River bridge installed to bring Amish community together
The growing Amish community in Sturkie will now find it easier to complete day-to-day activities, after installing a 92-foot long steel bridge across the South Fork River.
"If we'd known what we were getting into, we may not have done it," Moses, "Mose," Borntrager admitted, as he looked at the old bridge which has found new life on the South Fork. "It took a lot of figuring and labor, but it worked out. It looks like the good Lord was helping us as we went."
Borntrager lives on a farm along Ridge Road, off Highway 395. Other Amish families have located on adjacent land across the river. They have been interested in a reliable river crossing to make it easier to travel within the community.
"At first, we wanted to put a low water bridge in, a concrete bridge with culvert pipes. The Army Corps of Engineers said we couldn't do that, but we could put a bridge here on higher ground, by running it from bank to bank," Borntrager explained.
Sturkie resident Tommy Carr told the Amish community about an old steel bridge that had been replaced in Mendon, Missouri, which was sitting unused on the land of a farmer who had purchased it for scrap.
Amish leaders were able to buy the bridge and hire an Ash Flat company to haul it on a long flatbed trailer from Mendon to Borntrager's property, a 306 mile journey.
Once the bridge arrived, Amish workers pitched in to cut it down, from 18-foot wide to 12-feet. They then added beams to lengthen the 70-foot long bridge to 92-feet.
"It took about 65 hours of welding to get the bridge back together, like we needed it," said Borntrager. "We also had to pour 40 yards of concrete on both sides of the river to sit the bridge on."
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Elizabeth Warren. Stewart brings up Ron's position, take the government out of regulating, therefore money is out of politics, she goes on the "WHO WILL BUILD OUR BRIDGES, SCHOOLS, AND ROADS?" excuse. 
