Historic Hood River

Notes

This image definitely left me scratching my head.  The bridge looks very familiar, but I sure don’t remember a bump up like that approaching the lift span.  This image is dated January 19, 1939, which was part way through the reconstruction of the 1924 bridge to clear the newly formed Bonneville Pool.

After looking at a series of images from 1937 to 1940, I’ve concluded this was a temporary connection while the bridge was being reconstructed.  Lifting the bridge involved two major projects:  replacing the entire approach from White Salmon to the main span, and adding the lift mechanism to the main span. In 1937 they lengthened and beefed up the two towers supporting the main span.  In 1938 they constructed much of the northern approach, and either lifted the main span a little or dropped the north approach a little.  We have a couple of pictures showing a crane on a barge making this ramp.  In 1939 they completed the approach, connecting it with Highway 14 above the flood plain, and coming in above the old approach which swept in from the west.  This 1938 image gives some additional perspective.

Whatever the exact process was, this bump was not there when the project began in 1936, and it was gone when the project was complete in 1940. Hopefully there was some good signage warning drivers of the bump.

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