CPR Rossland-Trail Line Lower bridge - Trail, BC
Posted by: T0SHEA
N 49° 05.872 W 117° 43.831
11U E 446673 N 5438592
This is one of two railway bridges still in use which pass over Highway 22/3B as they both make their way up the hill from Trail to Rossland.
Waymark Code: WMM77Y
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 08/03/2014
Views: 2
Gold, copper and other metals were discovered on Red Mountain in 1890 by prospectors passing by on the Dewdney Trail. The towns of Rossland and Trail sprang up almost immediately, Rossland on the mountain by the mines and Trail at the bottom of the hill beside the Columbia River, where a smelter was built in 1895 to process the ore. In 1898, with many mines in operation, the Canadian Pacific Railway became involved when they purchased the original smelter and laid its track up the mountain.
Now, more than a century later, the Trail Smelter has a fertilizer plant at Warfield, between Trail and Rossland. The lower section of the railway is still used by the fertilizer plant to haul materials in and out, while the section of railway above is abandoned and part of a rails to trails project.
This bridge is just above Trail, making the first crossing over the highway. It would be original to the 1898 railway. It is a box girder bridge with wood tie decking.