Friday, February 29, 1924: That the Rainier-Longview site is the best 'indicated location' for a bridge is the belief of Joseph B. Strauss, of Chicago, noted American bridge builder who spent Monday in the Rainier-Longview vicinity inspecting the proposed site at the invitation of the Longview-Rainier Bridge association. The visit to the scene of the proposed bridge here was made while Mr. Strauss was on his way to Chicago, after having been in San Francisco, where he made preliminary plans for the great bridge across the Golden Gate, at the entrance of San Francisco bay.
Strauss believes that the construction of a bridge at this point is perfectly feasible, and that the engineering problems involved would not be difficult.
Strauss estimated the cost of the bridge at about $6,000,000 but suggested private capital as a means of financing the project.
"The traffic which it now offers should make it, as a toll
bridge, an exceedingly attractive investment for private capital
and I believe this method, because it is quicker, would be more
desirable than to build it at public expense," said Strauss in a
subsequent interview in Portland. "The financial success of the
interstate bridge at Vancouver is widely known and has created
nation wide confidence in the profits of a bridge built in the even
more logical position between Rainier and Longview."
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