On this date, June 1, back in 1969 what was perhaps the most ill-fated ship ever to navigate the Chicago River struck one more time as thetied up traffic between Wabash and Wells Streets for over three hours.The Wells Street bridge refused to open as the 562-foot steamship approached, leaving the powdered cement carrier’s stern beneath the LaSalle Street bridge.Minutes before the Wabash Street bridge had been put out of operation by a power failure after it was raised to allow the ship through.City electricians took close to three hours to get the bridges back in operation again.

At that point thehad been carrying freight for 63 years after being launched on February 7, 1906 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works in Ecorse, Michigan.She was theback then, bound for work carrying iron ore from Minnesota to the steel mills that lined the Great Lakes.

because, through fault of her own, bridges ceased to function regularly whenever she entered or left the Chicago River.

She gained her reputation in Chicago as the

On May 31, 1968 traffic was halted on Clark, Dearborn and State streets as the Clark Street bridge refused to open and the other two bridges could not be closed because the ship was beneath them.reported that one gentleman, exasperated by the wait of over an hour, shouted, “You know what they should do with this river?They should have it paved.”

On April 2, 1969 the big ship kept Chicagoans waiting for another hour as the LaSalle Street bridge tender was able to raise only one leaf of the bridge.That kept the Clark Street bridge open, too, since the ship’s stern was beneath it.“Electricians were summoned and went feverishly to work, while the ship’s crew and onlookers stared at one another and a traffic jam began to form on both sides of the bridge,” Thereported.

It happened again less than a week later when the ship, outbound, was halted at the mouth of the river when the massive Lake Shore Drive span refused to budge.After 45 minutes the bridge was raised, and thesteamed into the lake.Then the fun began.A fuse blew, electricians worked frantically, and traffic was rerouted before the bridge was finally placed back in operation an hour after it had been raised.Theobserved, “The ship’s crew members, who are getting used to staring at the Chicago river, took it all stoically.The city’s bridge tenders, however, are becoming convinced that the Medusa is a jinx.”

There was a relative period of calm until September 22, 1970 when the Lake Shore Drive bridge jammed six feet away from the closed position after thepassed beneath it.Disgusted motorists made U-turns and drove against approaching traffic as police worked to bring some sense of order to the scene, rerouting traffic onto Ohio and Randolph Streets.Many impatient pedestrians walked to the middle of the bridge and jumped the gap between the two spans as the bridge tender shouted, “Get off my bridge!It’s not safe!Get off!”





On October 19, 1972 a new bridge became rattled at the Medusa’s approach.

A blown electrical fuse kept the Michigan Avenue bridge in the upraised position while workers struggled to discover the source of the problem.

reported that some motorists saw the Medusa and went out of their way to avoid the bridge even before it was raised.

One taxi driver said, “There’s going to be trouble.

The

back.”