(Historian Tom W. Parkin at historic rail bridge over the Cowichan River.)
‘Oldest bridge in BC’ stands rusting and neglected over Cowichan River
A 149-year-old iron railway bridge slowly rusting away over the Cowichan River deserves better recognition, says award-winning rail historian Tom W. Parkin.
“This is a very interesting bridge that is completely overlooked,” Parkin says. “It is undoubtedly the oldest bridge in British Columbia.”
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) bought the Esquimalt and Nanaimo (E & N) Railway from James Dunsmuir, son of coal baron Robert Dunsmuir, in 1905.
Parkin’s research shows CPR replaced a wooden bridge over the Cowichan River with an iron bridge, originally built by the Phoenix Iron Co. of Philadelphia in 1876.
“They made cannons for the U.S. civil war and built bridges all over the world,” Parkin says. This structure spans an estimated 68.3 metres and stands about 4.2 metres above high water.
CPR moved the bridge from Pennsylvania to Quebec’s Saint-Maurice River in 1892, then dismantled it and shipped it by rail to be reassembled over the Cowichan River and opened in 1909.
If you are unaware of the bridge’s history or even its existence, you are not alone. The structure is almost hidden off Cowichan Way about 400 metres upstream of the Trans Canada Highway near Duncan.
On this mid-week morning, a crow and red squirrel stand sentry on the bridge, mergansers preen themselves in the summer sun, and two black-tailed deer walk the gravel bars amidst discarded shopping carts and a Lucky Lager carton.
“It’s returning to nature,” remarks Parkin, a Nanaimo resident.
Pedestrians do cross the bridge to access Duncan, and enjoy the river on hot days.“They’ll be down on the beach in lawn chairs, families having fun,” he says.
(Drone aerial view of historic rail bridge over lower Cowichan River.)
American civil engineer Squire Whipple designed the so-called through truss bridge, which gains its strength from a network of connected triangles.
“It reminds me of a Meccano erector set from my boyhood,” Parkin says. “That this bridge still stands is testament to how well things were designed and built in an earlier century, long before modern metallurgy.”
The bridge’s sandstone foundations are from the same Koksilah quarry (near Bright Angel Regional Park) used in Craigdarroch Castle — built by Robert Dunsmuir from 1887 to 1890, and today a National Historic Site in Victoria.
High up at each end of the bridge are iron flowers featuring eight petals. “It’s one of those Victorian embellishments that they did in those days,” Parkin says.
(Drone photo of iron flower with eight petals, a Victorian touch to historic bridge over the Cowichan River.)
The Island Corridor Foundation (https://www.islandrail.ca/) owns and manages the former E & N Railway corridor on Vancouver Island. The foundation has not responded to requests for comment.
The last passenger train passed through Duncan in 2011.
Parkin finds it perplexing and more than a little sad that the bridge (locally known as the Black Bridge) stands in relative obscurity despite its historical significance.
“It really deserves attention as a historic site....” he says.
Various options have been touted for the old E & N rail line, including rails to trails and a resumption of passenger service, while Cowichan Tribes is seeking return of the lands.
Visit Parkin’s blog: https://tomwparkin.com/.
Read more about Cowichan’s rail history: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/ca5e39c9-3084-4f29-959e-15c28babfcd5 ; https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/83ec89b2-c946-4cb0-b7d6-cfca50b20e15 .
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— Larry Pynn, July 15/2025
