It is my understanding that there was a supply road on the upper part of the
canyon to the point in question. I don't have the information at my finger
tips, but for certain there was an aerial tramway and it was used to
facilitate construction. Exactly what construction I can't say. They
couldn't get tote roads down into the tight part of the upper canyon because
of the steep cliff and unstable nature of the rock. They would have had to
construct a proper road, which wasn't the point of the exercise. So far as
I know, below the tramway, there was a tote road of some sort all the way
down to Hope. There had to have been because that was the only way they
could get men and supplies in and out.
Joe Smuin
- "Joey, the secret to telling a good railway story is to always try to
stick just as close to the facts as possible." --- Cliff Inkster.
- The secret to contacting Joe by email is to be sure to insert "Joe" or
"Mr. Smuin" into the main text portion of any message you send to him, and
thus your message should percolate through his spam filters.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kaley Hoffman" <khoffman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 9:54 AM
Subject: RE: [cpsig] identity of a structure on the Coquihalla-- Dry Gulch
bridge
Thanks Joe,
What you say raises other questions in my mind-was there some sort of road
at the top of the canyon for construction purposes to deliver supplies? If
so, that must have been fairly close to the present Coquihalla highway. Why
would contractors lower material to the bottom of the canyon? In the
vicinity of the Dry Gulch bridge, the railway bed is about 200 feet above
the level of the canyon bottom. Was there also a road at the bottom for
construction purposes? Was it perhaps a rough road that ran up and down
part of the canyon for horse and wagon access? Thanks for the help,
Kaley Hoffman
_____
From: cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
KVRailway
Sent: March 26, 2007 10:51 PM
To: cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [cpsig] identity of a structure on the Coquihalla-- Dry Gulch
bridge
You had me going there for a minute Kaley, but I think I can answer your
question. At some point in the vicinity of Dry Creek, construction
contractors built an aerial tramway to lower material from the canyon rim to
the floor of the valley. I took a look at one old photo and the structure
you mention shows very clearly. To me it looks like the head frame of an
aerial tramway. and I'm willing to bet a good chunk of money that's exactly
what it was.
Joe Smuin
- "Joey, the secret to telling a good railway story is to always try to
stick just as close to the facts as possible." --- Cliff Inkster.
- The secret to contacting Joe by email is to be sure to insert "Joe" or
"Mr. Smuin" into the main text portion of any message you send to him, and
thus your message should percolate through his spam filters.
Hello,
In every picture that I can remember seeing of the mountainside above the
east side of the Dry Gulch trestle (MP 20.7) on the Coquihalla, there
appears to be a wooden structure up on the mountain above the track.
There
appears to be telephone poles going from the track level up to this
structure, although I can't make out any wires connecting them. It is
also
possible that what looks like the telephone poles are actually just tree
trunks. Was it some sort of early antenna for a radio system, or perhaps
some sort of observation post? Hopefully someone else has seen this and
knows the answer.
Regards,
Kaley Hoffman
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