It's a nonbinding vote, but the Shannon Trail Promoters hope Northeast Nebraskans and southeast South Dakotans will make their preferences known.
From a list that once spanned more than 350 possibilities, the list of potential names for the new bridge over the Missouri River between Nebraska and South Dakota near Yankton has been narrowed to 10.
After Jan. 1, the public will be allowed to vote for which name they like best.
The name the Shannon Trail Promoters wants chosen is The Private Shannon Bridge.
Laurie Larsen of Bloomfield, founder and president of the Shannon Trail Organization, said she hopes many residents will vote for the Private Shannon Bridge, which would honor residents of both states.
It not only is appropriate for the region, but it could help boost tourism and promote history, she said.
The other nine names being considered are Veterans Memorial Bridge, Meridian II, The Discovery Bridge, D.B. Gurney Bridge, John B.S. Todd Bridge, the PanAmerican Bridge, The Pierre Dorian Bridge, the Yankton Memorial Bridge and the Sesquicentennial Bridge.
After Jan. 1, the public will be allowed to vote online at www.namethebridge.com. Larsen said that even though the final vote is nonbinding, she hopes a strong showing of support for Pvt. Shannon will convince the Yankton committee to name it after him.
"The way I see it, local history is pretty important, along with tourism," Larsen said. "If the bridge would be called the Private Shannon Bridge, it could bridge both states and help promote them. Using a regional theme of Pvt. Shannon would be fun to do, plus people coming across would wonder who he was if they don't know Lewis & Clark history. They could stop and ask questions. It really is a neat story."
Shannon, the youngest member of the Lewis & Clark expedition team, was missing after being sent to locate two horses that had strayed overnight.
Having found the horses, he rushed on, mistakenly thinking the boats were ahead of him. He ended up being lost for 16 days.
First lost on the Nebraska side of the river, he was discovered sitting on the river bank in what is now Gregory County in South Dakota.
Shannon would pass through the area three times. Once on the original expedition, its return and then one more time when he was charged with returning the Mandan American Indian Chief Sheheke to his village after a visit to Washington, D.C., where Sheheke met President Thomas Jefferson.
Larsen said the group was turned back by the Arikara Indian tribe. Shannon was wounded in the altercation and had his leg broken by a musket ball. Gangrene set in and he later had his leg amputated just above the knee.
Shannon, who married and became the father of seven children, would go on to become a prominent lawyer, judge and legislator.
He assisted Nicholas Biddle in writing the first narrative account of the expedition, thus preserving details that might otherwise have been lost to history.
"We're not trying to cause conflict," Larsen said. "We just want to have a name that's fair to both sides."
The bridge is mostly being paid for by federal funds, with 70 percent of the funds from allocations to Nebraska and 30 percent from allocations to South Dakota. Many of the names included in the top 10 list have more direct correlation to South Dakota interests.
An official with the Nebraska Department of Roads said Nebraska's share is bigger based on where the state boundary over the Missouri River lies.
Larsen said some of the Lewis & Clark Re-enactors who performed earlier this year indicated that if Private Shannon Bridge is chosen as the name, they would come back to perform for the christening of the bridge.
"There also would be a lot of relatives of Pvt. Shannon who would come back," Larsen said.
