Swinging Bridges
If you¹re enjoying an extended stay at the Lake, there
are many wonderful places to visit that are close, but not
considered to be an actual part of the Lake.
Well worth taking in is an area called Swinging Bridges,
so named for a wood-planked suspension bridge that crosses
the Auglaize Creek.
It was built by Union Electric in 1929 or ¹30 when
Bagnell Dam backed up waters over country roads near Brumley,
Missouri. The creek (or river, depending on the time of year)
was formed from the coming together of the wet and dry Glaize,
which are the backwaters of the Glaize Arm of the Lake of
the Ozarks. The bridge was one of 40 bridges designed by Joe
Dice of Warsaw who left school after the fourth grade with
poor eyesight.
Starting with a ball of twine to judge the curve and distance,
horses or men to pull the wires across, men and mules to mix
cement and haul river gravel and timbers from local farms,
his genius has long gone unrecognized.
Swinging Bridges is located about 10 miles down Hwy 42-18,
then a pleasant country drive along and across Mill Creek
to the area. It¹s a great place for picnicking and swimming,
tubing, wading or fishing, depending on the height of the
water.
|
