Spokane River Bridges

 

Likely when you think of "Spokane River bridges" your mind jumps to the iconic Monroe Street Bridge, first built in 1911.

But would you have guessed there are nearly 40 bridges spanning a river only 111 miles long? Originating in Lake Coeur d'Alene, the river meanders through the Spokane Valley to empty into the Columbia River. Those are current bridges and don't count the many that were built and then washed away. 

It had been long realized and known that a bridge was needed to cross the Spokane River in the downtown area. Between 1890 and 1896 several bridges were constructed but all fell prey to The River. Finally in 1902, realizing that timber for such a bridge would not do, the bridge pretty much as we see it today was completed and dedicated on 21 Nov 1911 at a cost of $477,682.67.  (SUCH precise accounting!) 

The biggest problem facing construction of the Monroe Street Bridge was the south side where after the great fire of 1889 tons of the ash and debris were pushed over and deposited there.... making for a very unstable bridge footing. The ash and debris was dumped atop a small stream which continued to flow and be a continual problem. 

On May 4, 1892, Miss Mary Winitch gained fame by becoming the first pedestrian of record to cross the bridge. (I did several minutes of research on Miss Mary but found nothing.)

QUESTION: How many times would you guess you have walked over..... or driven over..... the Monroe Street Bridge?

SOURCE:  The Pacific Northwesterner, Vol. 28k Winter 1984, article by Byron Barber.

Spokane's Earliest Monroe Street Bridge

No one of you better own up to remembering this Monroe Street bridge over the Spokane River! This "rickety wooden affair" was erected in 1889 and burned down in 1890 to be replaced by a steel bridge. Click to www.historylink.org and then "Monroe Street Bridges" to read a great article all about our several bridges that crossed the Spokane River below the falls on Monroe Street.

The back of this undated postcard reads:  "This city is located on the Spokane River, which plunges through the center of the town in a series of three cascades, falling 132 feet in a quarter of a mile, and in one and a quarter miles 150 feet. The climate in this sheltered valley gives cool summers and mild winters. The business part of the city is along the lower stretch of the river, where the great water power of the fall is turned."

What buildings from this postcard image do you recognize?  I see the courthouse and the flour mill is all. Look how empty the city is on the horizon!