Washington State railroad bridges photograph collection, 1902-1911

As early as the 1860s, the railroad construction industry had spread to the Pacific Northwest. As the primary source of water for the communities, the Columbia River dictated the route these railroads would take. In addition, the Columbia River Valley provided engineers with an ideal slope on which to lay track. The turn of the twentieth century brought with it a renewed desire for western expansion. Railroad commissioners capitalized on this desire to bring more people to the Northwest and advertised the pleasant and never-ending summer of the Northwest as enticement for uprooting families and traveling west. As the tracks for the railroads were being laid, however, fractures within the railroad community lead to the development of competing companies. During the years between 1902 and 1910, railroad companies in the Northwest, such as the Great Northern Railroad, the Northern Pacific Railroad, the Spokane Portland and Seattle Railroad, and the Chicago Milwaukee and Puget Sound Railroad, participated in a much heated race to build tracks through the Cascade Mountains and in the western part of the state.

Labels provided by the Cornell University College of Civil Engineering are adhered to the back of the mat-boards.