On May 3, 1953, at the opening of the fishing season along the upper Sacramento River, Walter and Virginia Schau decided to take her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, out for a day of fishing. Virginia Schau brought along a Brownie camera that her sister had given to her some years back, although she said later: "I'm the kind of person who always takes a camera on a trip and never takes a picture." This had been the first time she had picked up the camera in over a year, the previous Mother's Day, and there were still two exposures left on the roll. The Schaus and the Browns were driving on a two lane road approaching the Pit River Bridge north of the town of Redding, California behind a semitrailer from Portland, Oregon carrying fruits and vegetables. As the truck started over the bridge, the truck driver, Paul M. Overby, and his helper, Henry Baum, both of Portland, soon determined that something was wrong with the steering mechanism, but before they could stop, the steering failed. Overby lost control of the truck, which smashed through the bridge's steel railing. The cab, with Overby and Baum trapped inside, was hanging off the bridge, 40 feet above the Sacramento River. The rear wheels of the cab were jammed between the side of the bridge and the trailer, which had miraculously remained on the bridge. Walter Schau, and the driver behind him, J. D. McLaren of Concord, California, stopped traffic, found a length of rope and with the help of other motorists, attempted to rescue Overby and Baum from the dangling cab. While Schau, McLaren and the others were working to save the lives of the truckers, Virginia Schau went to her car and got the camera and "ran out to a knoll on the right which was directly opposite to where the cab of the truck dangled in the air." Walter Schau, hanging by his ankles, was able to lower the rope to Overby, who grabbed on to it and was pulled up by Schau, McLaren and others. Baum was still in the cab, semi-conscious, and when the cab caught fire, Walter Schau had to climb down and pull Baum out, before the cab, fully ablaze, fell into the Sacramento River. While the rescue operations were going on, Virginia Schau, from her vantage point, was able to get off two pictures, using the last two exposures in her camera. Schau's father reminded his daughter of the Sacramento Bee's weekly photo contest. She submitted the photograph, won the contest--and ten dollars--and the photograph was picked up by the Associated Press and distributed globally. Almost a year to the day later, Virginia Schau was "flabbergasted" to hear that her picture of the rescue had won the 1954 Pulitzer Prize for Photography..
Aftermath
Virginia Schau received a $1,000 cash award as the prize, as well as being paid by other news outlets for the use of the photographs. Interviews at the time she received the reward depict a bewildered, but happy, amateur, who modestly called herself "no photographer at all" who won a prize with her "little Brownie" camera. The money came in handy for defraying the hospital bill concerning the birth of her first-born child, a son. Virginia and Walter Schau eventually moved to Santa Rosa, California, where they spent their last years. Both are buried at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California.
