lot of family photos on the fly when I’m on my bike. When I spot what are obviously tourists lining up for a group shot, I always stop to see if they’d like me to shoot something with their camera so they can all be in the picture. Since this fellow had his camera on a tripod, maybe he was setting it up so he could run into the frame before the shutter tripped.

January 7, 2011

Strack Quarry on Hwy 74

I grew up around construction equipment, so I’ve always been fascinated by big holes in the ground. Every time I go down Bloomfield Rd. on the way to Dutchtown, I crane my neck to see if I can get a glimpse of the Strack Quarry at the intersection of Bloomfield and Hwy 74.

When Ernie Chiles and I flew around Cape in November, I asked him to make a pass over the Strack quarry so I could get a feel for how deep it was and how close it was to the Dalhousie subdivision that was carved out of the Elmwood estate.

(We didn’t have time to make a pass of the area that’s been the source of controversy over a request by Strack Excavating and Heartland Materials to establish two new quarries near Saxony Lutheran School at Fruitland.)

That’s a small, deep hole

Because of the shadows, it was hard for me to see all the way to the bottom. I never could get a feel for how steep the haul road was to get the stone out of the bottom of the pit. I didn’t see any sign of a conveyor like the cement plant uses.

No fences nor signs

A few days later, on the way to Dutchtown, I pulled off to see what was visible from the road. I was surprised to see there weren’t any fences separating the highway from the pit. A low row of rocks and a little berm was all that kept you out of a very deep hole. I didn’t spot any No Trespassing signs, either, but I decided not to press my luck. (I’ve been known to “overlook” such signs on occasion, but there really WEREN’T any here.)

Photo Gallery

Here’s a collection of photos taken from a number of different angles. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the photo to move through the gallery. If you like holes in the ground like I do, stay tuned for coming stories on SEMO Stone and the cement plant quarries.

Other aerial photos

Here are links to some other aerial photos we took on this flight:

January 6, 2011January 9, 2015

Thebes Railroad Bridge

Southeast Missourian webmaster and bridgehunter James Baughn had a piece on photographing the world’s largest operating steam engine when it crossed over the Thebes Railroad Bridge in 2004. That got me to rooting around for some of the photos I’ve shot of it over the years.

Thebes in 2010

It’s hard to get a feel for just how massive this bridge is from a distance. This photo was taken this spring when the Mississippi River was above flood stage. What used to be downtown Thebes has been reduced to a few roads, some foundations and some park structures.

Thebes in 1966

This shot of the bridge from the Thebes Courthouse in 1966 shows the same area before the floods of 1973 and 1993 took their toll on the town.

Railroad Bridge and Thebes Courthouse

I’ll have more photos of the Thebes Courthouse when I run across a few more. The courthouse was built in 1848 out of local sandstone, hewn timbers, hand-sawed boards, plaster and with a split shingle roof.

Dred Scott was imprisoned in a dungeon below the courthouse.

Bridge built in 1905

James’ BridgeHunter site has additional photos, including some of it under construction. His information says it was built in 1905 by a consortium of five railroad companies.

The massive structure is beginning to show its age. I can’t remember ever seeing it when it was freshly painted. It still carries a lot of Union Pacific rail traffic on its two tracks. I’ve read that there was talk about the bridge carrying automobile traffic as well as trains, but the Cape Girardeau Traffic Bridge killed off that idea.

Pier stone weighs 6,000 pounds

To give another idea of its size, the plaque on this stone says it is “Original handhewn pier block from the Mississippi River Bridge at Thebes built in 1905. Recovered from the river in 1990. Block weight 6,000 lbs.”

Piers dwarf Honda Odyssey

The huge piers on the Illinois side of the river dwarf my Honda Odyssey.

I left a comment on the Bridgehunter site:

As the cub reporter fresh out of high school, I ended up writing an awful lot of obits for The Southeast Missourian.

One, in particular, stuck out in my mind. The singular most exciting thing in this woman’s life was that she was on the first train to cross the Thebes RR bridge. I thought it was sad that that was the high point of her life.

What does it say about the arc of my life and career that I would remember that woman four decades later?