LAKE Hume has given up another secret with the Mitta River bridge, which formed part of the Ebden-Bethanga road, exposed by the dwindling water level.
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Norm Martin, 89, yesterday joined The Border Mail at Ebden Reserve and told of his memories of the crossing which went out of use in August, 1929.
“I remember coming across in the gig with my parents and fording the river and I was scared because I had not seen that volume of water,” Mr Martin, who was about seven at the time, said.
He said the Mitta River bridge had been built in 1876 and the day it was flooded Bethanga was playing Kiewa in an away football match.
They had used the road in the morning before the flood.
“When they were coming back they were too late and had to go round, they got home about midnight I think,” Mr Martin said.
Before the water submerged the roadway it was only 8km from Ebden Railway Station to Bethanga, afterwards you needed to travel 20km and use a punt to traverse the lake.
Mr Martin spent 60 years farming at Bethanga and his family has connections with the area dating back to the 1870s.
He said in total there were seven bridges which formed part of the road across what is now Lake Hume and he believed it was only the second time the Mitta River crossing had re-emerged since the dam opened in 1936.
The old road was bordered by cattle on agistment and a picnic area which included dressing sheds.
