The Silver Bridge Disaster of 1967


Book Description

Point Pleasant’s Silver Bridge, the first eyebar suspension bridge in the United States, was an engineering marvel when it was constructed in 1927 and 1928. Located on US Highway 35, the bridge spanned the Ohio River and linked Point Pleasant, West Virginia, with the towns of Kanauga and Gallipolis, Ohio. For almost 40 years, the structure provided dependable service for travelers in the region. On December 15, 1967, this service came to a dramatic and disastrous end. At 4:58 p.m., during the height of rush hour, the bridge suddenly collapsed. Rescue and recovery operations started immediately but were hampered by poor weather conditions and freezing rain. The cause of the collapse was linked to the bridge’s innovative design. Undetected corrosion stress cracks caused an eyebar on the Ohio side to fracture; because the eyebars were linked together in a chain, the failure of one led to the catastrophic collapse of the entire bridge. In total, 46 lives were lost in the disaster.




The Silver Bridge


Book Description

New Saucerian presents the newly revised 2015 edition of "The Silver Bridge" by Gray Barker! This edition features several photographs not found in previous editions, as well as introductions by researchers Allen Greenfield, James W. Moseley, and Andy Colvin. The cover features a recently unearthed government photo of the Silver Bridge, showing it proudly withstanding one of the worst floods in history. Description from the original dust jacket: What kind of book is "The Silver Bridge?" Well... It is primarily not about the collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, which took the lives of dozens of people on December 15th, 1967 - though it does describe the strange events that preceded the collapse. Is this book a historical account of Mothman, the famous birdman who visited the Elk, Kanawha, and Ohio river valleys in 1966? Or is it a dramatic docudrama about the hopes and fears of local residents? And what about Woody Derenberger, whose van was stopped on a nearby highway by an otherworldly "spaceman" named "Indrid Cold?" Did Woody really take a friendly ride in Indrid's spaceship? Did he experience real telepathy with Indrid and the people of the planet "Lanulos," or was Indrid an earthly "Man in Black" with ill intent? Regardless of what "The Silver Bridge" is really about, one thing is for certain. It will creep mysteriously back into your thoughts, late at night, like the barely audible chanting of robed figures in the foggy, moonlit woods. In the shadows of your darkened bedroom, a visit from a winged creature or pale stranger seems possible - particularly if you happen to "know too much" about flying saucers! "Complex and intelligent.. Be very careful..." -John A. Keel, author of "The Mothman Prophecies" and "Our Haunted Planet" "Without Gray, there would be no Men in Black mystery..." - Nick Redfern, Mysterious Universe "One of the great classic saucer books..." -UFO Magazine




The Mothman Prophecies


Book Description

The New York Times bestseller long regarded as a classic in the literature of the unexplained—the basis of the 2002 film starring Richard Gere. “The Mothman remains a potent piece of American folklore.” —CNN West Virginia, 1966. For thirteen months the town of Point Pleasant is gripped by a real-life nightmare culminating in a tragedy that makes headlines around the world. Strange occurrences and sightings, including a bizarre winged apparition that becomes known as the Mothman, trouble this ordinary American community. Mysterious lights are seen moving across the sky. Domestic animals are found slaughtered and mutilated. And journalist John Keel, arriving to investigate the freakish events, soon finds himself an integral part of an eerie and unfathomable mystery. “An essential read. Even if you just enjoy good suspense, when Keel talks of his own experiences with Men in Black, stolen evidence, and intimidation via eerie phone calls and visitations, you’ll want to keep reading.” —Strange Horizons




Silver Bridge


Book Description

The Big Time beckons for Karma frontman Pavlos - but so too does the abyss. Access Hollywood, MTV, Rolling Stone - vanity, insanity, sweet Hollywood inanity. In this town they love you up, and shoot you down. You know the routine: vamp and fade; fade to black - tunnel vision now and the light at the end is Claire Davis. Trouble is, Claire's got her own woes. She's a Golden Globe-nominated actress, after all. The Silver Bridge, the debut novel from writer and actor Paul Michael Francis, takes you from the very top of the tree to rock bottom, to Hollywood and Greece, to unexpected territory where dreams meet cold, condemning reality - and righting past wrongs doesn't guarantee love's sweet symphony. Live it - The Silver Bridge, a spiritual, psychological tale that will have you believing in love again.




Death on the Silver Bridge


Book Description

Ten days before Christmas. Jingle Bells fill the air. On December 15, 1967 at 5 P. M., the gorgeous Silver Bridge that connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Gallipolis, Ohio crashed into the Ohio River taking with it forty-six lives. Vincent Booton had gone across the bridge to buy a new color television set for his family. Kayleen MacKlintoc is a wealthy college student is home for winter break. Fred and Anabell Myers have a doctor's appointment. George Henderson is picking up a diamond bracelet for his wife. Jim Henderson is looking for a way to avoid the draft, but there is no room in the Henderson house for cowards. Denise Sheppard is a single mother with two kids. She works at a truck stop as a waitress and can hardly afford peanut butter much less Christmas presents. Ken and Gloria Gilmore are newlyweds, deeply in love with their whole lives ahead of them. Mary Ann Gilmore is a vivacious teenager anticipating her first kiss. They all have one thing in common: The Silver Bridge and the horribly cold water that awaits. One loud boom and the bridge goes down. A minute later, dozens of cars are underwater, and people are beating on the windows and doors, trying to escape certain death. Trapped, dying or already dead from concrete slabs and twisted metal that crushed cars and skulls with indifference. Trapped, dying with no way out. Christmas presents wash up on banks of the Ohio River.




To Forgive Design


Book Description

Argues that failures in structural engineering are not necessarily due to the physical design of the structures, but instead a misunderstanding of how cultural and socioeconomic constraints would affect the structures.




The Silver Bridge Disaster of 1967


Book Description

Point Pleasant's Silver Bridge, the first eyebar suspension bridge in the United States, was an engineering marvel when it was constructed in 1927 and 1928. Located on US Highway 35, the bridge spanned the Ohio River and linked Point Pleasant, West Virginia, with the towns of Kanauga and Gallipolis, Ohio. For almost 40 years, the structure provided dependable service for travelers in the region. On December 15, 1967, this service came to a dramatic and disastrous end. At 4:58 p.m., during the height of rush hour, the bridge suddenly collapsed. Rescue and recovery operations started immediately but were hampered by poor weather conditions and freezing rain. The cause of the collapse was linked to the bridge's innovative design. Undetected corrosion stress cracks caused an eyebar on the Ohio side to fracture; because the eyebars were linked together in a chain, the failure of one led to the catastrophic collapse of the entire bridge. In total, 46 lives were lost in the disaster.




The Bridge of Silver Wings 2009


Book Description

For the past two years (2006-2008) The Bridge of Silver Wings has earned a name for itself both as a series of poems published in different e-zines and as a book first published in 2007. What makes this 2009 edition a special one is the inclusion of five new poems: "Angel of Better Days to Come"; "Midnight Flight of the Poetry Angels"; "Photographed Light of My Grandmother's Soul"; "There upon a Bough of Hope and Audacity"; and, "What Angels Call a Poet." Readers exploring the pages of this book are likely to experience it in different ways as they move back and forth between one poetic state of being and another. The Bridge of Silver Wings 2009 may at times appear to be nothing more than a silk-thin illusion --resembling at moments either a terrifying nightmare or a healing vision--spread across an evening mist. While at other times it will register as solid as a concrete sidewalk or a giant boulder. (from author's Foreword)




Building the Golden Gate Bridge


Book Description

Silver Award Winner, 2016 Nautilus Book Award in Young Adult (YA) Non-Fiction Moving beyond the familiar accounts of politics and the achievements of celebrity engineers and designers, Building the Golden Gate Bridge is the first book to primarily feature the voices of the workers themselves. This is the story of survivors who vividly recall the hardships, hazards, and victories of constructing the landmark span during the Great Depression. Labor historian Harvey Schwartz has compiled oral histories of nine workers who helped build the celebrated bridge. Their powerful recollections chronicle the technical details of construction, the grueling physical conditions they endured, the small pleasures they enjoyed, and the gruesome accidents some workers suffered. The result is an evocation of working-class life and culture in a bygone era. Most of the bridge builders were men of European descent, many of them the sons of immigrants. Schwartz also interviewed women: two nurses who cared for the injured and tolerated their antics, the wife of one 1930s builder, and an African American ironworker who toiled on the bridge in later years. These powerful stories are accompanied by stunning photographs of the bridge under construction. An homage to both the American worker and the quintessential San Francisco landmark, Building the Golden Gate Bridge expands our understanding of Depression-era labor and California history and makes a unique contribution to the literature of this iconic span.




Potosi


Book Description

"For anyone who wants to learn about the rise and decline of Potosí as a city . . . Lane’s book is the ideal place to begin."—The New York Review of Books In 1545, a native Andean prospector hit pay dirt on a desolate red mountain in highland Bolivia. There followed the world's greatest silver bonanza, making the Cerro Rico or "Rich Hill" and the Imperial Villa of Potosí instant legends, famous from Istanbul to Beijing. The Cerro Rico alone provided over half of the world's silver for a century, and even in decline, it remained the single richest source on earth. Potosí is the first interpretive history of the fabled mining city’s rise and fall. It tells the story of global economic transformation and the environmental and social impact of rampant colonial exploitation from Potosí’s startling emergence in the sixteenth century to its collapse in the nineteenth. Throughout, Kris Lane’s invigorating narrative offers rare details of this thriving city and its promise of prosperity. A new world of native workers, market women, African slaves, and other ordinary residents who lived alongside the elite merchants, refinery owners, wealthy widows, and crown officials, emerge in lively, riveting stories from the original sources. An engrossing depiction of excess and devastation, Potosí reveals the relentless human tradition in boom times and bust.