August Long Weekend - Steel Bridge

On Saturday morning, after we shook off the cobwebs, we headed out for a hike.  Chris, Connie, Margarit and I went, but the younger girls stayed back at the cottage.  We parked along a side road and hiked in onto the old railway line.  This is the line that once ran from Rocky Mountain House to the mine up at Nordegg.  The rails and ties are long gone, but the right of way makes for pretty easy walking.  

There were a bunch of dirt bikes and ATV's riding the rail line as well so it was not a totally peaceful walk.  Eventually, after about 2km of walking we came to the remains of an enormous steel span bridge.  The decking was gone, but the impressive steel structure remains.  It must be about a hundred yards long and spans a deep ravine.  There was a small creek running in the ravine but I don't know if it even has a name.  Unfortunately the ravine is heavily overgrown and it was difficult to get a good view of the bridge.  I did take a couple of shots with my big camera.

Later we scouted around trying to find an old cemetery that Chris knew of.  We never did find it on this day.  A few days later, when Chris did some additional research we did pinpoint the location of the cemetery and will return to it at some point.  Chris also found some old photographs in the Glenbow archives that showed the bridge at the time of construction.  Almost no trees at that time and I assume that they were all logged off as timbers for the mines.

Later that evening we returned to the cottage.  Margarit and the girls took a spin up to nearby Fish Lake while Chris, Connie and I threw together another BBQ.  That evening we sat around and had a fire and enjoyed some drinks and the good company.

Update...

My friend Chris confirmed that those two images from the Glenbow Museum archives were taken in 1931. I expect that the bridge would have been finished within a couple years after that.  The piers that are visible in the background, and the little notch in the hill where the rail bed would have entered the bridge is the spot that we were standing at when I made my photographs.   The historical images were obviously taken from the other end of the span.