Chow Chow Bridge, Wooden cable-stayed bridge site on the Quinault Reservation, Washington, United States.
Chow Chow Bridge was a wooden structure that spanned the Quinault River with four timber king post trusses connected by steel cables. The bridge stood near Taholah on the reservation and served as a crossing point over the waterway.
Frank Milward designed this first cable-stayed bridge in Washington State for the Aloha Lumber Company, which operated from 1952 until 1988. The structure endured three major collapses during those decades before being dismantled.
In 1971 Joe DeLaCruz and other Quinault closed the bridge in protest against unfair resource extraction on the reservation. The crossing linked communities on the reservation, and its timber later became cedar shakes for the tribal center in Taholah.
The site was located in a forested area of the Quinault Reservation, typical of the Pacific region. Access to the historical location today requires respectful navigation through tribal lands with local awareness.
After the final collapse, the bridge materials were repurposed into cedar shakes for building a new tribal center in Taholah. This transformation gave the old structure a second life in service to the community.
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