Western Canadian Power Company Bridge — Mission, BC
Posted by: 
Dunbar Loop
N 49° 13.476 W 122° 21.461
10U E 546768 N 5452622
From August to October 1910 the Western Canadian Power Company built a railway from the Canadian Pacific Railway at Ruskin to Stave Falls. This 9.5 km | 6 mile railway helped build a dam and then continued to operate until the 1940s.
Waymark Code: WMP17N
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 06/08/2015
Views: 2
In the heady days of the early 20th century different companies where trying to build hydroelectric dams through southwestern British Columbia to sell power to the growing population.
At Stave Falls the Western Canadian Power Company started construction in 1910 on a dam that would ultimately obliterate the waterfalls. But the growing population of southwestern British Columbia and northwest Washington was demanding modern technology powered by electricity.
The question for the Stave Falls project was how to get the workers to the site, but more importantly, the materials to the dam site. Being located 9.5 km | 6 miles north of Ruskin station on the Canadian Pacific Railway, the WCPCo. turned to building a railway. Between August and October 1910 this line was built, including this bridge over the Stave River just a few hundred metres downstream from the dam site.
Once completion of the Stave Falls Dam happened, the railway continued to operate bringing workers and supplies to the dam site. Downstream, as the Hayward dam was built in the 1920s, the line had to be relocated above the rising water levels. Today from this bridge you can walk much of the right-of-way. This route has already been waymarked as WM9WBR.
In 1943 the balance sheet showed that the line earned $5,455.01 but lost $25,341.47. No longer profitable the route was finally abandoned in 1944.
Today the route is the BC Hydro Railway Trail and the area around the bridge is a very popular waterside recreation area.
And as to the bridge, it links the main recreation area to the upper parking lot and the Stave Falls Powerhouse which offers tours as the heritage of hydroelectricity in British Columbia.