The Celilo Bridge

BNSF from OR to vicinity of Wishram WA

Near the site of Celilo Falls

The railroad bridge across the Columbia River a short distance upstream from Celilo Falls was completed around 1910 as part of the branch of the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railroad (SP&S) extending southerly from the Wishram area to Bend in Central Oregon. At first competing to build separate lines south from the Columbia to Bend, the Union Pacific and the SP&S decided to consolidate their efforts into the construction of a single set of tracks known as the Oregon Trunk.

Celilo Falls were covered over by Lake Celilo, the reservoir created by the construction of The Dalles Dam in the mid 1950s. The vertical lift drawspan was added to the bridge sometime after the dam was completed. Note that there is a swing drawspan next to the vertical lift span. There had been a canal with locks built for river traffic to bypass the falls several years before The Dalles Dam was built. The swing span was added to the bridge when this earlier canal was built.

The SP&S became part of the Burlington Northern (BN) in 1970. BN in turn merged with the Santa Fe in 1996 to form the BNSF, now owners of the Celilo Bridge.

This photograph was taken in September 2001 with Oregon in the foreground.