Umtanum Creek Bridge: A Historic Journey Through Yakima Canyon

Umtanum Creek was a railroad camp site in Yakima Canyon, where a historic suspension bridge served rail and highway users. Restored in 2021, this vital passage links the region's past. Trailhead parking requires a $5 fee or pass as of 2024.

Railroading was an extremely labor-intensive company well into the 20th century, and camps were constructed along the right of way to house the trackwalkers, signal men, area gangs, and other workers. In 1885 one such camp was constructed right here at Umtanum Creek, where the eponymous creek signs up with the Yakima. The camp even boasted a school and a message workplace by the very early 20th century.

The cord suspension bridges were likewise eliminated, with the sole exemption of the Umtanum Creek bridge. It was still used by leisure customers to access the west side of the river, yet because of age-related wear and tear worries were being raised about its safety. At the same time, initiatives were underway to have the bridge stated a nationwide historic website. Finally, Umtanum Creek Bridge was brought back in very early 2021, with focus paid to preserving the framework’s historic values.

Yakima Canyon’s Transportation Legacy

Yakima (obvious “YAK-uh-maw”) Canyon, where the Yakima River goes across a water gap via Manastash Ridge, is an apparent thoroughfare and was utilized by Indigenous Americans for thousands of years, and after that by Euro-American trappers and inhabitants right into the 19th century. It was also an apparent route for a railway, and the Northern Pacific Railway was constructed via it in the very early 1880s, along the west financial institution of the river. When in 1925 the car highway was built via the canyon on the east shore of the river, wire suspension bridges were built throughout the river from the railroad camps to provide freeway access.

When in 1925 the car highway was constructed through the canyon on the east shore of the river, wire suspension bridges were constructed across the river from the railroad camps to supply freeway gain access to. Evidently the initial bridges were vast enough to be satisfactory to Ford Design As. In the 1960s, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Bureau of Land Monitoring took over the day-to-day monitoring of the bridge, however only in 1987 was the bridge deck narrowed to make it available to pedestrians only.

Yakima (noticable “YAK-uh-maw”) Canyon, where the Yakima River passes through a water gap with Manastash Ridge, is an apparent road and was used by Native Americans for hundreds of years, and after that by Euro-American trappers and inhabitants into the 19th century. It was likewise an apparent course for a railway, and the Northern Pacific Train was constructed with it in the early 1880s, along the west bank of the river. (The railroad is still in energetic use and is now component of the BNSF system.).

Trailhead Access & Fees

As of 2024, a $5 fee is needed for trailhead auto parking, or an America the Beautiful pass or matching. A self-service station that accepts credit history or debit cards (yet not money) goes to the trailhead. The Washington Discover Pass is declined.