Mark Twain Memorial Bridge (1936) Mark Twain Memorial Bridge (1936) The Mark Twain Memorial Bridge was a Cantilevered Through Truss Bridge carrying US 36 over the Mississippi River. It was replaced in 2000 with the extension of I-72 and subsequently demolished. The bridge, which replaced motor vehicle use of the Wabash Bridge, was opened in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and entered Missouri at the foot of Cardiff Hill which appeared in Twain's books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A crosswalk crossed the highway, connecting the Twain boyhood home with the lighthouse at the top of the hill.
Mark Twain in Nevada stories in the "Mercury" in 1864, and due to his encouragement Twain would later send his story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" to New York in 1865 where it would become a national success.) Despite Ward's early death in March 1867, "The Mark Twain Encyclopedia" states: "His style, manner, and mantle…[were] adopted by others, including especially Mark Twain. ...the attitudes and persona of Ward were influential on Twain's literary comedy in both general and specific ways." In January 1864, Twain began covering another legislative session in Carson City. Thanks in part to his familial political connections, Twain's political