November 27, 2018: New photo from Melissa Brand-Welch
February 27, 2016: New photos from Gene Smania
February 14, 2016: New photo from Gene Smania
June 17, 2015: Updated by Gene Smania: changed location on map-structure was just upstream of present day Ill Rt 71 bridge, structure in background of photo was replaced in 1981
Posted May 9, 2020, by Brian Patterson (pattersonbj [at] earthlink [dot] net)
The washout occurred during a flash-flood on July 14, 1958. Motorist Thomas Catlin barely managed to cross the bridge as it was being washed out. Catlin's truck wasn't nearly as fortunately. This was posted on Facebook by the LaSalle County Historical Museum on May 5, 2020. Their likely source(s) would be the LaSalle News Tribune and the Ottawa Daily Republican Times from contemporaneous reporting in 1958.
The washout occurred during a flash-flood on July 14, 1958. Motorist Thomas Catlin barely managed to cross the bridge as it was being washed out. Catlin's truck wasn't nearly as fortunately. This was posted on Facebook by the LaSalle County Historical Museum on May 5, 2020. Their likely source(s) would be the LaSalle News Tribune and the Ottawa Daily Republican Times from contemporaneous reporting in 1958.