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Ashnola River Road or Red, Okanagan-Similkameen Region

If you find errors in the data please contact Bill Caswell.

If you would like to provide information on covered bridges that no longer exist from your state, or adopt a state to work on, we would certainly welcome your assistance. Please contact Trish Kane for more information.

Inventory Number: BC/52-21-02
County: Okanagan-Similkameen Region
Township:
Town/Village: Keremeos
Bridge Name: Ashnola River Road or Red
Crosses: Similkameen River
Truss type: Howe
Spans: 3
Length: 400', 122m
Roadway Width:
Built: 1923
Builder:
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N49 12.240
Longitude: W119 53.310
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 2.9 miles (4.7 km) west of BC3A on BC3 and 0.3 miles (0.5 km) left on Ashnola River Rd.

Ashnola River Road or Red Bridge, Keremeos, Okanagan-Similkameen Region, BC Built 1923
Richard E. Roy Collection

Ashnola River Road or Red Bridge, Keremeos, Okanagan-Similkameen Region, BC Built 1923
Pierre Duff Photo, April 19, 1988

Ashnola River Road or Red Bridge, Keremeos, Okanagan-Similkameen Region, BC Built 1923
Bill Caswell Photo, June 2006

Ashnola River Road or Red Bridge, Keremeos, Okanagan-Similkameen Region, BC Built 1923
Pierre Duff Photo, August 18, 2015

Comments:
1 span @ 150', 2 @ 87.5'. Bridge #400. This bridge is the sole survivor of five bridges that crossed the Similkameen River on the railway jointly built by the Vancouver Victoria & Eastern Railway and Navigation Company (VV&E) and the Great Northern Railway (GNR) under the supervision of Louis Warren Hill, son of J.J. Hill the empire builder. Work on the line commenced in 1907 starting from Oroville through Keremeos and reached Princeton in 1909. In 1926 the bridge was covered and painted to help protect it from weather and became known as the "Red Bridge". It was converted for automobile use in 1961. It was one of five covered bridges featured on a series of Canadian postage stamps in 2019.

Sources:
"http://ernestartist.org/December10_2010_02.htm"
National Society For the Preservation of Covered Bridges. Covered Bridge Topics, Volume LIII, No. 4, Fall 1995, page 7
National Society For the Preservation of Covered Bridges. Covered Bridge Topics, Volume XXXIV, No. 2, Spring 1976, page 6
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 163

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