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The Bridges of Sicamous Narrows

Before the railway, early Shuswap natives occupied both shores of the Sicamous Narrows, living in kekulies (Pit Houses – from the Chinook word meaning beneath or under. Chinook was a trading language using French, English and Native words).
web1_170614-EVN--completed-first-CPR-Bridge
The completed CPR Rail Bridge across the Sicamous Narrows in 1895. CPR archives photo

Before the railway, early Shuswap natives occupied both shores of the Sicamous Narrows, living in kekulies (Pit Houses – from the Chinook word meaning beneath or under. Chinook was a trading language using French, English and Native words).

The name Sicamous was an anglicized version of a Native word meaning in the middle or squeezed in the middle.

In those early days if someone wanted to get from one side of the Narrows to the other, they likely used a canoe. When CPR construction crews arrived at the Sicamous Narrows in the spring of 1885 from the west, work was started immediately on the building of a wooden railway bridge on pilings across the Narrows which was completed in late summer. This was quite a long piling bridge, necessary because on the west side of the Narrows where the rail line ran, it was quite marshy as you can see in the first picture of the completed bridge. When the last spike was driven at Craigellachie in early November of that year the railway was completed, but no through trains from Montreal passed thrugh Sicamous until July 1, 1886. The CPR at that time had no snow removal equipment so could not keep the railway open through the mountains during the winter months.

The first railway bridge had no swing span, so paddlewheel steamboats had no access through the Narrows south through Mara Lake to Mara and Enderby. In addition the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway from Sicamous to Okanagan Landing had been completed on May 12, 1892 and Sicamous had become known as Sicamous Junction. With the southern freight monopoly now secure, the CPR added a swing span, built on a masonry pier to their mainline bridge.

If you lived on the east side of the Narrows and wanted to catch a train east, west or south or needed to buy food, etc. at M. J. Finlayson and Sons store – the only store in the area – you simply walked across the railway bridge, a bit hazardous and somewhat difficult. However, rail traffic was increasing and change was in the air.

To be continued

-Submitted by Gordon Mackie, Sicamous & District Museum & Historical Society