HISTORY OF MEADE COUNTY, KANSAS
by Frank S. Sullivan
Copyright, 1916

HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES
Pages 83-88

In the construction and maintenance of highways and bridges, Meade County has expended considerable money during the last ten years. In 1889 the Legislature enacted a law declaring all section lines in Meade County to be public highways. As the country was largely devoted to stock-raising, this law soon proved to be very objectionable to a majority of the citizens, and was repealed by Chapter 212 of the Laws of 1895.

So long as the country was used largely as a grazing proposition, little farming being done, there was but little use for roads, and very little money was expended on their upkeep. But as the country developed, as farmers required means for marketing their crops, and especially since the automobile has come into general use, the demand for more and better roads has been insistent, and Meade County today probably has better roads than any other county of the same population.

Up to this time 77 miles have been designated as county roads, as follows: A road extending from the northwest corner of the city of Plains north to the county line, 14 miles; extending from the southeast corner of the city of Plains south to the State line, practically 18 miles; a road extending north from Missler to the county line, 11 miles; a road connecting Plains, Meade and Fowler, located as follows: Commencing at the northeast corner of the city of Plains, thence 1 mile north, thence 5 miles east, thence 2 miles north, thence 4 miles east, thence one half-mile south, thence 1 mile east, thence one half-mile south, to the northwest corner of Section 5, Township 32, Range 28; thence, commencing at the southeast corner of said Section 5 and extending east to the city of Meade; from Meade the road goes north about one half-mile, thence east one half-mile, then north 1 mile, east one half-mile, north 2 miles, east 1 mile, north 2 miles, thence east 6 miles, to Fowler, thence north from the northwest corner of Fowler 6 miles, to the county line.

It will be noted there is a gap in this road around Section 5, Township 32, Range 28. The reason for this is that when this road was designated the Commissioners were unable to determine whether the road should follow the section line around Section 5, or whether to angle through this section, and so this matter was left to be decided later.

All county roads are graded and dragged at the expense of the county, and many of the township roads are graded and dragged at the expense of the various townships.
The steel bridge across Crooked Creek, on Road No. 1, just east of Meade, was built in 1909, at a cost of $1,765.

In 1910 three bridges were built under the same contract, the aggregate cost being $5,381. These are all concrete bridges, and are known as the Brinekman bridge, crossing Crooked Creek on Road No. 88; the Bunyan bridge, crossing Crooked Creek on Road No. 68; and the Conrad bridge, crossing Crooked Creek on Road No. 6.
Eight bridges were built in 1913, all of concrete.

They are as follows: The Adams bridge, just north of Meade, on Road No. 72; cost $1,776. Prior to this time a wooden bridge had stood here. The Pin-nick bridge, on Road No. 3, about a mile west of Fowler, at a cost of $1,500. The Watt bridge, on Road No. 63, across Crooked Creek, north of Fowler, at a cost of $1,448. The Fanchar bridge, across Sand Creek, on Road No. 39, Logan Township, at an original cost of $1,375. Scarcely had this bridge been completed than high water caused the creek to cut a new channel, and it became necessary to extend the bridge at an additional cost of $1,200. A bridge across Crooked Creek, on the line between Meade and Ford Counties, was built by the two counties jointly, each county paying the sum of $545. This is on Road No. 54.

The McMeel bridge, just south of Meade, on Road No. 8, was built by Meade Center Township, the county contributing $300. The Boyer bridge, on Road No. 32, was also built by the township, the county contributing $400.

The year 1915 brought four bridges. On Road No. 32, across Skunk Arroya, in Odee Township, a cement ford was constructed at a cost of $250. A low-water bridge was built across Stump Arroya, on Road No. 32, in Odee Township, at a cost of $1,917.

The Stalder bridge, on Road No. 70, across Crooked Creek, in Meade Center Township, cost $600; the Hughbanks bridge, on Road No. 32, Meade Center Township, cost $2,355.80. This creek was spanned by a bridge which stood up for a year or two, but the high waters of 1915 undermined the foundation, wrecking the bridge, and making the construction of a larger and better one imperative.

About ten years ago the county built a low wooden bridge across the Cimarron river, on Road No. 95, at a cost of about $750, of which the Meade Commercial Club paid one-third. This bridge was taken out by flood, and in 1909 the county built a one-hundred-foot span steel bridge where the wooden bridge had stood, at a cost of $2,830. In 1913 the approach to the south end of this bridge burned out, and was replaced at a cost of $388.

In May, 1914, a flood, the like of which is not in the memory of the oldest inhabitant, came down the Cimarron, taking this bridge out completely. When the waters subsided, of the structure costing more than three thousand dollars nothing remained save three or four pillars, the remainder of the bridge being buried somewhere in the treacherous sands, from which no part of it has ever been recovered.