A little over 7.5 kilometres in length, the Blythe-Rhone road parallels Highway 33 for its full length, crossing over the West Fork of the Kettle River near both ends. Near the southern end of the road is now a steel pony truss bridge which was originally a railroad bridge. It was actually located much closer to this bridge before it was moved to the south end of the road in 1979.
The Kettle Valley Railway (KVR), then owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), was built from Midway, Mile"0", to Hope in the years 1910 to 1915, with the first passenger train passing through Rhone on August 29, 1915. Passenger service was discontinued here January 17, 1964, but the line remained in operation until the CPR, after a decade of failure, finally convinced the government to allow it to abandon the line, officially abandoning it on December 22, 1978. Tracks in this section were lifted in 1979.
This wooden truss bridge, though, has only lived one life, to our knowledge, that life having been lived in this single spot, serving to carry motorists over the Kettle River. A single lane wide, like its southern counterpart, this bridge has substantially less steel in it than its counterpart, the only steel of note being in the form of tension rods, of which there are many, and bolts, nuts and washers.
Paced to be just short of 120 feet in length, this bridge's origins are as yet unknown to the writer. The Rhone area, known as Frenchtown prior to the arrival of the KVR, was first settled around 1909, meaning that the first bridges over the Kettle River could have been built around that time. It's possible, though, that ferries were employed for the first years after settlement, as was the case in many other regions of British Columbia.
So, at present we'll refrain from speculating on the age of the bridge, beyond the likelihood that it is several decades old.