A series of ferries and bridges have crossed 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 ...

in the vicinity of

Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abou ...

in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. From the 1850s, these crossings have connected both north–south and local traffic.

Ferry era

At least from mid-1859, a ferry operated about to the north. From about 1859, Otis Parsons, who supervised the team that built the section of the

Douglas Road The Douglas Road, a.k.a. the Lillooet Trail, Harrison Trail or Lakes Route, was a goldrush-era transportation route from the British Columbia Coast to the Interior (NB another route known as the Lillooet Trail was the Lillooet Cattle Trail, which ...

to the head of Anderson Lake, operated the Parsonville ferry until his death. About opposite the

Seton River The Seton River is a tributary of the Fraser River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The name is relatively new, and encompasses what had formerly been the Seton Portage River or Portage Creek (aka Portage River) and Seton Creek (whic ...

mouth, this prospectors' shanty town sprang up on the east bank of the Fraser. A mid-1862 account is possibly this ferry, which could carry about 12 passengers with luggage. The boat was hauled a considerable distance upstream before launching. Keeping the craft pointing toward the opposite bank, a crew of six rowed strenuously. Carried by the swift current, the occupants reached the far bank hundreds of yards downstream. A similar 1862 account describes tying their mule to the rowboat stern and their landing half a mile downstream. The fare was 25 cents per passenger and $1 for towing the mule. In 1861, John Mueller (later known as Miller) established a

scow A scow is a smaller type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small harbours. S ...

ferry near the site of the present suspension bridge. This

reaction ferry A reaction ferry is a cable ferry that uses the reaction of the current of a river against a fixed tether to propel the vessel across the water. Such ferries operate faster and more effectively in rivers with strong currents. Some reaction ferri ...

was assisted by being pulled by hand with a rope, and a cable was anchored at each bank. In 1873, he leased the business to Thomas G. Marshall. In 1878, James Halladay was awarded the five-year charter for the toll ferry. He paid an annual $140 fee, while the scow and equipment remained government property. In 1883, 1888, and 1891, Miller was awarded the charter.

Road bridges

In February 1889, the San Francisco Bridge Co completed the braced arch

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

, which comprised a span, trestle approach, and roadway width. In 1910, this bridge was blown up during the final stages of the replacement project, and a temporary ferry installed. In early 1911, the Lillooet Suspension Bridge (a.k.a. the Lillooet Old Bridge) opened, and the construction equipment was moved to Chimney Creek to erect a similar bridge. The total length is , of which the main span between the towers is . During the final years of highway use, maintenance was high, heavy loads were at times restricted, and serious deterioration was evident. Completed in 2003, a restoration project has ensured a safe pedestrian-only crossing and included the installation of bat houses under the bridge deck.

Bridge of the Twenty-Three Camels 2018-06-02

In 1862, a syndicate brought the Cariboo camels to BC for use as pack animals, but the creatures proved unsuited for this task and the venture failed. As a memorial, the

Bridge of the Twenty-Three Camels Bridge of the Twenty-Three Camels is the official name of the highway bridge over the Fraser River at Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada, on BC Highway 99. It replaced the older 1913-vintage Lillooet Suspension Bridge, just upstream, which had ...

was officially chosen as the name for this replacement structure. Construction took about 18 months. Transportation Minister Alex. V. Fraser and Minister of Forests and local MLA

Thomas Waterland Thomas Manville Waterland (born December 15, 1933) was a mining engineer and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Yale-Lillooet in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1975 to 1986 as a Social Credit member. He was ...

conducted the official opening ceremony on June 27, 1981. The bridge connects BC Highway 99 northward and southwestward, the former linking with BC Highway 12 southeastward. In jest, the small bridge over the

Yalakom River The Yalakom River is a tributary of the Bridge River, which is one of the principal tributaries of the Fraser River, entering it near the town of Lillooet, British Columbia. In frontier times it was also known as the North Fork of the Bridge Rive ...

at Moha is dubbed the Bridge of the Twenty-Three Chipmunks.

Railway bridges

In 1915, immediately south of the Seton River mouth, the

Pacific Great Eastern Railway The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

(PGE) built a wooden trestle approach on the southwest, six

Howe truss A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a bridg ...

es in the centre, and a trestle approach on the northeast. In 1931, the replacement steel truss bridge, with steel approaches, opened at Polley to the north. In 1968, a fire extensively damaged the bridge, which required replacement of the decking and 10 sets of plate girder stringers.

References

{{reflist Fraser Canyon Crossings of the Fraser River Bridges over the Fraser River Ferries of British Columbia Road bridges in British Columbia Lillooet Country

Ferry era

Road bridges

Railway bridges

See also

References