John Richards formed the Kawarau Bridge Company with partners John Grant and John McCormick. The provincial government approved his application to construct a bridge and to charge a toll. Under the terms of the charter, the government had to provide the bridge approaches and £2000 of public money was spent on them. This led to an immediate agitation to have the government take the whole project over. The approach to the proposed bridge on the Bannockburn side was to be built on an area held as a residence site by a Mr Sades F Graver (dwelling #513). The Crown was required to obtain the area from Mr Graver and to compensate him for his loss. The approach to the proposed bridge from the Cromwell side required to be cut into the river terrace. In October 1872 the approach was formed by sluicing a cutting into the terrace. The water for sluicing was obtained by cutting a water race, two and a half miles (4.0km) across the Cromwell Flats to connect to a water race in the Kawarau Gorge owned by Mess'rs John and Francis Hayes along with Timothy Gorman.

The Kawarau Bridge was finally opened and soon put the two punts out of action. The lobbying for the government to take over the bridge continued.

The Vincent County Council was formed and pressure was put onto Vincent Pyke, the Member for Kawarau (Bannockburn) riding and the first chairman, to have the bridge taken over. The local progress league questioned the legality of the toll charges.

In September (or possibly July), the matter of the toll charges was settled, with a proclamation in the Cromwell Argus.

In Feb 1878 the bridge was finally acquired by the government and declared a free bridge at a cost of £7,000 (seven thousand pounds). A grand ceremony was held to celebrate the toll free status of the bridge. Vincent Pyke, who deserved all credit for his efforts in getting the bridge taken over, symbolized the occasion by hurling a bunch of keys into the river. Speeches were made by the district judge, Judge Ward, and by the Mayor of Cromwell, Mr D A Jolly.

On 29 Sep, a large flood undermined the right (Bannockburn side) abutment and it was swept away, which caused the bridge to collapse. Communication was completely cut off for a period of time until John Richards resumed his ferry service again.

The damaged pier was rebuilt by Jeremiah Drummy who constructed the new pier separate from the bank to prevent the back pressure from undermining it again. Mr Drummy also rebuilt the damaged bridge. The work was slow and caused great discontent. In March the work was completed and the bridge re-opened for service. This again saw the end of the ferry service.

The bridge was in need of repair, which was now the responsibility of the County. There were many complaints from locals with a number of accidents caused by cart and wagon wheels going through the rotten planks. However, no repair work was done by the County. There was a growing feeling amongst the local population that the bridge was becoming a menace and if it was not repaired it should be demolished and replaced.

Early one morning, in April 1895, a shepherd was coming home and found the bridge on fire. He rushed up the hill to the Bannockburn Hotel (location #115) and with the help of some locals managed to put the fire out.

In September, again on a Sunday night, the Kawarau River Bridge mysteriously caught fire, however it was discovered and extinguished before any major damage was done. This was all much to the disgust of the locals.

Very early on Monday morning, 13 Jan 1896, the crew of four men working on a gold dredge on the Kawarau River * noticed that the bridge was on fire. Word was sent to Bannockburn but the postmaster, Mr John Robertson was unable to contact Cromwell on the telephone for assistance. At seven o'clock, Mr Thomas Rooney of Cromwell was coming out to work on his claim at Bannockburn and found the bridge well ablaze. He rode back to Cromwell and reported the event. A team of people returned with him to try to save the Cromwell end of the bridge. In the meantime, the Bannockburn end had been partly salvaged by William Parcell who had cut off the burning timbers. The fire was finally extinguished but in some places all that was left were the wire ropes and iron rods. However, many of the deck planks were salvaged. With Bannockburn now cut off, the ferry service was temporarily reinstated. (* two of these men were Alex and Joe McGeorge)

The Vincent County Engineer, Mr L D MacGeorge soon had a temporary foot bridge erected between the remaining sections of the bridge. Rails were laid on the old deck and by using a trolley, communications were kept open. Up to one ton could be pushed in the trolley across the bridge.

In April of 1896, the Vincent County let a contract to a Mosgeil iron-founder to build up a new iron superstructure for the Kawarau Bridge. This was to become the new MacAndrew Bridge (location #155)