Jobs end for bridge toll workers

The Cape Special Road District managed the old Mississippi River bridge from 1946 to 1957. In those 11 years, tolls paid amounted to $3,952,129.

The highest annual income was in 1953 with $427,141 collected on 885,733 crossings.

When the bridge opened in 1928, the rates were published in the newspaper:

"The toll for an automobile and driver is $1, and for a round trip made the same day there is a special rate of $1.25. The charge for each additional passenger is 10 cents for the one-way trip and 20 cents for the round trip. The charge for a pedestrian is 20 cents for a one-way trip, with no reduction for the round trip."

Fred Lynch has captured images for the Southeast Missourian since 1975, in that time moving from black-and-white to color, from film to digital and to video. The blog title is a nod to an earlier era of news photography and the 4x5 Speed Graphic: It's more important to be there for the shot than to worry about technical details.