Sir your videos are great. I live in Ontario but have 2 boys out there working on the pipeline. I visited these places in August 2023. I truly love this ares. I like your explorations and great info. Thanks for sharing.
When I was younger this is the kind of thing I would love to do. Can't do it anymore. It's fantastic that you can record it so I can come along. Nice attention to detail.
The road at 10:12 is a temporary road. The old highway at Spuzzum was abandoned in 1957, yet the old Alexandra Bridge was not abandoned until 1964. This little road was where you got on / off the new Trans-Canada Highway and onto the old Fraser Canyon Highway between 1957 to 1964 with the Spuzzum / Alexandra Bridge sections of the highways.
Thanks for the information. Are you saying the section of road immediately under the bridge is a short temp stretch? I have followed the road from the other end from the old bridge south and the location of the road makes sense to me, including what looks like timber bridges over gullys
I first moved to Hope in 1948, I used to catch the school bus that came from Alexandria Lodge just a ways from the bridge. I well remember road trips into the Interior and crossing that bridge. I like to tell people " I was raised beyond Hope , close to Hell's Gate"
We travelled the Fraser Canyon many times while I was growing up. We always stopped at the Alexander Lodge whenever we went through during the day. Grandma lived in Yale so we stopped at her place too. Good memories.
Great job on the video, and your explorations. I've visited the old Alexandra bridge numerous times, and always marveled walking down to the bridge from the east side, but only recently ventured with my son along the old roadway on the west side of the river, as I've been curious where it went. We tried to navigate our way the best we could, but had to follow the railway tracks for a bit, so we probably missed the sections you showed of the rotting wood bridges. It certainly is incredible how fast Mother Nature is reclaiming the roadway, and like you, I was looking for sections of the old asphalt, We did make it as far as the newer bridge, then ventured back the way we came. I'd like to re-explore that route again for a closer look. I've also walked the stretch of the old highway by the Alexandra Tunnel, while enjoying all the beautiful scenery all around. Those are just a few of the gems we have to rediscover along that beautiful, but dangerous route.
Mother nature works fast. I'm pretty sure while traveling as a kid with the family through the Fraser Canyon some of the wood structures were still intact and visible from the newer orange Alexandria bridge. To access sections of the rotted bridge I sometimes approached from the south. If you're traveling north, just before the newer orange Alexandria bridge, you can pull off to the right and park. Follow the tracks north several hundred meters the north. The old timbers are between the track and the river about 10 metres.
The stacked and bolted timbers with rock fill behind is called *cribbing.* I remember driving that route and watching the current arch span going up for couple of summers. The whining hmm of the car's tires on that bridge is unforgettable. I, too, rode that (often terrifying) route on our way to visit relatives in Quesnel each summer. That was a long, two-day trip from Vancouver.
There's tons of parking at the Hell's Gate Tunnel, and also arguably the second most interesting part of the old highway...an abandoned tunnel, right next to the current one. You can walk all the way through it.
Nice work. I have crossed that bridge hundreds and hundreds of times and never seen that perspective. I have to stop and walk around more instead of just blazing up and down the hwy.
~ As of today, May 16th, 2024, they are in the works restoring the main pillars of the old Alexander bridge. Where you thought a bridge crossing was situated on the western side of the bridge was actually a huge wash out. The log supports you've spoken about is called "Cribbing."
I've walked across it around 2015. Cool hike the grate bridge deck appears in good shape? Foot traffic to the far side only to come to a wall. The road goes to the left or right, roads are grown in. Too cool
the first time I was on the road was in 1948 my friend got his license when he was 15 3 of us guys drove to loon lake for 1 night a long way from burnabywhen you are 15. I have spent much time in the cariboo over the years.
That was amazing! My grandfather was crew for construction of the 3rd version (extant) Alexandra bridge. I had no idea there was such relics. Am I to understand that as a child you were driven over the grown over road?
As a child I could see what remained of the old road from the newer road across the Fraser, especially from the orange Alexandra Bridge in use today. The area shown in the video was not as overgrown and the old road was easier to see. I believe you can still see small portions of the old road if you look North from the sidewalk mid deck on the newer orange Alexandra bridge. My mother often told the story how scared she was when her family drove the older road on their move from Montreal to BC in the 1950's.
0:24 Check your history, mate, the Trutch (Joseph & John) brothers contracted/built the *first and only* Alexandra bridge for the Cariboo Road in 1863. No earlier bridge was replaced, there had been a ferry service near the location. The Royal Engineers' involvement was limited to inspecting and accepting the bridge after doing a deflection test with a given burden/weight. The REs had been too busy building the road from Yale to "Pike's Riffle", south of Spuzzum the previous year, 1862. James Douglas was not Lieutenant Governor of BC, he was just Governor, separately, of the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia (which merged in 1866). It was Sir Joseph Trutch who later became Lieutenant Governor of BC, after he had negotiated the terms of BC to merge with Canada and become a province in 1871.
1:45 more corrections... the route from New Westminster (then the capital of BC) to the Cariboo was at first the so-called "Douglas route", alternating boats, wagons and wooden railways, first up Harrison Lake, then over land to Lillooet Lake, then over land to Anderson Lake, Seton Portage, and Seton Lake to Lillooet. That is why Lillooet lays claim to holding the "mile zero" marker for the Cariboo Road. But Douglas realized the cost and effort of all those ships and portages was no good... they really needed to pack wagons at Yale and go straight through, which is why the 1862/3 road was built through the Fraser Canyon at great expense. The extraordinary cost led to the merger of the BC and Vancouver Island colonies.
1:58 yes the Alexandra bridge was washed out during high flood waters in the 1890s, but by that point the Cariboo road had been broken up and large sections taken for the Canadian Pacific Railway the decade prior. No traffic used the bridge from the mid 1880s, only the odd local crossing, as all freight for the Cariboo went to Ashcroft by rail, and then by animal-powered express toward Barkerville.
2:09 the bridge cables were cut loose in the 1910s and the link was severed for over a decade. It was only during the mid 1920s, with the ever-increasing advent of the automobile, that highway-building became a thing. The 1926-completed bridge you show in this video stands on the original stone/mason work built in the 1860s, and in 1927 a cairn was installed, dedicated to the Royal Engineers (despite the fact they had no involvement in the construction of the original bridge).
Sir your videos are great. I live in Ontario but have 2 boys out there working on the pipeline. I visited these places in August 2023. I truly love this ares. I like your explorations and great info. Thanks for sharing.
When I was younger this is the kind of thing I would love to do. Can't do it anymore. It's fantastic that you can record it so I can come along. Nice attention to detail.
The road at 10:12 is a temporary road. The old highway at Spuzzum was abandoned in 1957, yet the old Alexandra Bridge was not abandoned until 1964. This little road was where you got on / off the new Trans-Canada Highway and onto the old Fraser Canyon Highway between 1957 to 1964 with the Spuzzum / Alexandra Bridge sections of the highways.
Thanks for the information. Are you saying the section of road immediately under the bridge is a short temp stretch?
I have followed the road from the other end from the old bridge south and the location of the road makes sense to me, including what looks like timber bridges over gullys
I first moved to Hope in 1948, I used to catch the school bus that came from Alexandria Lodge just a ways from the bridge. I well remember road trips into the Interior and crossing that bridge.
I like to tell people " I was raised beyond Hope , close to Hell's Gate"
We travelled the Fraser Canyon many times while I was growing up. We always stopped at the Alexander Lodge whenever we went through during the day. Grandma lived in Yale so we stopped at her place too. Good memories.
Ive always love to ride old roads on the dirt bike and the older they are the better they get
Great job on the video, and your explorations. I've visited the old Alexandra bridge numerous times, and always marveled walking down to the bridge from the east side, but only recently ventured with my son along the old roadway on the west side of the river, as I've been curious where it went. We tried to navigate our way the best we could, but had to follow the railway tracks for a bit, so we probably missed the sections you showed of the rotting wood bridges. It certainly is incredible how fast Mother Nature is reclaiming the roadway, and like you, I was looking for sections of the old asphalt, We did make it as far as the newer bridge, then ventured back the way we came. I'd like to re-explore that route again for a closer look.
I've also walked the stretch of the old highway by the Alexandra Tunnel, while enjoying all the beautiful scenery all around. Those are just a few of the gems we have to rediscover along that beautiful, but dangerous route.
Mother nature works fast. I'm pretty sure while traveling as a kid with the family through the Fraser Canyon some of the wood structures were still intact and visible from the newer orange Alexandria bridge.
To access sections of the rotted bridge I sometimes approached from the south. If you're traveling north, just before the newer orange Alexandria bridge, you can pull off to the right and park.
Follow the tracks north several hundred meters the north. The old timbers are between the track and the river about 10 metres.
Brings back many memories of traveling with my family from Burnaby to the Cariboo in the early 1960's.
The stacked and bolted timbers with rock fill behind is called *cribbing.* I remember driving that route and watching the current arch span going up for couple of summers. The whining hmm of the car's tires on that bridge is unforgettable. I, too, rode that (often terrifying) route on our way to visit relatives in Quesnel each summer. That was a long, two-day trip from Vancouver.
There's tons of parking at the Hell's Gate Tunnel, and also arguably the second most interesting part of the old highway...an abandoned tunnel, right next to the current one. You can walk all the way through it.
Nice work. I have crossed that bridge hundreds and hundreds of times and never seen that perspective. I have to stop and walk around more instead of just blazing up and down the hwy.
~ As of today, May 16th, 2024, they are in the works restoring the main pillars of the old Alexander bridge.
Where you thought a bridge crossing was situated on the western side of the bridge was actually a huge wash out.
The log supports you've spoken about is called "Cribbing."
I've walked across it around 2015. Cool hike the grate bridge deck appears in good shape? Foot traffic to the far side only to come to a wall. The road goes to the left or right, roads are grown in. Too cool
the first time I was on the road was in 1948 my friend got his license when he was 15 3 of us guys drove to loon lake for 1 night a long way from burnabywhen you are 15. I have spent much time in the cariboo over the years.
There's even more 8th Wonders of the World than there are Terminator 3's.
That was amazing! My grandfather was crew for construction of the 3rd version (extant) Alexandra bridge. I had no idea there was such relics. Am I to understand that as a child you were driven over the grown over road?
As a child I could see what remained of the old road from the newer road across the Fraser, especially from the orange Alexandra Bridge in use today. The area shown in the video was not as overgrown and the old road was easier to see. I believe you can still see small portions of the old road if you look North from the sidewalk mid deck on the newer orange Alexandra bridge. My mother often told the story how scared she was when her family drove the older road on their move from Montreal to BC in the 1950's.
The pails may have held spikes used for railway construction and maintenance.
I can't cross that bridge. My anxiety kills me trying.🤣
I still gold pan in that area
Actually im taking the kids up the canyon this weekend September 28 2024
0:24 Check your history, mate, the Trutch (Joseph & John) brothers contracted/built the *first and only* Alexandra bridge for the Cariboo Road in 1863. No earlier bridge was replaced, there had been a ferry service near the location. The Royal Engineers' involvement was limited to inspecting and accepting the bridge after doing a deflection test with a given burden/weight. The REs had been too busy building the road from Yale to "Pike's Riffle", south of Spuzzum the previous year, 1862. James Douglas was not Lieutenant Governor of BC, he was just Governor, separately, of the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia (which merged in 1866). It was Sir Joseph Trutch who later became Lieutenant Governor of BC, after he had negotiated the terms of BC to merge with Canada and become a province in 1871.
1:45 more corrections... the route from New Westminster (then the capital of BC) to the Cariboo was at first the so-called "Douglas route", alternating boats, wagons and wooden railways, first up Harrison Lake, then over land to Lillooet Lake, then over land to Anderson Lake, Seton Portage, and Seton Lake to Lillooet. That is why Lillooet lays claim to holding the "mile zero" marker for the Cariboo Road. But Douglas realized the cost and effort of all those ships and portages was no good... they really needed to pack wagons at Yale and go straight through, which is why the 1862/3 road was built through the Fraser Canyon at great expense. The extraordinary cost led to the merger of the BC and Vancouver Island colonies.
1:58 yes the Alexandra bridge was washed out during high flood waters in the 1890s, but by that point the Cariboo road had been broken up and large sections taken for the Canadian Pacific Railway the decade prior. No traffic used the bridge from the mid 1880s, only the odd local crossing, as all freight for the Cariboo went to Ashcroft by rail, and then by animal-powered express toward Barkerville.
2:09 the bridge cables were cut loose in the 1910s and the link was severed for over a decade. It was only during the mid 1920s, with the ever-increasing advent of the automobile, that highway-building became a thing. The 1926-completed bridge you show in this video stands on the original stone/mason work built in the 1860s, and in 1927 a cairn was installed, dedicated to the Royal Engineers (despite the fact they had no involvement in the construction of the original bridge).