A rather odd parade. Is it marching somewhere or just standing in the middle of the bridge? And if so, where is the crowd that watches parades?
All kinds of things to see in this photo. A dredge in the river. A sign for the Interstate Bridge. Steps. Trees from the Button Farm. Two boys sitting on the wall. Trees down on the waterfront.
A much, much more peaceful scene than the same area today.

l.e. on 25th April 2014 @ 7:33am

Check out that signage and stairs - E bank - sign reads ... ?

Steve r on 25th April 2014 @ 7:34am

Nice scene. But what interests me is what appears to be a dredge in the middle of the Columbia. That is approximately where in the late 50's you could stand and the water came to your chest. Is that also where the fuel barge run aground some years back? Do they dredge that area today? Do they mark the area with buoys? What is being done to protect the river from future groundings with whatever is being barged on the river? Have been curious ever since fuel barge ran aground.

Buzz on 25th April 2014 @ 8:00am

I only wish that the historic highway preservation movement had started but a few years earlier, and we'd have saved this beautiful bridge as part of the Historic Columbia River Highway bike and pedestrian trail. It was discussed, but quickly turned down.

spinsur on 25th April 2014 @ 8:09am

from http://bridgehunter.com/or/hood-river/hood-river/

The Hood River Bridge was an open spandrel concrete deck arch bridge over the Hood River in the City of Hood River. The bridge was built in 1918 replacing a timber truss bridge at the same location. The bridge consisted of three 90-foot reinforced concrete open spandrel arches with approximately 140-feet of concrete through girder approach spans.
The bridge was designed by Oregon State Highway Department engineer Lewis W. Metzger prior to Conde B. McCullough taking over as State Bridge Engineer in 1919. McCullough and his staff oversaw the construction of the Hood River Bridge and utilized the design in the influence of other bridges built along the highway in 1920 and 1921.

The Hood River Bridge was the largest bridge serving along the Columbia River Highway running from Portland along the south bank of the Columbia River to points east. The highway includes many historic bridges that were nationally recognized for the design and innovations at the time of construction from 1914 to 1921. The loss of this bridge in 1982 spurred the inclusion of the Historical Columbia River Highway and the bridges along it into the National Register of Historic Places

spinsur on 25th April 2014 @ 8:20am

GREAT picture!! Yes a beautiful bridge but my memory has that the traffic lanes were a bit narrow and the corners at both ends pretty tight which might have been it's doom. Nice bridge but also TWO (2) railroads (no trains). Nice to be back online after a trip absence.

Arlen Sheldrake on 25th April 2014 @ 10:03am

A few details: The sign says, "Turn left 600ft Interstate Toll Bridge Best Way to Mt. Adams Country Yakima Valley and Back to Portland"

The marching band is actually facing south, like they are expecting someone to come down the river.

Note you can still see the ferry landing just south of the rail bridge.

The bridge has a nice pedestrian walk on the north side. There are some spectators standing on the other side of the guard rail.

Arthur on 25th April 2014 @ 10:41am

I'm told that my Uncle Bob Vaughan ran the dredge near the Interstate bridge.

Jeffrey Bryant on 25th April 2014 @ 11:33am

Good to have you back Arlen! Did you see any trains on your trip?

The hill over on the White Salmon looks scraped bare. I know 1941 is quite a while after the building of Condit Dam, but I wonder if the bare hill could be related to this photo.
http://historichoodriver.com/index.php?showimage=188

Surely Alva Day must have a photo showing what is coming down the river.

l.e. on 25th April 2014 @ 12:07pm

On Memorial Day several service clubs used to gather on the bridge and toss bouquets and single flowers into the river.

Judy on 25th April 2014 @ 12:08pm

Thanks Judy. There is a frame 5 minutes earlier where you can see little splashes in the water. In this frame you can just make out the blossoms under the bridge span.

I should have pointed out we saw a previous post from the same day, in fact just 15 minutes earlier than this one: http://historichoodriver.com/index.php?showimage=472

Arthur on 25th April 2014 @ 1:21pm

I think what look like bare patches above the White Salmon River is actually degradation of the negative. I'd have to inspect the negative to be sure but in the scan it has the splotchy look of a damaged negative. After 73 years we all develop a few splotches.

Arthur on 25th April 2014 @ 1:34pm

such a shame they tore that down. It would have been a great pedestrian bridge.
You can see an old mill down there on the water.

AndyB on 25th April 2014 @ 2:45pm

Nancy Moller and I both tried to get them to leave that as a scenic/pedestrian bridge. They were quite adamant that would not happen, and who would be responsible for maintaining it anyway. And theydid not have their best manners on at that time. Not a crack in the discussion, and they had the final decision. So sad. It would have been great for getting bikes off the street and up the hill.

nels on 25th April 2014 @ 2:59pm

Thanks for the upates Arthur -
"The bridge has a nice pedestrian walk on the north side. There are some spectators standing on the other side of the guard rail."
This is needed now on the HR WS Bridge across the Columbia now/today- Hello Port ? :)

Steve r on 25th April 2014 @ 3:11pm

Spinsur, confused you say there was a wood bridge at this location. My pictures and notes show the first bridge as a steel polygonal through truss with wood floor and approaches from 1866-1918.

Kenn on 25th April 2014 @ 5:05pm

Kenn, that was a quote from bridgehunter.com. but I believe we've seen pix here of a wooden span. Have to go back thru the archives.

spinsur on 25th April 2014 @ 6:15pm

..from a time when structural engineering and structural aesthetics were not mutually exclusive.

Susan Turner on 25th April 2014 @ 7:18pm

Form follows function, Susan! McCullough is known for so many beautiful bridges in our state. It's interesting that he got his start basically right here!

spinsur on 25th April 2014 @ 9:35pm

@Kenn, here's our best image of the previous bridge: http://historichoodriver.com/index.php?showimage=255

It doesn't look like steel trusses to me, but this isn't my expertise.

You can click the "bridge" tag below the notes to see all the bridge images posted to date.

Arthur on 26th April 2014 @ 9:37am

Arthur, is 21 comments on a picture a record?

Bill Seaton on 26th April 2014 @ 5:51pm

Bill, I don't have an easy way to count comments per post, but I can tell you the average post gets 8.5 (real) comments. What you are not seeing is the 10-15,000 spam comments per day!

Arthur on 27th April 2014 @ 10:57am

10-15,000 spams! Amazing. Suppose they are mostly computer generated and for commercial purposes--trying to sell something?? Can they be automatically deleted or how much time do you have to waste dealing with them.?

Buzz on 28th April 2014 @ 6:24am

That bridge was nightmare for orchardists getting their trucks around the corner at both end. As trucks got bigger over the years it got worse. Lots of fruit from the east side had to be hauled over that bridge to town in the early years. Though beautiful in structure and should have been saved it had it's disadvantages for some purposes.

Wonder where the rest of the parade was, or whether this was it?

Charlott on 28th April 2014 @ 7:15am