Alexandra Bridge Provincial Park is a provincial park located in the Fraser Canyon of British Columbia, Canada. It was established on March 26, 1984 to preserve a historically significant

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

spanning the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

. The extant bridge was built in 1926 on foundation piers from 1863.

History

The Nlaka'pamux and Sto:lo First Nations have inhabited the area for over 9,500 years. The first persons of European descent known to have visited the site were Simon Fraser and his crew during their expedition down the Fraser Canyon in 1808. Situated at a narrows in the canyon, with room for the necessary abutments, the site was an important fishing site for the Sto:lo and Nlaka'pamux First Nations peoples. Like all such locations in the Fraser Canyon (which are many), there was a large aboriginal village on the west bank just downstream from the bridge site in pre-railway times. Fish-drying racks can still be seen at the location today, and were visible in historic photographs from early times. A difficult and costly trail, intended to link Fort Langley with

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because of the loss of the old route in the wake of the

Oregon Treaty The Oregon Treaty is a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to t ...

of 1846, began on the east bank of the river and switchbacked up the mountainside, with "staircases" made for the mules and other pack animals. Dangerous and beset with difficult snows, the trail was abandoned after only a few uses and superseded by trails connecting inland farther south. There is mention of a pole-bridge built by aboriginal people at the site, torn down to make way for the "new" one of the 1860s, but a ferry also operated in this area connecting with Kequaloose on the east bank, where the Brigade Trail begins its climb over the Cascade Mountains before descending back to the Fraser via the Anderson River at Boston Bar. During the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858, a ferry service was established here in a monopoly situation, as J.W. Hicks, the magistrate at Yale, had his "fingers in the pie," as with many other businesses under his official purview. (Hicks was fired because of his various indiscretions during the affair known as

McGowan's War McGowan's War was a bloodless war that took place in Yale, British Columbia in the fall of 1858. The conflict posed a threat to the newly established British authority on the British Columbia mainland (which had only just been declared a colony the ...

.) Just above the bridge on the east bank is Alexandra Lodge, on the site of one of the more important roadhouses of the many on the

Cariboo Road The Cariboo Road (also called the Cariboo Wagon Road, the Great North Road or the Queen's Highway) was a project initiated in 1860 by the Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, James Douglas. It involved a feat of engineering stretching fro ...

, situated at the base of the arduous climb up the next hill northwards and at the end of the torturous journey connected Yale to Spuzzum. Also nearby is the Alexandra Tunnel, one of many on the route of the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

through the Fraser Canyon.

Alexandra Bridge (1863-1894)

The first Alexandra suspension bridge was one of the two final links required to open the Cariboo Road between Yale and

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...

. Several sections of the new road through the Fraser Canyon had been built through 1862 by different groups and under different terms. The road sections immediately on either side of the Alexandra crossing had been contracted by civil engineer

Joseph Trutch Sir Joseph William Trutch, (18 January 1826 – 4 March 1904) was an United Kingdom, English-born Canadians, Canadian engineer, surveying, surveyor and politician who served as first Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. Early life and ...

, first the section on the east bank north to Boston Bar, then in a subsequent contract, the section on the west bank, extending south about eight miles from the crossing to "Pike's Riffle". In winter 1863 the mainland colonial government reached an agreement with Trutch to build the suspension bridge. Construction proceeded that spring and summer, with the bridge officially opening in September 1863. Some of the preceding road sections included terms giving the contractors the right to collect tolls. Joseph Trutch, already benefiting from this scheme on his road, saw similar terms awarded for the bridge. The Alexandra toll house stood on the bridge's western side. Two decades on, the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

was built through the same canyon, severing the road and supplanting of transport modes from animal-powered carts and carriages to steam-powered rail. The original Alexandra bridge fell into disuse, and was destroyed by the rising waters of the Fraser Flood of 1894. Its remains were dismantled in 1912. The site continued without a fixed crossing for another decade.

Alexandra Bridge (1926-1964)

The automotive era saw a reinvestment in roads in the province, including the re-opening of the Fraser Canyon to road traffic in the form of the new

Cariboo Highway Highway 97 is a major highway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the longest continuously numbered route in the province, running and is the only route that runs the entire north–south length of the British Columbia, connec ...

. In 1926 a new suspension bridge was built upon the footings of the original structure, with a deck level ten feet higher than the previous design. This second Alexandra Suspension Bridge ceased to be used for automobile traffic in 1964, and is the key feature of the park today. Approximately two kilometres (one mile) downstream is the active Alexandra Bridge, constructed by the B.C. Ministry of Highways in 1960-64. It is not a suspension bridge, but uses a high truss-arch span to cross the canyon.

Geography

The small 55 ha (136 acre) park is centred on the site of the original Cariboo Wagon Road bridge over the

. In addition, the site contains two well-defined glacio-fluvial benches that rise steeply on the east bank of the Fraser River.

Ecology

The site of the bridge, like most similar spots along the Fraser Canyon, is a traditional fishing spot because of the way the river is forced through narrow, steep banks, offering fishermen a chance to reach salmon struggling through the stronger current through the narrowed gorge. Millions of

Spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

, Coho,

Chum Chum may refer to: Broadcasting * CHUM Limited, a defunct Canadian media company * CHUM Radio, now Bell Media Radio, a Canadian radio broadcasting company * CHUM (AM), a Toronto radio station * CHUM-FM, a Toronto radio station * CHUM Chart, a C ...

, Pink and

Sockeye salmon The sockeye salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''), also called red salmon, kokanee salmon, blueback salmon, or simply sockeye, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it. This species is a P ...

pass through the park on their way to spawning grounds every year. As well, the park contains many large tree species such as Western hemlock, Western redcedar and Douglas-fir.

Facilities

The park features a small picnic area with

pit toilet A pit latrine, also known as pit toilet, is a type of toilet that collects human feces in a hole in the ground. Urine and feces enter the pit through a drop hole in the floor, which might be connected to a toilet seat or squatting pan for user ...

s and a wheelchair accessible trail leading to and beyond the bridge from the Trans-Canada Highway.

References

External links

*
Lidar-based 3D model of the Alexandra Bridge
* {{Crossings navbox, reverse=yes , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Alexandra Bridge (original) , bridge signs = , upstream = Hell's Gate Suspension Bridge , upstream signs = , downstream =

Alexandra Bridge (Trans-Canada) The Alexandra Bridge is a steel arch bridge across the Fraser River in the lower Fraser Canyon area of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The two-lane crossing, carrying BC Highway 1, is by road about north of Hope and south of Lytton. F ...

, downstream signs = 1984 establishments in British Columbia Fraser Canyon Provincial parks of British Columbia Suspension bridges in Canada