On August 7, 1909, highway officials dedicate a swing bridge linking Camano Island to Stanwood. It is the first bridge connecting the island to the mainland, but not the last. Forty years later, the General Mark W. Clark Bridge will be built to replace the swing bridge, and on August 11, 2010, the new Camano Gateway Bridge will open to traffic across the West Pass of the Stillaguamish River.
Linking to the Mainland
In the early part of the nineteenth century as modes of transportation in Puget Sound transitioned from waterways to roadways, Camano Island became connected to the mainland at long last with its first bridge in 1909. The bridge passed over the West Pass of the mouth of the Stillaguamish River just west of where Stanwood had been established in the 1860s and 1870s along the riverfront.
At the mouth of the Stillaguamish was a large island estuary that was diked by early settlers known as Leque Island (originally in Norwegian, Lekve and pronounced Lekwee). The island estuary was named for one of its earliest Norwegian immigrant families, Nels Leque. Three large farms operated there after landowners diked the island to make the tide flats arable. The Davis Slough was the western waterway boundary of Leque Island, named for Reuben J. Davis, an early logger in the area. This waterway defined the western boundary of Leque Island and Snohomish County and is now a much narrower channel. Camano Island residents also crossed this slough with barges.
The larger of the waterways, West Pass, had been traversed by a cable ferry to carry wagons and other vehicles across. South Pass forked toward Port Susan, a large bay between Camano and the Snohomish County mainland.
The First Bridge
The 1909 a swing bridge was built that connected the island to Stanwood. A dedication took place on August 7. The swing bridge turned on a center pedestal and pier 90 degrees and had to be closed and locked into place to allow large steamboats through to Stanwood. They did not use South Pass because only the smallest watercraft could navigate the South Pass of the Stillaguamish River out to tide flats timed carefully with the tides. Dredging was done but eventually abandoned, though some stump pulling continued on the south channel of the river originally known as Hatt Slough.
A bridge tender, Ed Lawson, lived to the north of the bridge and operated the turnstile that opened the passage for steamboats that were too tall to fit under the bridge. Traffic was timed for tides, though the steamboats had a relatively shallow draft. Young Leque Island residents Kathryn Eide and Elaine Eide remembered that they were allowed to ride the bridge as it opened and would help by closing and opening the wooden gate across the highway to hold back traffic from Camano Island which would stretch back "almost" to Land’s Hill on Camano Island.
An improved Davis Slough steel bridge was commissioned in 1912 and costs were shared by Island and Snohomish counties to replace a wooden bridge.
The Second Bridge
Forty years later the swing bridge needed to be replaced. After funding was secured, the General Mark W. Clark Bridge was dedicated on July 23, 1950. The smaller Davis Slough Bridge was dedicated on the same day. The official ribbon cutting was done by young Lenore Schultz. She said she was chosen, she thought, because "Mr. Bugge, the Transportation person asked the local banker Amundson to find a young person to cut the ribbon" (citation). Amundson came over to the bakery that was owned by her father, Mr Schultz, and asked Lenore if she would do it.
The Department of Transportation has donated the bronze plaque that was on the southeast side of the bridge to the Stanwood Area Historical Society. The plaque designated the name and dedication to General Mark Clark and his first wife Maurine, who owned a home on Camano Island. She spent a few years on Camano intermittently and they planned to retire there, but he was called to serve in the Pacific and never returned to Camano Island.
The Third Bridge
The dedication of the new Camano Gateway Bridge took place on August 11, 2010, 101 years after the first bridge was dedicated across the West Pass. Transportation officials were happy to report on its seismic improvements, wider lanes, and improved safety.
Washington State Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen shepherded the project through the budget cycles as chairperson of the Senate Transportation Committee. She had a personal reason for the upgrading of the bridge. "Just like you, I drove over that bridge every day ... I was so frustrated every time I was late or missed an important appointment because of an accident on the bridge" (citation). Commuters learned to allow extra time to get off the island to get to work or appointments on time. Lenore Schultz, now Lenore Moa, wife of Stanwood Mayor Don Moa, was present to provide continuity to the tradition. Others present at the 2010 ceremony were the Lawson Family, whose father Bert Lawson was the original bridge tender who operated the turnstile on the swing bridge.
The new bridge has an added feature to honor the bridge and perhaps of the recent local artist economy, with metal sculptures installed on the four corners of the bridge. Metal artist Debbi Rhodes was commissioned to design and fabricate pieces funded by contractor Parsons-Kuney with donations from the Stanwood Camano Area Foundation and the Camano Arts Association. The sculptures represent an orca, salmon, bald eagle, and heron, with a Douglas fir represented on all four.
In 2015-2016 the second bridge over western Davis Slough, which marks the boundary between Island and Snohomish counties, was widened by 24 feet and raised 5 feet. After property owners sold their farms to the Washington State Deptartment of Fish and Wildlife, Leque Island became an estuary again. In 2023, the crossing looks out to a wetland from the breaching of the dikes (except for those protecting Stanwood). The views are still spectacular and the crossing much safer. The usage of SR 532 continues to increase as the population of Camano Island grows, however. The story will continue as population continues to conflict with geographical and climate restraints.
