The "Are Mayflys More Exciting Than History?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading the column written for the Lancaster, Pennsylvania daily newspaper by Jack Brubaker, known as "The Scribbler." Jack had written a story telling about "Another Columbia Bridge" that told about the bridge that crossed the Schuylkill rather than the bridge that crosses the Susquehanna River at the small town known as Columbia.  His story was rather simple to follow, but that's because I understand how Jack writes and I knew about the two bridges before I read the story.  Follow along and I'll give you my rendition of the story that Jack recently told in his "The Scribbler" column.  Seems that Jack was walking through Fairmount Park in Philadelphia when he came upon the Columbia Bridge.  This one was on the Schuylkill River instead of the Susquehanna River in Lancaster/York Counties.  The Columbia Bridge over the Schuylkill that exists today is actually the third bridge that had been constructed over the river.  The first was built for the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad which connected Philadelphia with Columbia in 1834.  That bridge was set on fire to prevent General Gordon's Southern soldiers from crossing it in 1863.  The Philadelphia & Reading Railroad bought the bridge over the Schuylkill in 1851 and increased it in size in 1886 so it could carry more freight trains.  The current arch bridge over the Schuylkill was constructed in 1920 and has seven arches that span the Schuylkill which is a much smaller river than the Susquehanna.  The Columbia Bridge at Fairmount Park is not as graceful as the hugh concrete 28-arch bridge built across the Susquehanna in 1930.  That bridge is named "Veterans Memorial Bridge, but eveyone knows it as the Columbia Bridge.  So...if you want to see a bridge that is called The Columbia Bridge and doesn't cross the Susquehanna, you will have to drive to Fairmount Park.  That bridge is near the statue of John B. Kelly who was the Olympic rowing champion.  That's more exciting than our bridge which crosses the Susquehanna at Wrightsville into Columbia, PA.  That bridge is famous for the tons of Mayflies that fly into the lights at night and drop dead onto the surface of the bridge.  Makes for a real mess and at times has closed the bridge.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.