Pedestrians cross the Burnside Bridge, with the Morrison, Hawthorne and Marquam bridges looming through the fog. (The Oregonian)

Portland needed bridges in the 1920s. Multnomah County's commissioners were determined to make them happen -- the Portland way.

The result: arguably the biggest political scandal in the county's history.

At the height of Prohibition, voters approved a $5 million bond to replace the deteriorating 30-year-old Burnside Bridge and build two new spans -- the Ross Island Bridge and the Sellwood Bridge.

Portlanders thrilled at what these new "trans-Willamette bridges" meant: a growing city, a thriving economy, more options to transport bootleg booze over the river.

Don't Edit

Workers remove steel from the original Burnside Bridge in 1924. The steel was used in part for new bridges. (The Oregonian)

The promise of the bridges even provoked a little poetry from one real-estate company selling eastside lots. Offered an advertisement in The Oregonian:

When there is still some blue in the deep, dark sky and the river below is indigo. Orange lights from shore buildings reflected in long, shimmering lines in the river. Close-by and far-away bridges visible only by their beautiful yellow clusters and the quick flashes of passing headlights.

Yes, our new bridges are going to add a romance to Portland's beauty that none can deny and all will wish to enjoy.

Driving home over any of these fine structures will add to the joy of being alive.

Don't Edit

The three county commissioners who sparked the "Bridge Scandal." (The Oregonian)

Multnomah County's three commissioners could expect that feeling of joie de vivre to be especially acute when they rumbled over the new bridges.

On April Fool's Day in 1924, Commissioners Charles Rudeen, Dow Walker and John Howard Rankin opened up bidding for the projects.

Soon, the bid they were expecting came through from a coalition of builders: an all-or-nothing offer to construct the three bridges for more than $5 million.

Don't Edit

The Broadway, Steel, Burnside, Morrison, Hawthorne and Ross Island bridges in 1932. (The Oregonian)

Then another bid landed, this one just for the Burnside Bridge, from contractor C.F. Swigert. He offered to build the key span for $500,000 less than the first group.

Surprised by this second bid, the commissioners immediately slammed shut the bidding process. It had been open for only one day.

Rudeen, Walker and Rankin -- historians J.D. Chandler and Theresa Griffin Kennedy have called them "KKK-backed candidates," the racist Klan being a powerful player in Oregon politics at the time -- accepted the first bid.

Don't Edit

Oswald West late in life. (The Oregonian)

Seeing as such actions were standard operating procedure in the Rose City, they didn't think anyone would question their decision to reward the "inseparable triumvirate."

But popular former Oregon Gov. Oswald West, now a local Portland lawyer who no longer had to court the political insiders, was paying attention to the process.

"Those who are putting over the deal are working fast, and unless something is done at once the taxpayers of the county and city are going to get a wonderful trimming," he told a reporter.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Ross Island Bridge (The Oregonian)

West was right.

Swigert brought a lawsuit and complained loudly about his treatment.

Gov. Walter Pierce, faced with West's and Swigert's public yawping, expressed concern. The state attorney ordered an investigation.

Don't Edit

The Burnside Bridge in 1946. (The Oregonian)

Soon the public learned that the three county commissioners had received a mysterious $50,000 cash payment.

And that Rudeen and Walker had bought lots on the west side in the designated path of the Sellwood Bridge -- just before the siting of the bridge became publicly known.

And that Walker, an insurance agent, provided the policies for the contractors who had scored the winning bid.

Don't Edit

Sellwood Bridge (The Oregonian)

The investigation moved swiftly, and a City Club of Portland report concluded that "the County Commissioners have forfeited the confidence of the public."

The "Bridge Scandal" roiled the Portland area, and West led a recall campaign that spring to remove the commissioners.

"The voters, too often, have nobody to blame but themselves when incompetents are elected to office," the former governor said.

Don't Edit

Sellwood Bridge (The Oregonian)

Voters, perhaps stung by West's words, voted out Rudeen, Rankin and Walker, all by sizable margins. The disgraced commissioners were replaced by Amedee M. Smith, Erwin Taft and Grant Phegley.

West praised the results -- and the voters.

"This will prove an object lesson to the people of Portland and will show them what they can do when they exercise their rights as citizens and take interest enough in elections to get out and vote," he said.

Don't Edit

Burnside Bridge (The Oregonian)

The recall wasn't the only blowback that Rudeen, Rankin and Walker faced. They were indicted on charges ranging from bribery to malfeasance, but "direct connections involving bribery" proved difficult to prove and they were acquitted.

The bridges moved forward with the new commissioners in charge. Perhaps inevitably, The Oregonian's Dana Tims wrote in 2012, "questionable" cost overruns hit the Burnside and Ross Island projects. This led to the Sellwood span's budget getting squeezed.

The replacement commissioners hired the renowned former New York bridge commissioner Gustav Lindenthal to handle the three-bridge project. Lindenthal reshaped the Sellwood Bridge's engineering plan to make it work at a downsized cost.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Ross Island Bridge (The Oregonian)

"Lindenthal was sort of a legend -- a 'bridge god' if you will -- whose expertise and ethics were really beyond question," local historian George Kramer told Tims. "It was an inspired choice."

The Burnside Bridge opened in May 1926 and the Ross Island Bridge in December 1926. The Sellwood Bridge opened in December 1925 and was replaced in 2016.

-- Douglas Perry