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Drumheller Valley residents to advocate for endangered bridge to be declared a nationwide historic website and work towards its restoration.
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The East Coulee truss bridge is a beloved — however battered — piece of historical past within the Drumheller Valley that has been largely uncared for for the final 4 many years.
However one man is spearheading a motion to assist save and restore the storied rail crossing and have it designated as a historic website.
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“It’s an icon of the Drumheller Valley,” mentioned John Graham.
“It’s not simply one other bridge. It’s not simply one other historic website in one other little city that the native folks need to save as a result of it’s theirs. This can be a website of provincial, nationwide and presumably (worldwide) curiosity. It’s the most cherished bridge in Alberta.”
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The picket bridge was in-built 1936, offering pedestrian and rail entry to the Atlas Coal Mine — which already has a historic designation — and two different mines on the south facet of the Crimson Deer River. Twelve years later, a lot of the bridge was blown up and reconstructed as a consequence of ice harm brought on by flooding.
The bridge’s archaic development was long-outdated even on the time it was constructed, mentioned native railway historian Rob Gale. The “Howe Truss” design was patented nearly 100 years previous to the bridge’s completion, and its Douglas fir development was uncommon for modern bridges, with metal already being the usual of the time.
The bridge has been unused — barring its continued recognition for photograph and video shoots — for the reason that Nineteen Eighties after the mine’s closure within the ’70s. As one in all solely two bridges of its variety in Canada, it at present sits on The Nationwide Belief for Canada’s high 10 checklist of endangered websites.
“It’s a giant process, nevertheless it’s a really potential process,” Gale mentioned of a restoration effort. “It’s removed from a misplaced trigger. However on the similar time, you don’t need to wait too lengthy as a result of it’s undoubtedly on its manner out.”
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‘You possibly can’t get stuff like this again after it’s gone’
If it continues to deteriorate, Gale mentioned there are fears the bridge might finally collapse into the river, growing flooding danger within the space. Then again, its demolition would imply the lack of a “enormous chunk of the valley’s historical past,” he mentioned.
“You possibly can’t get stuff like this again after it’s gone — that factor’s made out of wooden in measurements you possibly can’t even purchase anymore,” Gale mentioned.
“The truth that it’s nonetheless round and nonetheless standing and has stood the check of time though it hasn’t been maintained in 40 years is nothing in need of spectacular. To see it demolished or fall down or be forgotten about can be one of many best tragedies that Drumheller Valley might ever be put by way of.”
Tony Miglecz, the president of the East Coulee Group Affiliation, mentioned he’s hopeful {that a} restoration of the bridge might present a pedestrian and biking hyperlink to the historic Atlas Coal Mine website.
“There’s potential to be used of it, however there must be motivation, and it’s an enormous mission — our little neighborhood right here, we will’t finance one thing like that,” he mentioned. “It’s a ‘for the larger good’ sort of factor. So if different types of authorities got here in and helped to revive it and made it a helpful piece, you already know, that may be a plus for the entire valley.”
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Graham mentioned he’s internet hosting a neighborhood assembly later this month to search out extra volunteers and board members for his East Coulee Truss Bridge Preservation Society. As soon as shaped, the society will advocate for the bridge to be declared a nationwide historic website and work towards its restoration.
He mentioned he’s acquired a letter of assist from the native MP — and is awaiting one from the world MLA — however mentioned the to-be-determined restore prices would be the greatest hurdle to restoring the positioning.
“Our hopes are that when we get permission to do inspections of the bridge, that hopefully we discover that the price of restoration is much like the price of demolition. That will make it much more possible,” he mentioned.
Canadian Pacific Kansas Metropolis owns the bridge and is liable for its upkeep. Graham mentioned he’s grateful for the railway firm’s persistence with the neighborhood.
“They might’ve simply gone and torn it down by now,” he mentioned. “They’ve been very affected person with us as we attempt to discover methods to save lots of the bridge.”
mrodriguez@postmedia.com
X: @MichaelRdrguez
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