Murtle River - Bridges

Bridges

The first crossing of the Murtle River was at its narrowest point called The Mushbowl and this was a rickety footbridge built in 1914. A horse bridge was completed in 1928 but it consisted of only two stringers and cross logs with no guard rails, and horses were terrified to cross it. It was damaged by high water in 1936 and replaced. When Arthur Wellesley Gray, after whom Wells Gray Park is named, made his ill-fated tour in 1940, he was overcome by dizziness while crossing this bridge and nearly became the first victim of The Mushbowl. The first road bridge was built in 1949 when the road was being extended to Clearwater Lake and it lasted until 1974. Few visitors during those years could resist stopping for a photograph of that attractive Queen's Truss bridge. The present bridge is a narrow Bailey-type bridge on the same site with the Murtle River roaring through The Mushbowl underneath. It is still the only bridge across the Murtle in its entire length.