It was mid-October last year when Emily and I were heading out on a day trip to the Alberta Badlands.  We were traveling on Highway 27 just east of Morrin and we came down the coulee and noticed the construction.  Uh oh, another class iron bridge has been slated for replacement and eventual demolition.

Naturally, we had to take the time to stop and capture some drone footage of the bridge before it is gone.

According to a photo I found online of the plaque on the bridge, it was built by the Dominion Bridge Company in 1959.  Dominion Bridge is a company familiar to anyone who is a fan of these classic high-sided iron crossings in Canada as it seems they were responsible for the construction of most of them in these parts.

Documenting the present is our way of recording the past for the future.  Perhaps one day many years from now someone will be driving along Highway 27 and see the old bridge pilings, or they may be looking at an old map and realize the road used to follow a slightly different alignment and think to themselves “I wonder what the old bridge looked like.”  Maybe they’ll do a Google search (Or whatever search engine we’re using in the future — hey, it could happen.  Remember AltaVista?) and find this short video and get an answer to their question.

Regardless, with the loss of the zoo bridge in Calgary and now this bridge over the Red Deer River, these relics of the past are rapidly disappearing.