Imagine travelling for nearly two years across plains, mountains, and forest and finally arriving at this setting, the mighty waters of the Columbia River emptying into the Pacific Ocean, with the sea stretching out to the horizon. That is what greeted Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1805 on their legendary North American expedition that originated near St. Louis. Fort Astoria, founded nearby in 1811 by the American Fur Company, was the first US-owned settlement on the West Coast. The Astoria-Megler Bridge was added to this picture 155 years later, the final piece connecting Los Angeles to Olympia, Washington via US Route 101. Water from seven states and two Canadian provinces flows through the Columbia, passing under the six-kilometre structure, the longest continuous truss bridge in North America.
Astoria-Megler Bridge, Oregon
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Serra de Tramuntana, Balearic Islands, Majorca, Spain
-
Nature’s art installation
-
Dare to tread through the fairy flower?
-
When just a pinch of salt won’t do
-
Incan ingenuity
-
76 glorious years of independence
-
Ayutthaya Historical Park, Thailand
-
World Rivers Day
-
Ross Sea, Antarctica
-
An old bridge in a new light
-
Piecing together a better tomorrow
-
Ayutthaya Historical Park, Thailand
-
Verdon Gorge, France
-
A day for cousins of every stripe
-
Angkor, Cambodia
-
A remote oasis in the Chihuahuan Desert
-
Endangered Species Day
-
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
-
A plant for all occasions
-
Russell lupines, Lake Tekapo, New Zealand
-
Himalaya mountain range
-
South Stack Lighthouse, Holyhead, Wales, UK
-
Celebrating Guru Nanak Gurpurab
-
This lesson is going swimmingly
-
A sacred water tank in Hampi
-
Maldives
-
Christmas Day
-
Can you name these pretty flowers?
-
Warm light through an ancient forest
-
Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA