Autre nom(s)
Royal Engineers' Road at Alexandra Bridge
HBC Brigade Trail
Royal Engineers' Road
Cariboo Wagon Road
Liens et documents
Date(s) de construction
Inscrit au répertoire canadien:
2011/02/24
Énoncé d'importance
Description du lieu patrimonial
The Royal Engineers' Road exists as portions of a hiking trail that leads down a switchback trail and across the Canadian National Railway tracks to the site of the 1926 Alexandra bridge spanning the Fraser River. The historic place is located in Alexandra Bridge Provincial Park, 22 kilometres north of Yale in British Columbia’s Fraser Canyon.
Valeur patrimoniale
The Royal Engineers' Road is significant for its historical, cultural, and material values, particularly for its historical role as a Hudson's Bay Company trading route and later the Cariboo Road, which was instrumental in accessing the Fraser River and Cariboo goldfields and opening up the interior of British Columbia. It is important as part of a series of trails that were intended to link Fort Langley with the interior of British Columbia after the loss of the southern route through part of the United States in the wake of the Oregon Treaty of 1846.
The Royal Engineers' Road at Alexandra Bridge is a rare surviving example of the physical infrastructure specified by the Royal Engineers, particularly its specifications for maximum grade and width. It is also important temporally, as the original trail became part of the Cariboo Wagon Road, and later, the 1926 highway which connected with the Alexandra Bridge on both the east and west sides of the Fraser River. The trail has historical associations with the bridge crossings at this location in the Fraser Canyon, including an early rope bridge, and both Alexandra bridges.
As an engineering feature, the trail is valued for its design, slope and alignment, a response to the steepness of the Fraser Canyon at this point combined with a need to preserve a traversable grade. It is also important for the landscape manipulation and dry rock, and later, concrete retaining structures required to create and maintain the trail grade.
The road is culturally significant for its association with the British Colonial Office's Columbia Detachment of the Royal Engineers, who made the first post-contact attempt to establish a land route through the Fraser Canyon.
The trail has important recreational value as part of a scenic walking route based on early trails and roadway, and as part of future trail networks in the region.
Source: Ministry of Environment, BC Parks
Éléments caractéristiques
Key character-defining elements of the Royal Engineers' Road include:
-remains of the road in its original alignment
-the switchbacks and winding nature of the road
-the steep canyon location
-the overgrown nature of the current road
-trail form, including the original width and associated earthworks and retaining structures used to create the standard roadbed
-use of the road as a recreational trail
-associated place names such as 'Hudson's Bay Company Brigade Trail' and 'Cariboo Wagon Road'
Reconnaissance
Juridiction
Colombie-Britannique
Autorité de reconnaissance
Province de la Colombie-Britannique
Loi habilitante
Park Act, art.5
Type de reconnaissance
Parc provincial (établissement)
Date de reconnaissance
1984/07/26
Données sur l'histoire
Date(s) importantes
s/o
Thème - catégorie et type
- Économies en développement
- Commerce et affaires
- Économies en développement
- Technologie et ingénierie
- Un territoire à peupler
- Les établissements
Catégorie de fonction / Type de fonction
Actuelle
- Transport terrestre
- Allée piétonnière
- Loisirs
- Centre touristique
- Loisirs
- Parc
Historique
- Transport terrestre
- Route ou voie publique
Architecte / Concepteur
Royal Engineers
Constructeur
Royal Engineers
Informations supplémentaires
Emplacement de la documentation
Ministry of Environment, BC Parks
Réfère à une collection
Identificateur féd./prov./terr.
DkRi-92
Statut
Édité
Inscriptions associées
Alexandra Bridge
Alexandra Bridge is a steel and concrete suspension bridge spanning the Fraser River adjacent to Alexandra Bridge Provincial Park, 22 kilometres north of Yale in southwestern…