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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

100 years ago in the Inland Northwest: Car bridge over Columbia opens; striking miners return to work

This was the third “traffic bridge” (as opposed to railroad bridge) over the Columbia in Washington. (Spokane Daily Chronicle archives)

The first auto suspension bridge over the Columbia River was opened near Chelan Falls, a few miles above Wenatchee.

The new bridge “opens a direct route through the scenic Lake Chelan country,” said the Spokane Daily Chronicle, which ran a photo of the bridge.

This bridge filled a crucial need, since the ferry at Vantage had been damaged over the summer and motorists had been forced to find alternative routes over the Columbia.

This was the third “traffic bridge” (as opposed to railroad bridge) over the Columbia in Washington.

From the labor beat: Mines in the Coeur d’Alene mining district were preparing to reopen after the settlement of a long-running miner’s strike.

The miner’s union called off the strike and announced that they would return to work as soon as possible. Details of the settlement were not yet released, but the mine operators were apparently willing to accept most of the strikers back on the job, “with the probable exception of the small radical element which is regarded as responsible” for the strike, according to the Chronicle.

“It is believed that many men who left the district when the strike was called will return to their jobs, and that the approach of bad weather will induce many others to seek underground employment,” the Chronicle reported.

From the murder beat: W.P. Wilkinson denied that he was the “mystery caller” who told detectives where to find the grave of murdered Spokane real estate man W.H. McNutt.

Los Angeles detectives located Wilkinson, the husband of Fay McDonald Wilkinson, at his home in that city. They questioned him, but he said he did not make the anonymous calls that broke the case open.