Fraser River PGE Bridges

The old days; the Bridge River bridges and Miller's Ferry; then the RE truss/suspension bridges and the "Parsonville Ferry"; the new PGE-BCR bridge by Hop Farm at Lillooet Canyon, and the Bridge of the Twenty-Three Camels.	BC Archives # E-00174
BC Archives # E-04195	BC Archives # H-05704
BC Archives # I-22307	BC Archives # I-22305
These pictures were taken during and just after construction of the newer bridge, which was higher above the Fraser and less vulnerable to the river's powerful spring torrent.  The difference in architectural eras and engineering methods between the post-Great War older bridge depicted farther up this page and the post-World War II newer one shown here are well-demonstrated in these pictures .	This new bridge was occasionally planked over and used as an alternate road bridge when repairs to the old Suspension Bridge were necessary; this was a pretty death-defying experience (as were many roadways in the district) as the single-lane crossing was made without railings high above the Lillooet Canyon of the Fraser.  The empty flats at left in these pictures is the "suburban" area of Lillooet town still known today as Hop Farm after the crop that was grown there in those times to supply Cariboo Breweries, whose brewery was just out of sight to the left.

BC Archives # E-04240

BC Archives # E-04189

The original PGE bridge at Lillooet was located ...... foundations from the bridge can still be seen today in midstream of the Fraser.  It was built when the railway in 1915 when the railway was first completed to Lillooet and construction began towards Williams Lake.  I do not know the reason for its demolition but it was replaced in the late 1940s when construction on the extension of the railway to Prince George was begun.