Bridge Day goes virtual

ROSALIA - The 2020 Bridge Day celebration is going virtual this year. It is set for Oct. 28 at 7 p.m.

The fourth annual presentation of local railroad heritage and local history and which has in the past included a history hike on the former Milwaukee Road grade over the iconic Rosalia Concrete Arch Bridges will be virtual. The grade is now part of Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail.

Mark Borleske will open the evening with a short retrospective in pictures of the towns of Pine City and Malden and the Manning Bridge. Although Malden and Pine City were just a few miles apart, their community histories were very different. Pine City was established in the 1870’s as a crossing on a trail between Walla Walla and Colville, becoming established as a milling and commercial center. Malden was established in 1909 with the completion of the Milwaukee Road. Malden’s early fortunes were closely tied with the Milwaukee Road, and the railroad presence declined over the years to abandonment in 1980. The communities of Malden and Pine City were devastated by the Babb Road Fire on Labor Day. In addition, the picturesque Manning Covered Bridge was lost in the Colfax Fire of Labor Day.

The featured presentation will cover Malden to Avery on the Milwaukee Road. Prof. Rob Leachman, University of California Berkeley, will present a virtual tour of the Milwaukee Road starting in Malden and going east to Avery, Idaho. The route includes Rosalia, Pandora, Tekoa, Plummer/Plummer Jct., and Peedee Viaduct, Benewah Lake and St. Maries, along the shadowy St. Joe River to the remote but once robust railroad town of Avery, Idaho.

The program will include color photos from the 1970’s, a selection of photos taken by Dr. Leachman, supplemented by photos from the Klawunder collection of Cascade Rail Foundation and other sources.

Bridge Day is presented by the Rosalia Branch of Whitman County Library in partnership with the Cascade Rail Foundation.

To join the program, email rosalia@whitco.lib.wa.us for a Zoom invitation before Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 4 p.m.