Recycled bridge

During World War II, construction material was becoming scarce. Support buildings were needing to be erected for the finishing of Grand Coulee Dam. An idea was introduced, where the old Great Northern Railway bridge, up the Columbia River and then over the Kettle River at Marcus, could be reused to provide steel and wood beams needed for these buildings. The bridge was purchased by the government for this plan. By June of 1942, the rising water of the reservoir had backed the Kettle River up to a sufficient depth to permit removal of the bridge sections by barges and tugs. The barges were slightly filled with water then placed under each section. The water was then pumped out until the barge supported the weight. A tugboat maneuvered each barge to the dam to an unloading slip. All seven sections of the bridge, regardless of whether being wood or steel, were disassembled for reuse. One structure built with these bridge beams still stands today. It was known as the Assembly Building, and is the northwestern-most building in the current Industrial Area. In the photo, a bridge section is being towed near the dam by the tugboat Paul Bunyon.

By Dan Bolyard, Them Dam Writers online.

Image courtesy Coulee Pioneer Museum