The
Kinsol Trestle, also known as the
Koksilah River Trestle, is a wooden
railway trestle located on
Vancouver Island, north of
Shawnigan Lake, in
British Columbia,
Canada. It is a crossing of the
Koksilah River.
[1]The bridge's dimensions measure 44 m (144 ft) high and 188 m (617 ft) long, making it the largest wooden trestle in the
Commonwealth of Nations and one of the highest railway trestles in the world.
[2] It was constructed out of old-growth
Douglas fir timbers,
[3] and has an unusual seven-degree curve.
[4] It was built as part of a plan to connect Victoria to
Nootka Sound, passing through
Cowichan Lake and
Port Alberni, when forestry had gained some ground on Vancouver Island and a more efficient way to transport the region's huge, old-growth timber was needed. It was not built, as some mistakenly believe, to serve any nearby mines. It was named after the nearby Kinsol Station which, in turn, took its name from a nearby mining venture grandiosely named "King Solomon Mines", a very small mining venture that produced 18 t (19.8 short tons; 17.7 long tons) or 18,000 kg or 39,683 lb of copper and 6,300 g (203
ozt) of silver (from 254 t or 280 short tons or 250 long tons of ore—hardly enough to fill 3
rail cars) between 1924 and 1927.
The line was started in 1911 by the
Canadian Northern Pacific Railway (CNoPR)
[5] and while it was designed by engineers, it was built by local farmers and loggers, with investment funds from the Canadian Western Lumber Company, which was the largest lumber company in the world at that time. The trestle was never completed by the CNoPR, and the line only reached
Youbou before construction was terminated. The CNoPR was taken over by
Canadian National Railways in 1918, and its line and the trestle were completed in 1920
[5] as part of the "
Galloping Goose" rail line.
The rail carried both passenger and freight traffic, including primarily timber and other forest products.
[3] The last train to cross the Kinsol was in 1979, and the trestle fell into disrepair afterwards.
[6]
