The first "swinging' bridge to be errected in Harlan spanned the river at South Main Street. It was built high off the ground and fastened to locust posts but even so it "swagged" in the middle and swayed quite a bit when several people walked on it. There was very little support at the sides but nevertheless the bridge was the center of attraction.

People went down to the bridge for no other reason than to walk across it. It was more or less a novelty. For many years the people leaving town paddled a boat or rode horses across the river.

In the summer when the river was low they "walked the rocks." A school teacher was coming home one day from the head of Martin's Fork and the boast was on the other side of the river. The only thing for him to do was to walk the rocks.

With his coat on his arm, he jumped from one rock to the other. When he arrived home he discovered his watch was gone. Upon first thought he knew the watch must have slipped out ot his pocket in the water while crossing the river. Returning to the edge of the bank, he found it.

Find Walking Amusing

It was very fashionable to go down to the bridge on Sunday afternoon and make pictures.The ladies tripped across in their hobble skirts and flounce dresses. They had been so accustomed to paddling across in a boat, it was amusing to walk over a bridge.

Yet there were a few who were skiddish of the bridge. Two persons particularly couldn't walk across it. John C. Clem and Rachel Doss took to the rocks. Sometimes they could be seen carrying their shoes and wading knee deep.

Port Skidmore had a better remedy than wading the river. He had someone to walk behind him and hold his coat. As he pulled forward and they held on to his coattail, it steadied him until he had no trouble crossing. It was fun to for the boys who held his coat.

Some 60 odd men enroute to Lexington to join the army for the Spanish American War left via the bridge. One at a time they tramped over and up Catrons Creek to Pansy on foot. There at "the forks of the road" some went on and a few turned up Slater's Fork and crossed the mountain.

The foot journey was hard and tiresome and by the time they boarded the train some of the men jumped off and came back home. Even at Middlesboro a few more jumped off and returned. By the time they reached Lexington, very few men were left.

The picture, made from the depot side of the river, shows the Speed Ball home on the left. On up Main Street were a few scattered houses. A few log houses here and there dotted the town. Log houses were common at the time and often belonged to prominent people.

Box houses, weather-boarded and ceiled houses may look old fashioned but they are a step above the log houses. As years have gone by business houses have invaded the street which was once mostly residential.

If you recall the old structures that once lined the streets you cannot help feeling sad at the changes made for more valuable business buildings. These places were once great in their time.

The bridge which was such a part of the community and a big step toward progress, was the idol of townspeople yet it gave way for a better wagon bridge and others to come in later years.

Sunday May 31, 1953

Volume 52 Number 125

Pages 1 & 8

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