Our Daily Sykes #303 – The Pasco-Kennewick Bridge

[Click to Enlarge] Completed in 1922 the “Yellowstone Trail” bridge between Pasco and Kennewick was the first of four cantilever trusses to be erected across the Columbia River during the 1920s.   The ferry it replaced could not handle more than six cars a trip, a paucity that kept the twin cities distant. (There was no Richland as yet to make it the Tri-Cities.)  A public subscription drive subsidized the construction, and on the day of its dedication people were as likely to break into song as to breath.  The bridge became a symbol of that rarity in Washington, a statewide cooperation.  The Seattle Times called the subscription effort the “greatest community undertaking in the history of the Northwest.”  Soon about 200 motorists a day were paying the steep,  for the times, 75-cent toll.  Here I have fallen into quoting myself.  This bridge’s story and many others across the state can be read for free by you on this blog in the issuing here of the book “Building Washington” that Genevieve McCoy and I wrote in the late 1980s.   Go to the front page books button and find the cover of the book upper left.  Click and wait about five minutes for the big book to download.  If you are looking for this bridge you’ll find it on pages 112 and 113.  “Building Washington” is well illustrated.

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