HomeMy WebLinkAbout1903 - Riverton Draw Bridge Built Across Duwamish RiverRiverton Draw Bridge is built across the Duwamish River in 1903.
By Paula Becker
Posted 10/16/2003
HistoryLink.org Essay 4252
Riverton Draw Bridge (1903-1927)
spanning Duwamish River, ca. 1910
Courtesy King County Archives
Trestle roadway approaching Riverton
Draw Bridge (1903-1927) crossing the
Duwamish River, 1910
Courtesy King County Archives
Riverton Draw Bridge (1903-1927)
spanning Duwamish River, ca. 1910
Courtesy King County Archives
Site of Riverton Draw Bridge (1903-1927)
on the Duwamish River, Tukwila,
October 2003
Photo by Paula Becker
In 1903, the Riverton Draw Bridge (also called the Riverton
Drawspan and designated King County Bridge 622-A) is built
and placed into service. The wooden plank, swing -span
bridge, which crosses the Duwamish, is built to carry foot
traffic and horse-drawn vehicles, but is quickly forced to
accommodate automobiles as well. The west foot of the
bridge is in the community known as Riverton, and the east
foot is in the small settlement called Allentown. The road
approaching the bridge on the west side of the river crosses
the Puget Sound Electric Railway (Interurban) track at grade
(at the level of the rails). Drivers entering the bridge from the
west must make a sharply angled blind turn from road to
bridge, which renders the bridge and its west approaches
extremely hazardous.
The Old Military Road
The northbound road, which approached the Riverton Draw
Bridge on the west side of the Duwamish, was the old
Military road. The Military Road was the original road linking
Tacoma and Seattle (and points beyond in both directions). It
had been hacked through the wilderness by Captain W. W.
DeLacy in 1857. This portion of the Military Road was later
designated part of the Pacific Highway. The road here ran on
a low trestle between the Interurban tracks and the river. On
the east side of the Duwamish, the Riverton Draw Bridge
abutted what is now (2003) S. 124th Street, with 42nd
Avenue S. running alongside the river, in present-day
Tukwila.
Federal funds for the bridge were appropriated in 1899. It
was built of Douglas fir and cedar. The Riverton Draw Bridge
was a swinging truss drawbridge. The swing span was
opened by turning it on a central pivot. During the time the
bridge was in place, a sandbar formed around the pier built
to carry this central pivot about one-third of the way across
the Duwamish from the west bank. This small sandbar or
island, heavily covered with brush, is the only remnant of the
bridge's presence.
Prior to the construction of the Riverton Draw Bridge, the
only crossing on the upper Duwamish was at Black River
Junction. In the three years following the construction of the
Riverton Draw Bridge, "three more similar drawspans were
built over the Duwamish at Renton Junction, Oxbow and
Georgetown" (Reinartz, p. 98).
The Riverton Draw Bridge was inspected about every two
years. King County bridge repair teams regularly carried out
the inspectors' recommended repairs to both bridge and
trestle approaches. The nature of the bridge material,
however, and especially the precarious topography (a steep
grade, the Interurban tracks, the trestle road abutting the
river) led to periodic landslides onto the Interurban tracks.
These slides were sometimes shoveled off the tracks and
under the trestle approaches, increasing maintenance
difficulties and accelerating wood rot.
Hazardous and At Times Fatal Crossings
By the time the bridge had been in use a decade, the planks were wearing thin and periodic bolt
tightening, replanking, and extra nails were becoming inadequate to the task of keeping the bridge in
safe shape.
A number of fatal accidents occurred at or close to the bridge, including collisions between cars and
the Interurban at the perilous spot where the road crossed the tracks at grade. On March 30, 1915,
four people were killed when their car failed to negotiate the sharp turn from the northbound trestle
onto the bridge. Their car plunged through the railing, turned over, and landed in about 10 feet of
water. Those killed (Thomas and Virginia Prosch, Margaret Denny and Harriet Beecher) were
prominent Seattleites and the newspaper coverage of their deaths brought wide attention to the
shortcomings of the Riverton Draw Bridge.
Washed Out, Worn Thin, Rotting
Four years after this accident, King County bridge inspector C. Ward Crocket reported, "This bridge is
in serious condition. Posts, sills and caps in east approach are rotten, piles, caps and corbel blocks in
piers are rotten. Northwest approach on bent washed out, south approach has settled in several
places and planking on entire bridge has worn thin. Recommendation: repair this bridge or close it"
(May 7, 1919 memo, King County Archives RG 103, Series 36, Box 10).
The Riverton Draw Bridge was condemned for vehicle traffic and closed in 1919 (Bridge Inspection
Report, November 23, 1923, King County Archives RG 103, Series 36, Box 10). The east approaches
of the span were removed at that time. The west approaches remained in use as a roadway between
Riverton and the Quarry district to the north and continued to deteriorate rapidly.
On January 7, 1924, the Board of Commissioners of King County approved Resolution Number 1351
which officially closed the bridge and approaches to vehicles of all kinds (Resolution Number 1351,
King County Archives RG 103, Series 36, Box 10).
On March 31, 1927, Bridge and Wharf Inspector J. P. Blum reported, "The entire bridge and
approached have recently been razed by Fred Anderson, the South District Bridge Foreman" (Note
appended to memo of November 23, 1923, King County Archives RG 103, Series 36, Box 10).
Sources:
Kay Francis Reinartz, Tukwila: Community at the Crossroads (Tukwila: City of Tukwila, 1991); Paul Dorpat and Genevieve
McCoy, Building Washington: A History of Washington State Public Works (Seattle: Tartu Publications, 1998); King County Archives
RG 103, Series 474, Box 6 (Road Engineer Bridge Files, Photos); King County Archives RG 103, Series 36, Box 10 (Road Engineer
Bridge Files, 622-A — Maps/Plans Riverton Draw Bridge [23-4-10]); Warren Wing, To Tacoma By Trolley, Puget Sound Electric
Railway (Edmonds, WA: Pacific Fast Mail, 1995); King County Medical Examiner (Coroner) Newspaper Clipping photocopies, Vol. 1,
September 1, 1914 — August 9, 1917, King County Archives.
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