The highest value stamp in the Trans-Mississippi Exposition Issue is the 2-dollar Mississippi River Bridge. The Farming [or Harvesting] in the West design that was originally chosen for this denomination was instead assigned to the two-cent stamp. The Bridge design was the perfect ending for the progressive history of the West that the Trans-Mississippi Issue was trying to portray. The 1,500-foot Eads Bridge (completed in 1874) and the city of St. Louis are pictured in the vignette.
There are instances of this stamp's philatelic use on mail originating from the Exposition, even though it overpaid the postage rate. In many other cases it was used with other denominations to fulfill large-weight and foreign destination rates. A total of 56,200 stamps of this denomination were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
