The rail bed, the chug-chug-chug and screeching whistle of the steam locomotives are long gone, but the Mill Creek Trestle Bridge endures as a remnant of the first railway to cross the North Saskatchewan River more than 100 years ago. The wooden trestle, built by the Edmonton, Yukon & Pacific Railway (EY&PR) between 1900 and 1902, has now been declared a Municipal Historic Resource.

The designation recognizes the trestles historical and architectural significance and protects it from demolition or alteration.

Running alongside 76th Avenue between 91st and 93rd Streets, the timber trestle bridge is one of the few remaining in the Edmonton region.

The story of the trestle reaches back to the earliest days of rail travel in Edmonton. The fledgling settlement was supposed to be on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) mainline but a last minute decision in 1881 shifted the route through Calgary instead.

Ten years later, when a consortium of businessmen led by prominent railway entrepreneurs William Mackenzie and Donald Mann, announced the building of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway (C & ER), the hamlet of Edmonton began to anticipate great things. Unknown to the settlement, the owners of the railway never had any intention of crossing the river.

In 1892, the C & ER stopped on the south side of the North Saskatchewan River -- right where the company had purchased land. Their intent was to foster a community to replace the one on the north side. A railway station, a hotel and a commercial area were built and newcomers were encouraged to settle in what was then called South Edmonton and later became the City of Strathcona.

After missing out twice, civic leaders werent going to take any more rejection without a fight. Frank Oliver, publisher of the Edmonton Bulletin, spurred on the citizens of Edmonton, and as a result, the Town of Edmonton was incorporated in 1892. An intense lobbying effort also was launched to pry some construction dollars loose from the federal government and attract railway companies here.

At the heart of the effort was a push to construct a bridge -- Edmonton's first -- that would carry both carriage and train traffic. The only regular conveyance across the water was John Walter's cable ferries the first of which commenced operation in April 1882. But Walter's ferry service only operated when there was no ice in the river, making it a less than reliable mode of transport year round.

Edmonton businessmen lobbied Ottawa long and hard for dollars to build a bridge. The federal government, undoubtedly fed up with the pleas from Edmonton, sent a telegram to Mayor John McDougall, stating that if the town put up a $25,000 bond towards construction, they would build it. There were just 1,500 persons living in Edmonton in those days, but a few businessmen quickly pooled their resources and sent the bond by wire to Ottawa the very same day. The federal bluff had been called and Edmonton would have its bridge.

In the meantime, Edmonton Town Council and Board of Trade cooperated to obtain a charter for the Edmonton District Railway, a venture which aimed to construct rail lines from Edmonton to St. Albert, Fort Saskatchewan, Stony Plain, Fort Assiniboine and other points. This plan failed, but the venture was renamed the Edmonton Yukon and Pacific Railway in 1899 upon its sale to Mackenzie and Mann.

Construction on piers began at long last in March 1898 but the project was then delayed by a lack of cement, the wait for tenders for the superstructure, and a shortage of steel. The first steel arrived August 7th, 1899 -- just as the North Saskatchewan River began to rise and eventually flood.

The water rose to 42 feet above the low water level and got so high that it submerged the piers by some four feet. Humbled by the power of the river, Edmontonians did much shaking of their heads and, within days, made plans to add eight feet to the height of the piers.

The Low Level Bridge was completed in 1900 and the inaugural EY&PR train steamed across the Mill Creek Trestle, onto the bridge and into Edmonton on October 20th, 1902. The service was a big hit and four trains a day were put into service at 25 cents a ride.

Passenger service was halted in 1928 but the south Edmonton part of the line continued to carry freight to and from various industries, including the Gainers Packing Plant in Mill Creek Ravine, for several more years. All the while, the wooden bridge over the creek carried the load.

City heritage planner David Holdsworth says the trestle was framed with two vertical stacks called bents under the rails to carry of the weight of the trains straight down to the ground. A framed bent usually consists of two central vertical posts, placed directly under the rails. The number of posts needed in a bent depend on its height and, for this bridge, there are six in each bent. The top of the bents supports a 12 inch by 16 inch cap that carries the track above.

The bents are supported by horizontal braces on each side and diagonal sway braces spanning diagonally from the top and bottom ends of the horizontal braces, creating an X pattern. There are also horizontal braces with X bracing connecting adjacent bents on the sides.

A report from the city planning department explains that the bent caps are timber stringers running from bent cap to bent cap. These vertical timbers sit side by side, with spacers between to allow air circulation and drainage. The stringers support the rail ties that are bolted to them and the rails are then spiked to the ties. The train tracks in this case have been removed and a path with security railing has been built over the ties for pedestrian or bike traffic. The railing has been bolted onto the guard timbers along the ends of the ties.

The report notes that the years of importance for the EY&PR were short, as the transcontinental Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and Mackenzie and Manns Canadian Northern Railway soon commanded the industry. But the little railway that could was instrumental in transforming Edmonton into a railway centre and played a vital role in the amalgamation of Edmonton and Strathcona by providing a link between those communities.

Today, the trestle serves as part of the River Valley trail network and affords trail users an elevated view of the creek and the former rail bed. Much of the bridges original structure remains intact and the historic ties can still be seen from the side a visual and tangible connection to the formative years of the city.

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