VISITS
THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER
(pronounced like "Suss - kwah - hannah")
This sculpture is called "Waiting" and sits along the east banks of the
Susquehanna River. Connie and I leaned over the figure's shoulder
to read the newspaper he is holding. The pictures and words are engraved
in the stone! It's like an actual newspaper! We forgot to write down the
sculptor's name and have now forgotten it....
What a beautiful view of the Susquehanna River. In the
background, you can see City Island. This island sits in the middle
of the river and is home to the Harrisburg Senators AA Baseball
Team (affiliated with Montreal Expos), and the Riverboat named "The Pide of the Susquehanna".
There are many bridges which cross the Susquehanna River to the
east and west shores. Hey! If the bridges connect the east and west
shores, in which direction does the river run? Can you figure it out?
The river runs from north to south!
You can see several bridges in the background of this picture.
If you will notice the first bridge in the background which is black
in structure, I will tell you a story. When this bridge was first built,
it supported traffic from Harrisburg to City Island and on to the
other side of the river and back. As cars were made bigger and
other bridges built, this bridge was closed to traffic, and became
solely a foot-bridge, meaning you could only walk on it. For years,
this bridge was used daily by pedestrians. Connie was not absolutely
positive about the year, but she thinks it was around 1996 or 1997.
That winter was a really rough and bad winter. There was a blizzard,
which left several feet of snow and, of course, the river froze solid.
When the ice started to thaw some and break up in the river, big chunks
of it started flowing down the river. On the other side of City Island,
those big chunks became clogged in the underpasses of the foot-bridge,
and as more came down the river, the pressure of the ice-flows kept
pounding into the bridge. Finally, that section of the bridge gave way.
It broke from its supports and began floating down the river.
Suprisingly, no one was on the bridge at the time. However, as you
can also see in the picture, there is another bridge, The Market Street Bridge,
close by. The foot-bridge went crashing into The Market Street Bridge
and stayed there for weeks. Both bridges were closed while the
Department of Transportation engineers figured out how to remove the
foot-bridge and determine the extent of damage and repair needed to The
Market Street Bridge. Market Street Bridge was repaired, but the section
of the foot-bridge which had broken loose was never replaced. The
Historical Society bought it, cut it up and sold the pieces to raise funds for
the City of Harrisburg. Connie has a shadow-box frame hanging in her
computer room. It holds a picture of the bridge before it was
damaged, an original toll ticket that was used decades ago and
a piece of the bridge. This was a gift to her from her husband.
There is a boat by my left shoulder in the picture.
I bet those people were chilly! But having fun!
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