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Larry Richardson
Hatteberg's People
Reporter: Larry Hatteberg
| October 6, 2002--When Larry Richardson of Mulvane dreams he dreams big. He's always been a fan of the Golden Gate Bridge. Now he has his own. "The Golden Gate Bridge has always had a fascination for me. I wouldn't get married till I crossed the Golden Gate." |  | | No bridge has been more important to Larry Richardson than this one. "I've always been fascinated by the beauty of the bridge." So he decided to build one. | 
| For six years Larry and his family have labored with loving hands over a suspension bridge - a copy of the Golden Gate. But instead of the gateway to San Francisco this little brother spans the Cowskin in Sumner county near Mulvane. | | "You can't see it from anywhere until you get across the dike. Then people are surprised. They say, 'oh, you built a bridge!' I did, but it's still miniature compared to the Golden Gate." Larry is a postman, not an engineer. There were no plans drawn, just down home common sense and ingenuity. | | "The bridge is two stories high or 23 feet from the top to the ground. If you want to fall of the high side it is 26 feet. It is one 115 between the pillars and it's 150 feet long." |  | | All family members helped with construction but it was working with his aging father that was perhaps Larry's most important accomplishment. "Yeah, there was no boss, no foreman, it was a father-son operation. Something I go to do with my dad. It will be memories for my life." |  | The bridge is spectacular in it's construction. Complicated all steel concrete and wood and it's all be done by hand. "But like around the pillars, they are in the ground six or eight foot deep. There are 27 tons of concrete around those. | | I had a guy ask me where I got bridge building parts. I said there is nothing here that is a bridge building part. It was just put together to look like a bridge." | | It's all located on Larry's property and once you cross the river, he's building a place where folks can rest and think, among the trees, the water and the family bridge. "You bring somebody new over and they say hey, that's big. But it's more than a weekend project, it's been a love affair." |  |
| | Have a story idea for Hatteberg's People? Send Larry an email with the details. | |
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