The Red River Bridge War

Not many wars were fought in the area of Dark Corner, but one odd "War" might be worthy of mention. The Red River Bridge War was a 1931 bloodless boundary conflict between the states of Oklahoma and Texas over an existing toll bridge and a new free bridge crossing the Red River. Both of these bridges were located at the site of the Colbert Ferry, connecting Durant, Oklahoma to Denison, Texas on U.S. Highway 69 and 75. The Red River Bridge Company, a private firm owned by Benjamin Colbert, had been operating the toll bridge. Oklahoma and Texas had jointly built a new, free span Northwest of the existing toll bridge.

On July 10, 1931, the Red River Bridge Company obtained an injunction against the Texas Highway Commission (now TXDOT), keeping them from opening the new bridge. The company said that the highway commission had promised in July 1930 to buy the old toll bridge for $60,000 (about $800,000 today). In reaction to injunction, the Governor of Texas, Ross S. Sterling, ordered that the new free bridge be barricaded from the Texas end.

On July 16, renowned Oklahoma Governor "Alfalfa Bill" Murray ordered the new bridge open, by executive order. Murray issued this order on the grounds that the land on both sides of the river belonged to Oklahoma, per the Louisiana Purchase treaty of 1803. Alfalfa Bill sent highway crews across the new bridge to destroy the barricades.

Governor Sterling send Adjutant General William Warren Sterling and tree Texas Rangers to the new bridge to defend the THC workers enforcing the injunction and rebuilt the barricade that night. The next day, Oklahoma crews under Governor Murray's order demolished the Oklahoma approach to the toll bridge, rendering that bridge impassable.

The Texas state legislature called a special session on July 23 to pass a bill allowing the Red River Bridge Company to sue the state of the issue, partially in response to meetings in Sherman and Denison, demanding the free bridge be opened. The next day, Alfalfa Bill declared martial law at the site, enforced by Oklahoma National Guardsman, and appeared at the site in person armed with a revolver, hours before a Muskogee, OK court issued an injunction prohibiting him from blocking the Northern toll bridge approach. Murray directed the guardsman to allow anyone to cross either bridge.

Murray discovered on July 27 that the free bridge was in danger of being closed permanently. In response, he expanded the martial-law zone across the river, stationing guardsmen on both free bridge approaches. The injunction against the bridge opening was dissolved and the martial law ordered rescinded on August 6.

News of the dispute made national and international headlines. Adolf Hitler may have believed that the event was evidence of in-fighting between the American states, weakening the union.

The free bridge that was the cause of the dispute was opened on Labor Day, September 7, 1931. It was dynamited and replaced in 1995, but a portion of the bridge was saved as a historical attraction and can now be seen on the east side of Highway 69/75, and visited at the bark in Colbert, Oklahoma.