Suspension bridges have been prevalent for centuries, but it was not until the mid-19th century that they were used for “anything heavier than horse-and-foot traffic”. By the late 1800s, the suspension bridge increased its popularity and many bridge builders soon discovered it was extremely economical; the swinging bridge was well suited to wide clearances and could be constructed of readily available materials, such as local timber and creek gravel.  The common version of these vernacular bridges often lacked the technologies of the era, such as twisted wire and steel beams, but by the early 1900s, suspension bridges had become commonplace for vehicular traffic.

​

The Joseph A. Dice suspension bridges were a fine example of vernacular bridges of the early 1900s. Mr. Dice, who originally hailed from Warsaw, Benton County, Missouri, supervised the construction of seven bridges throughout Miller County between 1905-1930. He designed bridges to span substantial streams, creeks and rivers, as well as produced small bridges for farmers on private property. Inherently lacking some technical sophistication, the Dice suspension bridges in central Missouri were built from experience and for the needs of local people. At one time there were numerous Dice bridges scattered throughout Missouri with most wire-cable suspensions being housed in Miller and Benton Counties. Unfortunately, most of these historic bridges have been lost to either neglect, flooding, and/or replacement by concrete and steel.

​

He started his bridge-building career as a young apprentice to Dr. Daniel M. Eddy in 1895 on the Stockton Bridge in Cedar County, Missouri.  In 1905, the first public toll bridge that spanned the Osage River in Miller County, was built at Tuscumbia. Mr. Dice was awarded the contract from the Tuscumbia Bridge Company to erect the 618-foot swinging bridge. In 1932, the Dice bridge was replaced with a modern truss bridge [of that era], which completed State Highway-MO 17 through Miller County.

​

According to the 1940 United States Census, Joseph Dice had a limited education that extended to the 4th grade, but this did not hinder him from achieving success.  What sets this self-educated engineer apart from his competitors of the early 1900s was that Mr. Dice’s method of measuring the bridge was done with a ball of twine; no blueprints were involved, instead he ingeniously eyeballed the place where the bridge was to be built and assessed how much material he needed and what configuration the bridge should have. He was a skillfully pragmatic man with a mathematical eye and a calculating brain. His method of calculating a bridge’s dimensions was noticeably different from other builders of his day and consisted of using a ball of twine to get his mathematical equations precise. As Peggy Smith Hake noted, “We are told Mr. Dice could tell by the 'feel' of the wire if the tension was right.” He built a regional reputation as a builder of suspension bridges, as Robert Hayden acclaimed, an “almost legendary reputation”.

​

Mr. Dice was also credited with building wooden suspension bridges; he used local supplies of wood and concrete and only purchased the strands of wire for the cables. "For the steel suspension bridges," Tom Chesser noted, "he ordered kits from a bridge company in Pennsylvania and just strung the cable and hung the steel "I" beams. The suspension bridge kits were less expensive than those for the steel truss bridge type since less steel was used in the suspension type bridge." 

​

Not only was Joseph A. Dice an enterprising engineer of bridges, but at various times throughout his life, he served Benton County, Missouri as County Highway Engineer and County Surveyor.  Yet, building his bridges seemed to have been Dice’s favorite career endeavor.

​

As noted earlier, Joseph A. Dice was a builder who basically carried the blueprints in his head, having no official drafts, engineering plans or written instruction. During the era of Dice’s bridge building career, bridge projects were a contribution to connecting people to other places for both social and commerce reasons. Formalized engineering standards did not exist at that time. Peggy Smith-Hake noted, “When the highway department required blueprints for constructio`n, Mr. Dice retired as a bridge builder!”.

​

Joseph A. Dice, a man of unique talent when it came to building bridges, most likely knew he could not compete for state contracts.  With the impounding of the Osage River it increased the demand for the heavy-duty truss bridge. Without a doubt, Dice realized this was the beginning of the wire-cable suspension bridge’s demise, and most likely was analytically instrumental in Dice’s final decision for retiring his artisan skills.

​

Seven suspension bridges in Miller County were included in Dice’s bridge building endeavors:

​

1. Tuscumbia Toll Bridge – built 1905; replaced 1932

1.1 - Located at Tuscumbia, the original Tuscumbia Toll Bridge was a 618.0 feet swinging suspension bridge that once spanned the Osage River. Some of the notably characteristic features of this bridge was its wooden towers and wooden rails. It was torn down and replaced with a historic truss bridge in 1932.