NORTH BEND IN THE OREGON HISTORY CENTER

This is North Bend in 1940.

Something is missing, though.

I-5 is missing, but there’s something else.

These baby boomers and their memory, you never know what you’re getting.

That’s what I saw during a quick stop at the Oregon Historical Society that lasted longer than ‘quick.’

The story of Hwy 101 and all of those bridges?

An outsider would look in with the same interest they apply to other museums, other places, flatter places.

That’s not Oregon, not the Oregon coast.

How did one state conquer their coastline, their cliffs and crags?

 

 

With either an over-arch or under-arch in most of the bridges, the North Bend Bridge, shown here as the Conde McCullough Memorial Bridge, got the masterpiece treatment.

 

 

Such a beauty.

It brings to mind the Golden Gate Bridge in the Golden State if you look at it right.

A tunnel of steel.

 

 

I know of at least one teenager who rode it looking up from the back of a pick-up truck.

Kid 1: You drive.

Kid 2: Where are you going?

Kid 1: I’m riding in back.

Kid 2: You drive, it’s your truck, and I’ll ride in back.

Kid 1: Then we’ll both ride in back. I’ll go first.

Kid 2: You get two turns?

Kid 1: My truck.

 

 

It was a great view both ways.

An even better view these years later?

Seeing the museum boss surveying the property on a Saturday morning, cruising the galleries as the most informed guest in the house.

For some people, history is more than an anecdote, a book, a picture, or a job.

 

 

PS: I introduced him to my group and he was a good guy full of fun.

 

PSS: The length of Hwy 101 is 363 miles, not 325 like I’d guessed. My kid took the over and won.

If I wasn’t already a member, I would have signed up right then.