The $35,000, 240-foot-long (73 m) original was completed in December 1855, and was built of materials transported from Troy, New York, via Cape Horn.

Most of the money was put up by Judge Joseph Lewis, a Virginian who moved to Bidwell's Bar in 1849.

Construction of the Oroville Dam flooded the canyon where the Feather River ran as well as the town of Bidwell's Bar, and preservationists arranged for the relocation of the bridge in 1966 to the south side of the lake, where it is still open to foot traffic.

The bridge is built a mile and a half upstream from its original location.

[2] The original bridge is registered as a California Historical Landmark[1] and it was declared a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.