Historian Sleuths for Evidence of Mount Sicker’s Mining Railway
From the Article
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.
This story was posted by blogger Larry Pynn on July 15, 2025. He writes mostly environmental stories about the Cowichan valley here on Vancouver Island. You may remember his name as a Vancouver Sun reporter. Now in retirement, his website is a free service which can send engaging, illustrated stories directly to your email inbox (at your request).