
The Red River Bridge War
A Texas-Oklahoma Border Battle
Rusty Williams(Author)
Texas A & M University Press
Will be published approx. on 30. May 2016
Book
Hardback
330 pages
978-1-62349-405-6 (ISBN)
Description
At the beginning of America's Great Depression, Texas andOklahoma armed up and went to war over a 75-cent toll bridgethat connected their states across the Red River. It was a twoweekaffair marked by the presence of National Guardsmen withfield artillery, Texas Rangers with itchy trigger fingers, angrymobs, Model T blockade runners, and even a costumed NativeAmerican peace delegation. Traffic backed up for miles, cutting offtravel between the states.
This conflict entertained newspaper readers nationwide duringthe summer of 1931, but the Red River Bridge War was a deadlyserious affair for many rural Americans at a time when free bridgesand passable roads could mean the difference between survivaland starvation. The confrontation had national consequences,too: it marked an end to public acceptance of the privately ownedferries, toll bridges, and turnpikes that threatened to strangleAmerican transportation in the automobile age.
The Red River Bridge War: How Texas and Oklahoma Armed Upand Went to War Over a Toll Bridge documents the day-to-dayskirmishes of this unlikely conflict between two sovereign states,each struggling to help citizens get goods to market at a time ofreduced tax revenue and little federal assistance. It also serves as a cautionary tale, providing historical context to the current trendof re-privatizing our nation's highway infrastructure.
This conflict entertained newspaper readers nationwide duringthe summer of 1931, but the Red River Bridge War was a deadlyserious affair for many rural Americans at a time when free bridgesand passable roads could mean the difference between survivaland starvation. The confrontation had national consequences,too: it marked an end to public acceptance of the privately ownedferries, toll bridges, and turnpikes that threatened to strangleAmerican transportation in the automobile age.
The Red River Bridge War: How Texas and Oklahoma Armed Upand Went to War Over a Toll Bridge documents the day-to-dayskirmishes of this unlikely conflict between two sovereign states,each struggling to help citizens get goods to market at a time ofreduced tax revenue and little federal assistance. It also serves as a cautionary tale, providing historical context to the current trendof re-privatizing our nation's highway infrastructure.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
College Station
United States
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
32 black & white photographs, 2 line art
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 165 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
544 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-62349-405-6 (9781623494056)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Rusty Williams, an avocational historian, is the author of My Old Confederate Home: A Respectable Place for Civil War Veterans and Historic Photographs of Dallas, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.