A 20-year-old dream in the community of Fairfax came true on December 17, 1921, when a large crowd gathered for dedication of the Fairfax Bridge. The new bridge and road from Carbonado not only secured vehicle passage to Fairfax, but also provided a link for a planned chain to extend access into Mount Rainier National Park. In 1934, the road reached Mowich Lake and became State Route 165.
Fairfax was discovered in 1892 by W.E. Williams who with his father unearthed a seam of coal. The town was named by Hobart W. McNeill, an Iowa railroad and coal investor who headed Western American Company and began mine development in 1896. However, only the Northern Pacific Railroad was able to successfully navigate the difficult terrain of the Carbon River canyon and reach Fairfax, Montezuma, and Manley-Moore further upriver. An early road completed around 1902 became so badly out of repair that it was passable only by pack horse.
A 1918 Pierce County voter-approved, bond issue provided funds for construction of the new Fairfax access. However, work could not be undertaken until the end of World War I. The full cost of the highway was $450,000, of which $80,000 was expended for the bridge. With a span of 494 feet, the Fairfax Bridge sits 250 feet above the river and was at one time the highest bridge in Washington. The structure was built by the Union Bridge Company of Seattle under the supervision of G.A. Marsh, a Portland-based construction engineer.
There were a host of dignitaries on hand for the dedication, under the master of ceremonies, Dr. C.E. Martin of the Rainier Sportsman Association. County Commissioner James R. O’Farrell, after whom the bridge was officially named, provided a short history of how the road came to be built. W.H. Peters, supervisor of Mount Rainier National Park announced the construction of additional roads into the park with the goal of reaching Longmire, which it never did due to unstable conditions. T.H. Martin, manager of the Rainier National Park Company which opened the Paradise Inn in 1917, highlighted how residents of Tacoma now had a shorter route to the mountain. Judge Ellis Roberts of Wilkeson was also in attendance.
Following the bridge ceremonies, visitors proceeded to the town of Fairfax where they were guests of the Manley-Moore Logging Company which sponsored a special train tour through their vast stands of timber. A banquet and dance were part of an evening program that concluded the event.
Photo number Boland-B5403 comes courtesy of the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library with research into news articles from the Tacoma News Tribune and Tacoma Daily Ledger provided by Ilona Perry, a library associate.
