In early 1949, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the construction of a dam, bulkhead, and new bridge at the mouth of the Deschutes River, thereby creating Capitol Lake. This photograph from late 1949 or early 1950 shows the beginning of construction of the dam and the Fifth Avenue Bridge over it. In the distance we can see the dome of the Legislative Building, still under repair following the April 1949 earthquake. The dam and bridge were completed in 1951.
Unknown photographer, around 1950, Susan Parish Collection, Southwest Regional Archives AR20090812-ph007137
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian