for office, asserting before the election his unwavering support of a bridge, and
forgetting all about it as soon as the election was over. For many years the
free bridge question was the leading topic of every election campaign on the
east side of the river.
It is claimed by his friends that the first move to get a bridge built was made by Joseph A. Strowbridge nearly seventeen years before William Beck took up the idea. And that Mr. Strowbridge went so far as to get articles of incorpora- tion signed for a company to build the bridge; and went to Mr. Beck, who then lived out on a little farm at Sunnyside, to get him to take stock. But Beck de- clined, and said the ferry was good enough for him, for while he was crossing the river on the ferry, his horse (that hauled him to and from the city) could get a rest. And that after talking seventeen years more, Beck changed front on the bridge question and the talking was succeeded by vigorous action when Wil- liam Beck and Joseph Buchtel took hold of the subject in earnest. At that time, about 1875, Mr. Beck lived away out in the country among the pasture fields and dairy farms on the Base Line road between Sunnyside and Mt. Tabor ; and these two public-spirited citizens decided to test the question with a petition to the county court asking the county to build a free bridge across the river. The pe- tition was prepared and almost universally signed by all to whom it was pre- sented. A remonstrance was put out by Taxdodger, Tightwad & Co., but did not get many names. The petition was presented to the county court, consti- tuted of J. H. Woodward, county judge, and Tyler Woodward and Penumbra Kelley, commissioners. The two Woodwards were not related. Judge Wood- ward and Mr. Kelley were in favor of the free bridge; but Tyler Woodward was not favorably disposed, and not much opposed, to the proposition ; and everything looked favorable to the granting the prayer of the petitioners until the morning when the matter came up for final action. Beck and Buchtel were promptly on hand to receive the reward for their hard work in the success of the petition. And then Judge Woodward read a long legal and miscellaneous opinion on the subject, indorsing the movement and giving better reasons for it than even those set forth in the petition, but closed up his opinion by deciding that, inasmuch as there was no county road connecting with the river on the west side within the city limits, there was no public ground on the west side on which to land the west end of the bridge, and the prayer of the petitioners must be denied. Whereupon Messrs. Beck and Buchtel left the court in great disgust and indignation.
The next move for the bridge was an organization to form a company to build the bridge. Of this organization, William Beck was made president, Joseph Buchtel secretary, J. L. Atkinson treasurer and Melvin C. George attor- ney. This organization worked along in a desultory way for years, Mr. Beck putting up the promotion money and seeking assistance wherever it was possible to arouse interest in the matter, and the movement was finally converted into a proposition to build a toll bridge. At this turn of events, Mr. Buchtel with- drew, being opposed to a toll bridge ; but Mr. Beck kept on pushing. Negotia- tions were opened with Garrill Bros, of San Francisco, for the construction of the bridge, and the capital stock, enough to justify a start on construction, was subscribed by William Beck, Br. J. C. Hawthorne and some others. The com- pany commenced work on the east side by driving piles at the end of Morrison street. Then an injunction was gotten out from the U. S. district court on the grounds that the bridge would be an obstruction to the navigation of the river and an obstruction to commerce; and the work was stopped for years until the litigation was tried out, and in the meantime the contractors abandoned the job.
Finally the litigation was ended and the injunction dissolved; and a new con- tract was entered into with the Willamette Iron Bridge Company, and the work pushed to completion, after a strenuous contest for a dozen years with all sorts of opposition from ferry owners, town lot interests, north and south end of the city interests, river boatmen interests, and lack of public spirit to put up
