US 10 Trunk

From Teanaway via Wenatchee to Spokane

1926-1940

Teanaway to Wenatchee

US 10 originally headed northerly from Teanaway along the general route of today's SR 970 and US 97 to the Wenatchee River Valley. At the Big "Y", US 10/US 97 turned right and headed down the valley to Olds Station, an unincorporated community on the northwest side of the confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers From Dryden to Cashmere, the highway stayed on the south side of the Wenatchee River. Today's US 2/US 97 crosses the Wenatchee just east of Dryden and bypasses Cashmere to the north. The old highway from downtown Cashmere to the east side of town is now part of Business US 2/97. Justeast of Cashmere, the old and new highways meet. The original route from Cashmere to Monitor crossed the Wenatchee north of Monitor on a through truss bridge built in the first decade of the 20th Century. This bridge, still standing, has a greatly restricted weight limit. By the 1930s, US 10/ 97 had bypassed Monitor and a newer bridge was built to connect with Monitor from the east. Easy Street appears to have been the route of US 10/97 from the Monitor area to Olds Station starting in the 1930s. At Olds Station, US 97 left US 10 and headed northerly via Chelan and the Omak-Okanogan area to the Canadian Border. US 10 headed south across the Wenatchee River to Wenatchee.

Wenatchee to Wilbur

US 10 crossed the Columbia River from Wenatchee to East Wenatchee on a cantilever bridge completed in 1908. From East Wenatchee, the highway headed up the east side of the Columbia to Orondo. The present day route of US 2/97 from Lincoln state Park to Orondo was relocated to a higher elevation thatn the original US 10 due to the original route being inundated by the lake formed behind Rocky reach Dam. At Orondo, US 10 turned right and headed uphill to Waterville. Portions of the uphill highway were realigned after WWII. Parts of the old highway are open but parts are closed. US 2 still follows the alignment of old US 10 through Waterville. A Waterville bypass proposed in the 1950s was never built. Just east of Douglas, a short uphill section of US 2 was realigned in the 1970s. The original route of US 10 through Moses Coulee was much more crooked that that of present day US 2. The reconstruction was done in the 1970s.

The original route of US 10 just west of Coulee City was inundated by Banks Lake in the early 1950s. Today, US 2 crosses Dry Falls Dam. US 10 passed through Almira. The US 2 bypass to the south of Almira was completed in the early 1960s. Between Almira and Wilbur, tUS 10 originally went through Govan. The more direct route now used by US 2 was built as part of US 10 in the later 1930s.

Wilbur to Spokane

The present day route of US 2 seems to follow the original route of US 10 from Wilbur to Creston. From Creston to Davenport, the old US 10 roadway is located as much as a mile or so to the south of US 2. From Davenport to Reardan, the old highway is mostly to the north of US 2. Portions of the original Portland cement concrete pavement from the 1920s have not yet been resurfaced. From Rearden to Deep Creek, parts of the old highway follow the section lines. The present day highway was built in the mid to late 1940s. East of Deep Creek, the old highway makes an arc to the north of the present route. The railroad undercrossing just west of Fairchild AFB was completed in the 1930s. The 1926-1940 and 1940 and later routes of US 10 converged between Airway Heights and Spokane. This convergence originally took place at the intersection of the Sunset Highway and hayford Road. By the mid 1940s, Geiger Blvd had been completed and the old and new US 10 then met at the Sunset Highway/Geiger Blvd interchange.

Continue east on US 10 through Spokane to the Idaho State line