Known to the locals for more than a century as the
18 Mile Bridge, it came by this name from its location 18 miles up the (then) North Fork of the Kettle River from the city of Grand Forks, the only settlement in the valley which went on to continued growth and prosperity.
The first bridge to cross here carried Brown Creek Road over the North Fork of the Kettle River. This bridge however, while in the same location as the first, carries Brown Creek Road over the Granby River. In the ensuing years, 1915 to be specific, the river had its name changed, coming to be named after the
Granby Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company, which operated a large copper smelter on the river just north of Grand Forks from 1899 to June 14, 1919.
Brown Creek Road, an extension on the west side of the Granby River of the North Fork Road, was completed from Grand Forks to several miles south of this bridge in 1896. In 1907 the road was extended well beyond this point to the north, meaning that the original bridge here, a simple wooden truss structure, was likely built in 1906-1907. We have yet to unearth the year in which the original was replaced by this Bailey Bridge. A good candidate, though, would be the year 1948, the year in which the valley experienced some of the worst flooding of the 20th century, washing out many bridges in this and surrounding valleys. By 1948 Bailey Bridges, developed by the Allies during World War II, had become surplus and were beginning to come into use as cheap replacement bridges following bridge failures, such as washouts. Most, if not all, were intended as temporary replacements, but their strength and longevity resulted in many of the "
temporary replacements" remaining in place to this day.
A triple Bailey Bridge, with three sets of trusses on each side, this wooden decked bridge rests on steel pilings, with wooden extensions on each end. The Bailey Bridge section was paced off by myself to be 100 feet (30.48 metres) in length, with the extensions adding another 60 to 70 feet.
This is a quite rural area, with little traffic most days, and parking is readily available on the south side of the road off the east end of the bridge.