The Battle River Trestle

West of Wainwright, the railway confronted the deep Battle River valley. In 1907, workers poured the concrete footings for a bridge to span it, with farmers and other contractors hauling supplies by wagon from Hardisty until the railway reached the valley’s eastern side and supplies could then arrive by rail. The construction site grew into its own community with a store, café, and hospital. After three men working on the trestle drowned when their scow was swamped in mid-stream, fellow workers erected a cairn in their memory. Completed on December 10, 1908, the Battle River Trestle is 2775 feet long and stands 195 feet above the river. A high earth fill beyond the west abutment of the steel trestle conceals wooden trestle work built to correct grade elevation. The first train to cross it was the construction train carrying supplies as the railway continued west toward Edmonton. By November 1909, that section of line was finished and trains could travel all the way from Wainwright to Edmonton. The westward push proved too much for the Grand Pacific Railway, which declared bankruptcy in 1919 and became part of Canadian National Railway (CNR) in 1923, making the tracks through Wainwright the CNR’s main line. The trestle has remained much as it was when completed in 1908, though the concrete footings were refaced in the 1940s and a new concrete deck for the gravel under the ties, along with a full walkway and railing, was added in 1981.

Alberta · Canada