Mosier Creek Bridge

Here's a photo of the Mosier Creek Bridge, which carries the old Columbia River Highway, aka 1st Avenue, in the small town of Mosier, OR. Mosier is about halfway between Hood River and The Dalles, and it's the western end of a segment of the old highway that continues east to the Rowena area and then to The Dalles. I stopped to take some photos of Mosier Creek Falls, a short walk upstream, and the bridge looked kind of interesting so I took a photo of it too, even though I wasn't yet doing a bridge thing here. The BridgeHunter page for the bridge claims this is yet another Conde McCullough bridge, like the Dry Canyon Creek Bridge up on the Rowena Plateau, and Bridge Ink concurs. A 2009 ODOT presentation about McCullough bridges includes it (along with a lot of other great vintage photos), and they of all people ought to know. A brief 1921 Oregonian item says:

Paving on Highway Begun.

HOOD RIVER, Or., May 25 - (Special.) - The A.D. Kern Co. today began paving the Hood River - Mosier stretch of the Columbia river highway at Mosier creek bridge, according to M.A. Mayer, Mosier orchardist, here on business. The paving crews will be moved to the east approach of the Hood river bridge tomorrow and will move east from here.

An earlier item from June 1911 is confusing, because the year predates the Columbia River Highway as it's usually understood, and also predates McCullough's employment with the state highway commission. So maybe it refers to an earlier bridge on the site. And maybe it's a different road too, or maybe the existing road was upgraded later to have the Columbia River Highway look.

WORK IS RUSHED ON ROAD

Motor Highway From Mosier to The Dalles Ready Soon. MOSIER, Or., June 18 - (Special.) - The new bridge across Mosier Creek has been completed and work is being rushed on the automobile road from Mosier to The Dalles. The road follows closely along the Columbia River, and when completed will be one of the finest roads in this region, as well as the most picturesque.

The road will be 16 miles in length and is expected to be finished by early Fall.

One mostly unrelated but interesting item I bumped into: Mosier was the site of a recent ODOT effort to make I-84 bridges and overpasses a bit less fugly. Their new "Cascadian" style vaguely evokes some design elements used in the old highway. I'm not sure if the one they did here is an overpass over I-84, or I-84's bridge over Mosier Creek. It's a nice upgrade, wherever it is.