This is a fairly old example of a suspension bridge that retains excellent historic integrity and has been left in place for pedestrian use. It was closed to highway traffic in 1962 when the nearby arch bridge was completed. The 1926 bridge replaced an earlier 1862-3 bridge which was also a suspension bridge. The first Alexandra Bridge was part of the Cariboo Waggon (period spelling) Road to the gold fields in and around Barkerville. The first bridge was badly damaged in a flood in 1894 and even as late as 1912 a photo shows part of the deck completely gone.
The bridge has only a single suspended span, the backstays are unloaded. There is a pony truss approach span at one end.
Above: Historical photo showing previous bridge at this location.
Above: 1912 photo of previous bridge showing deck damage after flood.
Above: 1912 photo of previous bridge showing deck damage after flood.
Alexandra Bridge is a steel and concrete suspension
bridge spanning the Fraser River adjacent to Alexandra Bridge Provincial
Park, 22 kilometres north of Yale in southwestern British Columbia. The
historic place includes the 1926 bridge, its associated roadwork and
retaining walls, and the abutments and footings remaining from the
original bridge built in 1863. The bridge is situated adjacent to
surviving remnants of historic fur brigade trails and early roads which
are currently used as public walking trails.
Heritage Value
The Alexandra Bridge is significant for the
historical, scientific, cultural, aesthetic and recreational values of
the structure and its location within the surrounding Fraser Canyon
landscape.
The current steel and concrete suspension bridge is
the second bridge located at this site, and is valued as a symbol of the
evolution and continued use of this location as a key crossing point of
the Fraser River. The bridge is associated with the development of a
more direct Fraser Canyon route to the gold fields near Quesnel,
necessitated by the influx of Fraser River and Cariboo gold seekers in
the late 1850s. As a result, the province was opened up to settlement
and development, linking the Alexandra Bridge with the important
regional historical themes of transportation, settlement and resource
extraction.
The location of the bridge at a narrow point in the
Fraser Canyon is important because it is associated with ongoing First
Nations fishing traditions. The bridge is located at a place where the
river is forced through the narrow, steep banks, offering fishermen an
opportunity to harvest salmon passing through the narrowed gorge.
The Alexandra Bridge represents one of the Fraser Canyon's most
important engineering feats, in which suspension bridge technology was
used to overcome the difficult topography. It represents 100 years of
contemporary bridge engineering in the Canyon.
As a natural
stop-over and crossing point on the Fraser River since the Fraser Canyon
was first populated, the Alexandra Bridge is valued as a place that
represents the transportation history of this area. It is an historical
and natural link to the coastal and interior regions of the province.
The association of the first bridge (1863) with early Hudson's Bay
Company trails in the 1850s, the superseding of the route by the arrival
of the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National railways in 1881, and the
construction of the 1926 bridge and associated highway are all
reflections of the importance of transportation at this site. It is
notable that the nearby Alexandra Lodge, an important roadhouse on the
Cariboo Road, is also associated with this site and its transportation
history. The existing (1926) Alexandra Bridge is valued as a reminder of
the growth of automobile travel in the region in the 1920s and for its
key role in the evolution of the Fraser Canyon into an important tourist
destination.
The bridge is further valued for its association
with early historical figures important in British Columbia's history,
including original bridge builder Joseph Trutch, Princess Alexandra, for
whom the bridge was named, and Hudson's Bay Company fur trader Alexander
C. Anderson. The bridge is also valued for its nicknames: "Black Canyon"
and "Big Canyon."
The bridge, in its surrounding landscape
including the dramatic cliffs and swirling water of the Fraser River, is
important as a regional landmark, providing views up and down the
Canyon. The bridge has important recreational value as part of a scenic
walking trail based on early trails and roadways.
Source:
Ministry of Environment, BC Parks
Character-Defining Elements
Key character-defining elements of Alexandra Bridge
include its:
Site: -dramatic location near an historic gold
rush site (Chapman's Bar) and roadhouse (Alexandra Lodge) -situation
at a narrows in the Fraser Canyon -concrete retaining walls
associated with grade manipulation -views to and from the bridge
-proximity to recreational trail (1926 highway) and remnants of Hudson's
Bay Company brigade trail
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