Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Labor Monument under Water

Sorry for the long absence. I have been out of town and away from a computer. While I enjoyed all our travels this summer I must admit that I am sick of weather related problems. We have made three long trip this summer to different parts of the country and have encountered flood waters, tornado damage or both everywhere we've been. In May when we traveled to Alabama we went through all the flooding in Southeast Missouri and Kentucky and the tornado damage in Tuscaloosa Al and Pine Mountain Georgia . During our trip to Texas in June we traveled through all the tornado damage in Joplin Missouri. During this trip to Omaha Nebraska we encountered flooding in northwestern Missouri and Iowa that had parts of the interstate highway closed adding hours to the trip with long detours into the countryside.
Unveiled in 2003, the monument features four men and one woman toiling at their work. The design of local sculptor Matthew Placzek depicts two workers pulling on a line that appears to tilt a heavy pot. Water pours from the pot down into a series of ladles, simulating molten steel. Two other workers, one a woman, labor in front of a furnace. Nearby, a blacksmith crafts tools.

While visiting my sister we went downtown to see the flooding on the Omaha riverfront. The above photo was taken several years ago during one of our visits. It shows my family visiting the monument entitled "Labor" on the Lewis and Clark Landing. The following photo shows the same statue last Sunday. Look close and you will see the hammer of the blacksmith is barely above the water. This is a thirty foot high memorial so that should give you some idea of how much is below the water.

The walking bridge you see behind the monument, had not been constructed when I took the first photo. It is the longest pedestrian bridge linking two states and providing safe crossing from Omaha nebraska to Council Bluffs Iowa over the Missouri River. The Cable Stay bridge is 3,000 ft long, including the landings; the walkway is 15 ft wide, and allow visitors to stand about 60 ft above the river.

I am linking this post to Watery Wednesday.


Watery Wednesday is hosted by 2sweetnsaxy.
To join the fun or visit the contributions of others click here.

4 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear that Mother Nature wasn't cooperating with you! Nice photos. That is one heck of a lot of water!

    ReplyDelete
  2. WoW! Thanks for sharing the Omaha picture. I've been there so I can relate to the massivenss of the river.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Horrible weather this year for sure. Some friends of ours are having an awful time negotiating North Dakota on their way to Alaska. They wrote that they didn't expect to have road problems on thi side of the border.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by my site. Without your visits there would be no incentive to continue posting. So, having you here and reading your comments is the highlight of my day.

I regret that time does not always allow me to return visits to everyone who stops by, but, I will certainly do my best to get to everyone. I will definitely answer any questions you leave me.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.