Bridge Hunting – Scotsguard Saskatchewan

In this report we look at one of Saskatchewan’s iconic “bowstring” concrete arch bridges. Beautiful in design, their graceful flowing lines make them a wonderful photographic subject. This one is located near Scotsguard and is almost eighty years old. It once carried the highway over a shallow valley containing a creek and railway, but was abandoned when the road was realigned.

Somewhere between eighty and ninety of this style bridge were constructed in Saskatchewan in the 1920s and 30s, and about half still remain. Some still carry traffic, a few have been converted to pedestrian use, while others, like this one, are no longer used at all. Of the latter most were abandoned when the road they carried was rerouted. Considered too expensive to demolish, they were simply left behind. That’s lucky for us photographers and history buffs as they are a ton of fun to explore.

This structure is located just west of the small village of Scotsguard in southwest Saskatchewan and is just off the current highway.

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ Scroll down for photos or to comment ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

This bridge uses a bowstring arch, aka tied arch, suspended arch, or rainbow arch, for the supporting elements. You may also hear it refereed to as a concrete arch or reinforced concrete arch bridge (like it didn’t have enough names already) which works too since it is made from that material. There is such a thing as a steel bowstring bridge, in case you were curious. No matter what they are constructed of, the roadway is basically hung from the arches.

This style of bridge has some distinct advantages. It was well suited for the low height crossings so common in flat Saskatchewan, it provides good clearance over the crossing (important when spanning railways and the like) and being made from concrete they were low maintenance. Also, the bridge structure could tolerate soft or slightly unstable soil conditions well, which are so prevalent in the province. Other types of bridges in these conditions might be susceptible to shifting but this style would essentially “float” in place and not move. Needless to say, the design was very aesthetically pleasing too.

Given the rather complicated nature of the cast-in-place concrete, building this bridge and the others like it in the province, must have been laborious. I guess during the twenties and thirties manpower was cheap however.

Most of the Saskatchewan bowstring bridges are pony style, meaning the arches are not interconnected above the roadway. At least one larger example was built, in the town of Borden, that required elements tying the two sides together. The arches on it were of course taller so the cross struts could be high and out of the way of automobiles.

You’ll notice that the two outer arches on this bridge are smaller then those in the middle. Most of the bridges built in this style in the province had either a single or double arch. Longer spans, like this one, have multiples connected arches, but these are less common.

If one looks on Google earth, the faint lines of the old road leading to and from the bridge can be seen. The highway here is #13 (lucky 13), aka the Red Coat Trail. This road roughly follows the path used by the North-West Mounted Police in the 1870s as they travelled west. That organization today is called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and was (and is) known for their bright red uniforms, hence the nickname Red Coat.

We have not found when the road near the bridge was rerouted, but in the last few decades would be a good bet.

The bridge spans a distance of roughly 80-100 metres (a guess) and is perhaps a couple dozen metres over the creek.

Since there was a lot curves and complex elements in the design of the bridge, both making the form work and pouring the concrete must have been quite the challenges.

You’ll notice that metal bands have been added to some piers holding up the bridge. The concrete is crumbling in places and here it helps tie things all together. Other parts of the bridge are cracked, some metal reenforcing rods exposed, and some bits have fallen away. I doubt it’s structurally an issue thought. This appears to be one solid chunk of cement and I doubt it’s going anywhere soon.

A pair of Great Horned Owls were seen perched on the underside of the bridge. They did not like us being there and hooted incessantly while we explored the structure. I assume their nest was nearby and this made them nervous.

This bridge spans the slow moving Notukeu Creek and the tracks of the Great Western Railway. The latter was a former Canadian Pacific Railway grain line built about a hundred years ago. By the end of the last century however, the CPR wanted out of the branch line business – hauling grain was not profitable enough for them, but it could be for a small efficient operator and so the line was sold. The new operator took over in 2000 and seems to be doing well. I understand trains run a couple times a week, sometimes more often if traffic is heavy.

The line travels west from a point south of Moose Jaw, getting close to the Alberta border before dipping south and doubling back somewhat. The main commodity carried is of course grain. They also haul oil and other products related to the petroleum industry. Lastly, they store surplus cars. The biggest town along the line is Shaunavon, which is not terribly far from this bridge.

Nearby there is a timber trestle carrying the rail line over the creek. This style of railway bridge is very very common and not terribly photogenic when compared to its nearby neighbour (but it’s still interesting to a bridge hunter).

We found a monitoring device on the bridge. It measures how much the trestle shifts or deflects when a train passes over. This way the railway can be warned of any settling issues before they become a big problem. The set up is simple: they string a cable across the bridge and anchor it at both ends and in the middle. If a train causes the bridge to shift slightly, the cable stretches, which is them measured by a special sensor.

To see other Saskatchewan places we explored, follow these links…
Praire Sentinels – Admiral Saskatchewan.
Bay Island one room school.
Moose Jaw SK then and now – Zion United Church.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date of adventure: May, 2014.
Location: near Scotsguard, SK.

  • _________________________

    BIGDoer.com: Doing it Different!



    Something to say in private? Click here to: Reach Us!
    NEWS!First TimersFAQMeet the Team
    BIGDoer.com on Facebook

    If you liked this post, please tip your server…



    Or

    © 2012-2024 Chris Doering, Johanna (Connie) Biggart & the BIGDoer.com Society. 🍁🎀

Great Horned Owls

These owls were unhappy to see us.

Concrete arch bridge Saskatchewan

One of Saskatchewan’s iconic concrete “bowstring” arch bridges.

Scotsguard SK highway bridge

The structure was abandoned when the highway was rerouted.

Concrete arch bridge

A railway line passes underneath.

Scotsguard SK bridge

It’s located near Scotsgaurd Saskatchewan and was built in the 1930s.

Great Western Railway trestle

A nearby train trestle.

Timber trestle deflection test

This device measures just how much the structure shifts when a train passes.

Bowstring arch bridge

This track, a former CPR branch, now belongs to the Great Western Railway.

Bowstring arch bridge Saskatchewan

Note the metal bands used to reinforce the piers.

19 responses

  1. Byron Robb says:

    I’ll look for it the next time I visit Eastend. Could be this summer.

  2. fortitudine says:

    Thank you for this – we saw the bridge yesterday as we drove west towards Alberta. It’s beautiful.

  3. Sean F says:

    I took a driving tour of Southwest Saskatchewan a couple of years ago. This bridge made me stop cold. It looks so out of place but it is definitely amazing. Thanks for sharing.

  4. Allan Brooker says:

    Excellent article Chris and Connie.

  5. Dave says:

    I remember driving across this bridge with my aunt & uncle back in the 70’s. They had a farm just north of Admiral and would drive down 13 to get to Shaunavon. This brings back great memories for me.

  6. Mr Glad says:

    Lived not far from here when I was growing up in the 50s. We used to play on this bridge and swim in the creek. I live far away now.

  7. mrlizard88 says:

    There is another bridge like this directly north of Shaunavon.

  8. Connie Biggart says:

    WOW wonderful shots. The owls looked thoroughly unhappy.

  9. Lila C says:

    Nice! Nice! Nice!

You cannot copy content of this page

Please log-in to continue...
This allows unrestricted access to every post @BIGDoer.com, popups are eliminated,
commenting is on and the "contact us" page is enabled.

Esc to close this box.

Lost Password?

Or...

Your social site may send you a routine notice of login.

Or signup, here: Subscriber Register
___
BIGDoer.com: Serving up POP HISTORY & other McFun!…(Mmmm, yummy bite-sized pieces.)
One million plus words & tens of thousands of photos!