Hillsborough River Bridge - First Bridge, 1905-1962

First Bridge, 1905-1962

The Hillsborough River is a 30 km long and up to 1 km wide tidal inlet which empties into Charlottetown Harbour. During the 1800s, a seasonal passenger ferry service operated between the Charlottetown waterfront and Ferry Point on the opposite side. When the river was frozen in winter, horse-drawn sleighs would cross the ice. In 1905, the Prince Edward Island Railway (PEIR) constructed a railway bridge across the river, allowing for train travel to the eastern side.

The Prince Edward Island Railway had constructed a railway line from Southport (now part of Stratford) to Murray Harbour. Like all of the other lines on the Island at the time, the line was built using the narrow gauge of 3 feet 6 inches. The last remaining link in this line involved crossing the Hillsborough River to Charlottetown.

The Intercolonial Railway was a sister company to the PEIR in the neighbouring Maritime provinces and Quebec. Like the PEIR, it was owned by the Government of Canada and it was upgrading its mainline through northeastern New Brunswick to handle heavier locomotives and rail cars. The Intercolonial Railway crossed the Southwest Miramichi River and Northwest Miramichi River between Nelson and Newcastle using two iron bridges set upon stone piers, as designed by engineer-in-chief Sir Sandford Fleming.

These spans were considered surplus after their heavier replacements were installed, thus the federal government decided to salvage the structure for use on the PEIR's line to Murray Harbour. Both bridges, consisting of 12 spans, were transported on barges to Prince Edward Island.

Before installing the structure, the PEIR hauled thousands of rail car loads of soil excavated alongside the railway line east of the St. Dunstan's University campus several miles northwest of the bridge abutment. These railcars were pushed in 10-15 car trains to the waterfront and used to in-fill large areas for expanded rail yards and wharves, as well as to build an approach causeway from the Charlottetown side. A corresponding approach causeway was built on the Southport side using soil excavated along the railway line in Bunbury east of the bridge.

The remaining gap had 11 stone piers constructed deep into the mud of the Hillsborough River using cofferdams and high pressure air, with stone being imported from Nova Scotia and cemented into place atop the sandstone bedrock beneath the riverbed. The bridge had a motorized swing span in the centre to permit ship traffic to operate upriver on the Hillsborough River, with 2 supporting piers when the span was opened.