A century ago, it must have been the equivalent of being first in line to see the newest “Star Wars” film.
On Feb. 15, 1917, Gordon Stuart camped out at 4 a.m. so he could be first in line to buy a ticket.
A ticket to walk across the bridge.
It seems weird on a lot of levels, but that was part of our coverage when the bridge between Vancouver and Portland opened on Feb. 14, 1917.
On Sunday, the centennial of that event was our lead story, as Columbian reporter Dameon Pesanti covered 100 years of Interstate Bridge history.
A century ago, our coverage included a few not-so-historical moments, including Mrs. Olson’s role in the festivities. We applauded her performance of the national anthem, even though the reporter didn’t include the singer’s first name. (We did note that Mrs. Olson’s great-grandmother was Esther Short, which must have seemed more significant.)
A follow-up story on Feb. 16, 1917, reported Stuart’s quest to be the first man to cross the bridge in the course of ordinary business. Tolls took effect on Feb. 15, 1917, the day after the grand opening. We reported that Stuart “bought ticket No. 1 over the bridge.” (It apparently cost a nickel.)
He might have been the first man, but Stuart wasn’t the first person.
“Two young ladies whose names could not be learned were on the Oregon side” and scampered across, our reporter wrote.
Our coverage included traffic counts on the first day of tolling. More than half of the people who crossed the bridge on Feb. 15, 1917, were streetcar passengers.
There’s also a reminder about the community in 1917. There were tolls for animal-drawn carriages and wagons, as well as for livestock. Fifteen head of stock ambled over the Columbia River that day, at 5 cents apiece.
Off Beat lets members of The Columbian news team step back from our newspaper beats to write the story behind the story, fill in the story or just tell a story.
