The Crooked River Railroad Bridge, part of a
BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...
line between the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
and
Bend, Oregon
Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, with a population of 99,178 at the time of the 2020 U.S ...
, crosses Oregon's
Crooked River Canyon in southern
Jefferson County. The bridge is above the river and when it was completed in 1911, it was the second-highest railroad bridge in the United States. It is a steel
two-hinge arch span with a total length of .
History
The crossing of the Crooked River played a critical role in the competition to build a railroad up the
Deschutes River Deschutes River may refer to:
*Deschutes River (Oregon)
The Deschutes River in central Oregon is a major tributary of the Columbia River. The river provides much of the drainage on the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, gathering many ...
Valley.
The incentive for railroad construction was reaching the vast stands of timber south of Bend. The Oregon Trunk Railway Company, a subsidiary of the
Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway
The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway (SP&S) was a railroad in the northwest United States. Incorporated in 1905, it was a joint venture by the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway to build a railroad along the north bank o ...
owned by
James J. Hill
James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railroad director. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwes ...
of the
Great Northern Railway, started up the west side of the Deschutes while the Des Chutes Railroad, owned by
Edward Harriman
Edward Henry Harriman (February 20, 1848 – September 9, 1909) was an American financier and railroad executive.
Early life
Harriman was born on February 20, 1848, in Hempstead, New York, the son of Orlando Harriman Sr., an Episcopal clergyman ...
of the
Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
, started up the east side. At North Junction, approximately south of the Columbia River, Hill's Oregon Trunk crossed over to the east bank. At both railroads would have had to cross a major tributary of the Deschutes, the Crooked River. There was only one place where the cliffs on both sides were close enough to build a bridge. Jim Hill had obtained the rights to the location when his Oregon Trunk Railroad acquired the Central Oregon Railroad Company on December 1, 1909. The Central Oregon had laid no track and the rights to the bridge site were its principal asset. Hill's acquisition of the location forced Harriman to negotiate a settlement whereby the Oregon Trunk, Hill's railroad, would own almost the entire line from the Columbia to Bend but Harriman's company would have the right to use the track.
Through a series of mergers the rail line and the bridge became part of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (which changed its name to BNSF Railway in 2005). Union Pacific, Harriman's old railroad, still has the right to use the track. Great Northern extended the line south from Bend to
Chemult in 1928.
The bridge was designed by the famous bridge architect,
Ralph Modjeski
Ralph Modjeski (born Rudolf Modrzejewski; January 27, 1861 – June 26, 1940) was a Polish-American civil engineer who achieved prominence as "America's greatest bridge builder."
Life
He was born in Bochnia, called Galicia at the time, on Janua ...
, who also designed the
San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 in California, Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland ...
. The
Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Company
The Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co., also known as Missouri Valley Bridge Company, was a engineering, construction, and steel fabrication firm that operated through the late nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries. It was based in Leavenw ...
built the bridge by cantilevering it out from rock walls on both sides of the canyon. A myth arose, fostered by a photograph of men climbing a rope ladder up to the bridge, that the bridge builders camped at the bottom of the canyon and climbed up to work every day. In fact the crew lived two miles north of the bridge in a large construction camp at Opal City.
Opal City was expected to thrive well into the future but it was completely abandoned soon after the railroad was completed.
The first steel for the bridge arrived on May 18, 1911, and was lowered by derrick to the bottom of the gorge. Men climbed down rope ladders to attach cables to the steel beams and the steel was hoisted back up both sides of the canyon as the beams were needed. The first train crossed the bridge only four months later on September 17. Half the rivets holding the bridge together were installed after trains started using the bridge. The bridge was built quickly to facilitate laying the last of track to Bend where Jim Hill himself drove the "golden" spike on October 5. Dramatic photographs of the bridge's construction were taken by Olof Hedlund of Madras.
Nearby bridges
Less than upriver from the bridge are the
Crooked River High Bridge
The Crooked River High Bridge is a steel arch bridge that spans the Crooked River gorge in Jefferson County, Oregon. The bridge was designed by Conde McCullough and was completed in 1926. Shortly after its completion, Oregon State Highway Divisio ...
, the
Rex T. Barber Veterans Memorial Bridge
The Rex T. Barber Veterans Memorial Bridge is a concrete arch bridge in the western United States; it spans the Crooked River gorge in Jefferson County in central Oregon. Designed by T. Y. Lin International, the bridge was completed in 2000 ...
(which carries
U.S. Route 97
U.S. Route 97 (US 97) is a major north–south route of the United States Numbered Highway System in the Pacific Northwest region. It runs for approximately through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, primarily serving in ...
over the Crooked River), and the
Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint
The Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint is a state park on the Crooked River in Oregon, United States. It is on the border of Deschutes and Jefferson counties.
History
The facility is named in honor of Peter Skene Ogden who first entered ...
. Further upriver the
City of Prineville Railway
The City of Prineville Railway is an class III shortline railroad connecting the U.S. cities of Prineville, Oregon, Prineville and Redmond, Oregon, Redmond, Oregon. Trains can connect with the BNSF and UPRR at Prineville Jct. 3 miles north of R ...
, linking
Redmond and
Prineville
Prineville is a city in and the seat of Crook County, Oregon, United States. It was named for the first merchant located in the present location, Barney Prine. The population was 9,253 at the 2010 census.
History
Prineville was founded in 187 ...
, operates the only other railroad bridge across the Crooked River.
See also
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References
*
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External links
*
{{coord, 44.3911, -121.1962, type:landmark_region:US-OR, display=title
1911 establishments in Oregon
Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon
Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States
Railroad bridges in Oregon
Steel bridges in the United States
Transportation buildings and structures in Jefferson County, Oregon