Blasterz can make that joke because Daddy Blaster is a registered Professional Civil Engineer, and rest of Blasterz, though uncredentialed, are infrastructure geeks of the highest order.
The Brooks Aqueduct National Historic Site preserves a long section of the Brooks Aqueduct, which was born out of an audacious plan by the Canada Pacific Railroad to bring water to this semi-arid prairie environment in Alberta. These lands were owned by the railroad, if they could not be settled the railroad couldn't sell the land and wouldn't make money. So the railroad decided to build a Bassano Dam and Brooks Aqueduct to provide reliable water for irrigation, which would then allow the land to be opened a vast area of southern Alberta for settlement. It was crazy and groundbreaking, and not without its unique engineering challenges -- but the Brooks Aqueduct worked for 65 years, until the aqueduct, showing its age, needed to be replaced with a moderate irrigation system in 1979.
The Brooks Aqueduct was declared a National Historic Civil Engineering Site by the Canadian Society for civil engineering in 1988. A stone monument with a plaque on it is located at the visitor center, and makes a great photo-op for all the civil engineers out there that drag their families to all the dams and other cool infrastructure things on vacation (you know who you are).
The plaque is located at the foot of the stairs to an overlook of the Aqueduct and the modern irrigation canal. The plaque reads as follows:
"National Historic Civil Engineering Site
[logo of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering]
BROOKS AQUEDUCT
1914-1979
L'AQUEDUC DE BROOKS
A monument to the achievements of those civil engineers who developed irrigation in southern Alberta
Canadian Society for Civil Engineering
1988"
From the CSCE website: (
visit link)
"Where: Brooks, AB.
Engineer: Hugh B. Muckleton and H. M Gibb
Date of construction: 1912 - 1914
Site Location: Lat.: 50° – 31’ – 54” N; Long.: 111° – 50’ – 17” W. (GPS: 50.5317958,-111.8380576). From the Trans Canada Highway 1, south east of Brooks, take 142 Range Road south– it is the only intersection on Highway 1 between the interchange at Brooks and Tillebrook Provincial Park. Drive 3.1 km and look for the interpretative centre on the right.
Plaque Location: The plaque is mounted on a plinth located beside a path to a stairway that starts from the right side of the information kiosk."
Three blue panel signs throughout the Brooks aqueduct national historic site explain the engineering and significance of this site.
The first of the panels is located in the parking area near the public restroom, near the CSCE plaque.
The marker reads as follows:
"[MAP]
WELCOME TO THE BROOKS AQUEDUCT
in the early 1900s the Canadian Pacific Railroad began construction of a huge irrigation project in Alberta comprising over a million hectares (3 million acres). Part of this original block land grant to the railway is now known as the Eastern Irrigation District (EID). The Bassano Dam and the Brooks Aqueduct were two of the major engineering works required to get the eastern section of the CPR’s project into operation. An elevated canal was needed to carry Bow River water across a wide but shallow valley in order to supply irrigation for nearly one quarter of the land within what would become the EID. CPR began construction of the Brooks Aqueduct in 1912, completed it in the fall of 1914 and ran irrigation water through it in the spring of 1915. Stretching over 3 km, it was the longest concrete structure of its kind in the world and included the technical innovation of an inverted siphon which carried water under the CPR mainline track and up to grade again. Although the Aqueduct carried water for 63 years, escalating maintenance costs and recurring operational issues finally forced the EID to replace it with a more efficient earthen canal in 1979.
The Brooks Aqueduct was designated as a Provincial Historic Resource in 1980 and as A National Historic Site in 1983. In 1987 it was declared to be “One of Ten Engineering Milestones in Alberta” by the Engineering Centennial. Interpretation of this nationally significant work of irrigation engineering has been made possible through the cooperative efforts of the Province of Alberta, the Government of Canada, the Eastern Irrigation District, Canadian Badlands Inc., and the former Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration.
We hope you will enjoy your visit to the Brooks Aqueduct National/Provincial Historic Site! Please take advantage of the picnic areas, playground and washroom facilities. Our interpreters are available to answer any questions and to deliver guided site tours. You might also like to take a stroll on the aqueduct with our self guiding brochure. An exceptional wildlife in wetland viewing area is accessible just over a kilometer down the Aqueduct Road. Please stay on the walking paths provided as you explore the site.
[MAP]"