Gold, copper and other metals were discovered on Red Mountain in 1890 by prospectors passing by on the Dewdney Trail. The towns of Rossland and Trail sprang up almost immediately, Rossland on the mountain by the mines and Trail at the bottom of the hill beside the Columbia River, where a smelter was built in 1895 to process the ore. In 1898, with many mines in operation, the Canadian Pacific Railway became involved when they purchased the original smelter and laid its track up the mountain.
Now, more than a century later, the Trail Smelter has a fertilizer plant at Warfield, between Trail and Rossland. The lower section of the railway is still used by the fertilizer plant to haul materials in and out, while the section of railway above is abandoned and part of a rails to trails project.
This bridge is above the lower bridge and just below Warfield, making the second crossing over the highway. Being a steel and concrete box girder, this is probably newer than the lower bridge by several decades.