It was a threat to the South (which sought to create a southern rail route to the Pacific) and to St. Louis, whose steamboats faced competition from Chicago's railroads.

Companies operating steamships on the Mississippi opposed the bridge, fearing that it would pose a navigation hazard and alter their monopoly on trade.

Secretary of War Jefferson Davis and President Franklin Pierce initially approved the bridge; thinking that the transcontinental railroad would go through the South to Los Angeles.

He later changed his mind as resistance to that plan began to surface, fearing that the transcontinental railroad would now take a northern route.

The Mississippi and Missouri Railroad (M&M) and the Rock Island Line hired Abraham Lincoln to defend the bridge.

[13][14] The case, Hurd v. Rock Island Bridge Co., ended in a hung jury in the circuit court in Chicago, and was dismissed.

When the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 gave him the power to choose the eastern terminus of the transcontinental railroad, he picked a location favorable to his former clients.

The case trial ended in a hung jury,[17] and was dismissed; the Supreme Court ruled on a subsequent suit on December 18, 1862, and the bridge remained operational.

All that remains of the first bridge is an elevated approach west of River Drive on the Iowa side, and a reconstructed pier on Arsenal Island.

[21] The wooden structure was replaced by an iron, twin double-deck bridge in 1872 which carried a single-track rail line and a roadway.

[22] The current Government Bridge, the fourth crossing of the Mississippi in the area, was built in 1896 at the same location and used the same piers as the 1872 structure.

[24] A 2006 stress test indicated that the bridge used only "10 to 12 percent" of its service life,[25] and was listed as part of a proposed rail trail.

[26] The height restriction of 11 feet on the lower deck means that many trucks have been damaged in an attempt to cross the bridge.

The dinner re-enacted a similar event that was held on February 22, 1854, which celebrated the completion of the Rock Island railroad.

[31] The Quad Cities again celebrated the 150th anniversary of the bridge completion from Thursday September 14 to Sunday September 17 2006 in a festival that included "steam locomotive excursions, riverboat rides, canoe and kayak races, a story-telling festival and a unique 'ghost bridge' display".