I haven’t posted a new Black and White Tuesday photo for a few weeks but after our Sunday afternoon hike around Deception Pass State Park I’ve got plenty of new photos ready to share.
In the spring of 1792,Ā Joseph Whidbey, master ofĀ HMSĀ DiscoveryĀ andĀ Captain Vancouver‘s chief navigator proved that it was not really a small bay as charted by theĀ SpaniardsĀ (hence the name “Deception”), but a deep and turbulent channel that connects theĀ Strait of Juan de FucaĀ with theĀ Saratoga Passage, which separates the mainland from what they believed was a peninsula (actually Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island). Thomas Coupe, a sea captain and founder of Coupeville, was the only man ever to sail a full-rigged ship through the strait discovered by Whidbey.
In the early years of the 20th century, travelers of the horse-and-buggy era used an unscheduled ferry to cross from Fidalgo Island to Whidbey Island. To call the ferry, they banged a saw with a mallet and then sat back to wait.
The bridge, one of the scenic wonders of theĀ Pacific Northwest, is actually two spans, one overĀ Canoe PassĀ to the north, and another overĀ Deception PassĀ to the south. Construction began in August 1934, and the completed bridge was dedicated at noon on July 31, 1935. The Wallace Bridge and Structural Co. ofĀ Seattle, WashingtonĀ provided 460 tons of steel for the 511-foot Canoe Pass arch and 1130 tons for the 976-foot Deception Pass span. The cost of theĀ New Deal-era construction was $482,000, made possible through theĀ Public Works AdministrationĀ and county funds.
In 1982, the bridge was listed in theĀ National Register of Historic Places.
It cost more to paint the spans in 1983 than to build them in 1935. They were painted again in 1997.
Source – Wikipedia Deception Pass Bridge
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