Bridges of Slocan

In 2024, I was stunned to see a photo of an unfamiliar bridge in a place that I thought I knew well.

The photo belonged to Dianne Wilton and was taken from West Slocan, looking toward Slocan City. It was in colour and, while I wasn’t positive, it appeared to be from the 1980s or ‘90s. Yet the bridge looked nothing like either of the two crossings of the Slocan River that are there today, nor like an earlier bridge I was familiar with. I soon learned this bridge existed for less than two years, making this a very rare photo. 

I’ll explain why it was so short-lived. But it got me wondering how many river crossings there have been at Slocan. The answer is seven, although probably never more than two at once. I’ve enumerated them below in order of construction date.

Bridge No. 1 (1897)

One of the first settlers on the west side of the river was teamster Sandy MacMillan, who started building his ranch there before a bridge existed. He swam his cows and horses across and took his supplies on a rowboat.

The West Slocan townsite (or more properly, Slocan West) was formally surveyed in January 1898 by Alfred Driscoll for owners Thomas Mulvey and Billy Clement, by which time a bridge had been built.

The first mention of the bridge was in the Slocan City News of May 29, 1897, which predicted the bridge would be ready the following week. The same paper added on June 12 of that year:

The completion of the bridge across Slocan River gives householders access to a portion of the city that is desirable in every way for residence, and is sure to become more so in the future as the city grows. It also provides a convenient crossing for prospectors who will seek pay rock up Goat Creek and in the vast district to the west of us.

Randall Kemp wrote in the British Columbia Mining Record of June 1897 that the wooden bridge had four piers and was 260 feet long. During construction, Sandy MacMillan was said to have filled the wooden piers with rock.

A fire insurance map of Slocan was produced the following month, which showed the bridge was sort of in line with Fitz Avenue on the east, although it crossed the river at an angle.

(Detail from July 1897 fire insurance map)

An amazing photo in the Slocan Valley Historical Society collection, seen below, shows a whole array of log cabins and outbuildings along the riverbank.

This photo has the caption: “First bridge over Slocan River at Slocan, 1907. The big building on the left is Koch’s stables with ore bin at the end of the bridge.” I wouldn’t be surprised if it was taken a bit earlier than that. William Koch built his stables in 1900, as part of a freighting business. (Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-01-2025)

I don’t know how long this bridge stood, nor what happened to it, but based on the Gowen-Sutton photo below, it was still there in the 1920s. (Gowen Sutton was incorporated in 1920).

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-01-1151)

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-01-0732)

(Gowen-Sutton photo/Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-01-1721)

Eli Provost

A digression: the foreman on the first bridge was Frank (Eli) Provost, a man with a checkered past.

On March 4, 1890, Provost was drinking in a hotel at Fort Steele when he got into an argument with Joseph Le Page that turned violent. Provost hit Le Page in the arm with a pool cue, which splintered. A piece struck Le Page in the head. Le Page died five days later. While the wound didn’t seem like it could have been fatal, Provost was later charged with murder and Le Page’s body was exhumed.

According to conflicting reports, the medical examiner concluded Le Page died of either heart disease, epilepsy, or alcoholism — but not from Provost’s blow. The charge against Provost seems to have been reduced to assault causing grievous bodily harm and Provost argued he acted in self-defence in any case. A jury acquitted him. “But he was a real rough customer anyway,” Denis St. Denis wrote.

Eli Provost’s grave marker in the Slocan cemetery.

Bridge No. 2 (1898)

About a year after the first bridge was completed, a second one was built closer to the outlet of the lake. According to the fire insurance map, which showed the second crossing as a “proposed bridge,” it was closer to downtown, with the east approach falling between Lake Avenue (now a dirt road near the beach) and Delaney.

(Detail from July 1897 fire insurance map)

Under the headline “The New Bridge,” the Slocan City News of July 2, 1898, stated: “Timbers for the bridge across the Slocan river are being procured and work upon that structure will begin at an early day. This will be welcome news to the residents on the west side.”

I could find no updates.

This footbridge didn’t appear wider or sturdier than the first bridge. In fact, it looks downright crooked in one photo, which shows a log jam against one of its piers. The spring freshet of 1900 washed away two of its bents (multi-column piers). They were replaced, according to the annual public works report, and at the same time the bridge was raised to meet the railway grade, and a new approach was built under Thomas Mulvey’s direction.

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-01-0739)

Another excellent photo in the Slocan Valley Historical Society collection, seen below, shows another series of log cabins on the beach, including one that was immediately adjacent to the second bridge, with a set of stairs connecting directly to the porch!

A further interesting detail: the bridge spit you out right on the railway tracks, and then another small bridge traversed a gully.

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-01-0003)

The Nelson Tribune of Jan. 23, 1901 noted that “The two portions of the [Slocan] townsite are connected with two bridges which were constructed at a cost of $1,000 and $2,200.”

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-01-0561)

(Courtesy Larry Avis)

I don’t know how long Bridge No. 2 stood either, but I’m guessing it was there at least into the 1910s. The undated photo below shows it half-demolished.

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-0740)

Bridge No. 3 (1911-12)

The Slocan Record of Nov. 9, 1911 announced: “Work was started last Sunday on the new bridge across the Slocan river near Slocan.”

But maybe that was just on the approaches, or perhaps they took the winter off, because the Nelson Daily News later stated that construction began on April 23, 1912, and was completed on June 4.

The newspaper said the bridge was 780 feet long (!), “composed of two spans of 123 feet each, one of 63 feet, an approach on the west side of 150 feet and on the east side of 321 feet.” The 1913-14 public works report clarified that the spans were Howe trusses.

Yet I’m not positive where it was built and we don’t have any pictures of it, unless I’m mixing it up with Bridge No. 4, below, which looked similar. But it appears to have been between Bridge No. 1 (which was still standing) and Bridge No. 2 (which might not have been).

In 1915-16, Bridge No. 3 was re-planked and one pier was rebuilt. It was later known as the red bridge, presumably because it was painted that colour. Around 1930, it was condemned for heavy loads.

Bridge No. 4 (1931)

Work on this timber truss bridge began in January 1931. It was said to be “alongside … and on the upstream side” of Bridge No. 3. It had two Howe spans, each 110 feet long.

The bridge received special mention in the 1930-31 public works report as “one of the larger timber structures built during the year.” The public accounts said it cost $17,536 to build. It was re-planked in 1954.

There’s not much more I can add, except to note quite a few photos of this bridge exist. It was charming and lots of people still remember it fondly. After nearly 69 years in service, the bridge was declared unsafe and closed on Nov. 25, 1989. It was purposely blasted into the water on Feb. 16, 1990.

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-01-2006)

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-01-1557)

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-01-3121)

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-01-0731)

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2013-01-2230)

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2024-Barkley-017)

(Castlegar News, Feb. 18, 1990)

Bridge No. 5 (1972)

This one-lane logging bridge is about 1.2 km downstream of the other bridges, at what is now Gravel Pit Road. It was built by Triangle Pacific to access the Little Slocan. What’s very unusual is that it has five little bump-out decks, from which pedestrians can cast a fishing line or just stand there and admire the scenery. The bridge deck is wooden but its supports are concrete and steel.

The Gravel Pit Road bridge in 2025.

Bridge No. 6 (1990)

After Bridge No. 4 was demolished, residents could still cross the river via Bridge No. 5 while the Ministry of Transportation considered three options: build a new bridge roughly in the same location as Bridge No. 4, upgrade Bridge No. 5, or build a new bridge midway between Bridges No. 4 and 5.

The Village of Slocan and Regional District of Central Kootenay preferred the first option, because it would keep logging trucks to Bridge No. 5, which they felt was safer and wouldn’t detract from tourism (Bridge No. 4 was the entrance to Valhalla Provincial Park).

The ministry liked the third option better because a single new bridge could serve logging trucks, cars, and pedestrians alike, and eliminate 90-degree turns.

A fourth option, which some residents preferred, was to restore the existing bridge, but the ministry said it would be almost impossible and more expensive than a new bridge, which was already estimated at between $1 million and $2 million.

In the meantime, to give West Slocan residents easier access to town, the ministry issued a call for proposals to assemble and install a Bailey footbridge immediately upstream, supported by two pontoon piers. Construction began by February 1990. According to Larry Brown, who started with the Ministry of Transportation the same month that Bridge No. 4 was condemned, the late Ernie Woods built it.

It’s this footbridge that appeared in Dianne Wilton’s photo and had me totally confused! I never knew about it. I located one other photo of it as well, in the Castlegar News, although unfortunately the negative is missing from the newspaper’s archives at Selkirk College.

(Slocan Valley Historical Society 2024-Clough-08)

(Castlegar News, March 2, 1991)

West Slocan resident Nicolas Toma used the footbridge daily and told the Kootenay Weekly Express he liked having less vehicle traffic on his road. But not everyone was as enamored with the footbridge, because it wasn’t built to road grade: to cross, you had to walk down a set of stairs to get onto it, and then up another set on the other side. The footbridge was removed soon after the new road bridge in September 1991, of which see more below.

Bridge No. 7 (1991)

In September 1990, the Ministry of Transportation announced it would build a one-lane concrete and steel bridge about 25 meters downstream of the old bridge (and seven meters downstream of the temporary pedestrian bridge), as local governments had requested, despite some naysayers.

One anonymous West Slocan resident grumbled that it was “illogical and expensive to have two bridges for cars and trucks a mile apart” and a Slocan Forest Products manager agreed it seemed “rather frivolous.”

The first of two odd statements about the bridge’s appearance came from the district highways manager who said that the concrete design “was chosen to fit with the ambiance of the area.” Really?

The new bridge would, though, boast a couple of helpful features. While the previous bridge didn’t align with any of Slocan’s cross streets, the new one would come directly off of (or onto) Park Avenue. And it would have a wheelchair-accessible sidewalk. The tender call went out in December 1990 and the contract was awarded to Bilco Construction of Winfield, with the low bid from among 12 tenders of $846,000.

Work on the approaches began on Feb. 18, 1991, one year and two days after Bridge No. 4 met its demise. Larry Brown, the project manager for the ministry, told me the new bridge was built using another temporary bridge immediately downstream of Bridge No. 4. (I haven’t assigned it a separate entry on this list, but we can call it Bridge No. 6½.) The contractor used this temporary bridge, or work platform, to access the pier areas and drive piles.

Dave Fredrickson shot this video of the current bridge under construction in June 1991. He was standing on the temporary pedestrian bridge, which is also seen.

Current Slocan bridge nearing completion, 1991. According to Larry Brown, the little pilings were put in for a temporary work platform and were removed once the bridge was complete. (Castlegar News/Selkirk College Regional Archives)

Invitation to the grand opening of the current Slocan bridge, 1991. (Slocan Valley Historical Society)

The bridge was officially opened on Sept. 3, 1991, ahead of schedule but over budget at $950,000. That was still below the ministry’s original estimate.

Nelson-Creston MLA Howard Dirks and Slocan village councillor Dianne Smith cut the ribbon. During the opening, Dirks made the second curious comment about the bridge, claiming it “suits the lifestyle of the community. You didn’t want a monstrosity … what we have is what the community wanted.”

I’m sure most residents of West Slocan were very happy with the bridge, but it’s purely utilitarian. Unlike the other six bridges on this list, to my eyes it has little aesthetic value. So I wonder what Dirks would have considered a “monstrosity.”

The first vehicle across the bridge was a Village of Slocan truck driven by public works director Jerry Simmons while resident Gail Valliere was the first to cross on the sidewalk.

(Castlegar News, Sept. 4, 1991)

The Slocan bridge in 2023.

Two final notes: as of 1961, a pipeline crossed the river where one of the first two bridges was built (not sure which), but I don’t know its purpose.

And while some of the above bridge photos were taken from another bridge, I’ve yet to see one showing two bridges in full. You’d think there would be at least some of the current bridge and the temporary pedestrian bridge side-by-side, but none have surfaced.

—With thanks to Larry Brown and Dave Fredrickson