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As dusk turned a cold December Friday afternoon into night 57 years ago a line waited to cross the Ohio River into and out of Point Pleasant, less than 75 miles downstream from Marietta.
On Dec. 15, 1967, as a cold wind whipped through the bridge and snow began to fall, a single bolt on the bridge gave way dropping the 1,750 foot structure into the river. In seconds the entire bridge, and all those that were on it were dropped into the fast moving, icy cold and deep waters. A witness described the bridge failure as sounding like a sonic boom.
The aftermath of the disaster would have wide-ranging effects not only on how bridges were built and inspected, but also how people along the river would be able to cross until a replacement could be built.
Before any of that could take place though, officials had to do their best to rescue those that were still alive.
Washington County Sheriff Dick Ellis and three of his deputies quickly headed toward the site to help in any way that they could. The four spent around 5 hours on the site. "It's hard to visualize. I've been across this bridge a lot before and it's just not there now," Ellis told the Times in an article the next day. Ellis said deputies from six Ohio counties were also on site to help.
Three Marietta based construction workers were on their way back home from a job near Gallipolis when they heard about the accident, they turned around. Don Yoho, Larry Barnes and Guy Meeks tried to help free a man trapped in a semi-truck.
The Times edition also printed the account of a truck driver that swam out of his rig. "The windows were up. I held my breath. I reached for the handle of the window to open it, but I couldn't find it. I pulled the window down ... and got out," said driver William Needham. "The water kept getting lighter as I went up and I knew I was about to get to the top.
"I noticed a box floating by and I got ahold of it, but I was heavier than the box and it sank. Then I noticed a bigger box and I paddled my way over to it. My back was hurting, I couldn't feel my legs. I started yelling for help. Then 15 minutes later, it might have been five, they saved me. I wanted to make it home for Christmas, but I'm happy just to be alive."
The disaster took the lives of 46 people. It was triggered by a crack in a single bolt that held together bone-shaped plates that formed the chain of the suspension bridge. Inspection techniques used at the time would not have been able to find the crack.
Meanwhile traffic officials in Washington County had a problem. The Ohio River bridge connecting Newport and St. Marys was nearly identical to the one that had fallen into the river. It was immediately closed. The Interstate 77 Bridge was not yet open. A few finishing touches had yet to be completed. It was close enough to being finished that the officials in charge decided to open it that night. Marietta businessman S. Durward Hoag, who had convinced federal officials to add the highway to the national interstate project, was given the honor of being the first to drive across the new bridge. It has been open ever since.
The St. Marys Bridge would later be replaced by the structure that is there today.
The disaster led to tighter regulations concerning the inspection of bridges. The Sliver Bridge was just 39 years old when it fell into the Ohio River. Nearly two decades younger than the Interstate 77 bridge that many of us drive daily.
Art Smith is online manager of The Times, you can contact him at asmith@mariettatimes.com