Sam & Gilbert's Little Pioneer Bridge of Canyon Creek

A famous little bridge, fully restored in 2011:

Here it is, pre-restoration, as it looked in 1971:

When dad slowed down and turned off the Alcan at Canyon Creek in 1971 for a family lunch break, he suspected "something was up" with this little historic bridge. It was first built for the gold-seeking miners in the year 1904. As kids, we didn't think about that much; we just played on the rough timbers, trying not to let our feet slip though the planks.

We noticed then, that someone cared enough to stack a few extra scavenged timbers up on the rough decking. Dad suspected at the time this was probably an original Alcan bridge, but you can tell in the photo of us playing on it, the idea of restoring it then, must have been way down on the "priority totem pole".

Now, if you look at today's views, exactly 40 years and 4 days hence, the restoration looks to be carefully completed and fully authentic:

 It was rebuilt using original assembly techniques to match how it looked, fresh timbers and all.... as freshened by the Jacquot Brothers of Burwash Landing (for the Army Corp of Engineers) in 1942. Pearl Harbor had been hit the previous winter, and an invasion into Alaska seemed a real possibility.

 Some Alcan travelers today, (that are in not too much of a rush), might actually have time to react and pull off into the little shaded parking lot leading to the edge of Canyon Creek. There, they'll find an extremely peaceful one lane crossing spot; a facinating side-step back in time, (while the concrete replacement bridge a few hundred feet further south, continues to zip tractor-trailers, campers and travelers across....)

From Canyon Creek Bridge, peer into the fast-running creek, and run your eyes along the shores on both sides and imagine how remote this bridge seemed then, and how critical to miners, trappers and the allies. A huge rounded rock formation, like a sleeping elephant, lays just beyond the bridge end on the left, (viewable in the  '71 and '11 photos at top). The ancient road bed running past it starts ascending the wild flower-strewn ridge behind it.

 Think about the idea of standing on the loneliest "retired" bridge crossing in North America, 107 years and counting. Sam and Gilbert, if you only could know how the succeeding generations have really cared about the survival of your little pioneer gold miner's bridge of '04. You'd never have guessed!