This Giclée Prints item is sold by LightIntoArt. Ships from Plains, MT. Listed on Aug 6, 2022
Isaac Lee Patterson (1859-1929) was the 18th governor of Oregon, serving from January 10th, 1927, until his death on December 21st, 1929. He was the first of Oregon’s governors to be born in Oregon, his birthday coming seven months after Oregon joined the Union. A fiscal conservative, Patterson modeled himself on Calvin Coolidge. His administration did, however, work to improve Oregon’s highways.
One of the main difficulties in traveling around Oregon was the lack of roads along the Pacific Coast. A 1919 map shows no roads whatever between Neskowin and North Bend, a distance of 133 miles, roughly one-third of Oregon’s coastline. Numerous rivers flow out of the coastal mountains toward the Pacific, and all of these needed to be bridged for a highway to function. Enter Conde McCullough, Oregon’s master bridge builder.
Anyone who has driven U.S. 101 across Oregon has driven across at least one of McCullough’s bridges. The southern-most, spanning the Rogue River on the northern end of Gold Beach, was opened to the public in 1932. Named for Patterson, when opened the bridge was the longest on the Pacific Coast between Astoria, Oregon and San Francisco. Incorporating structural elements pioneered by French engineer Eugène Freyssinet, the 1,898-foot-long bridge seems almost simple when viewed from the roadbed. Get below the bridge and its true beauty shines. The combination of 7 large arches and numerous small ones is gorgeous.
I took this photo (one of many I’ve taken of the bridge) from the south bank of the Rogue, looking toward the northeast. I used a Nikon Coolpix L3, and took the photo on December 1st, 2006, just a week before my new Nikon DSLR arrived. I’ve since taken many photos of the Isaac Lee Patterson bridge, but this remains my favorite. It also serves as the January photo for my 2023 Bridges of the Western U.S. calendar.
