The Fraser Street Swing Span Bridge was built in 1894 and linked what’s now Fraser Street with No. 5 Road, Richmond. It was demolished in 1974 after completion of the Knight Street Bridge. This is part one of a three-part series about crossing the Fraser River in 1972 by Angus McIntyre
On December 31, 1972, Angus McIntyre, 25 was living at the Fairmont Apartments at 10th Avenue and Spruce Street. The last day of the year was a mild one, and Angus packed up his Konica Autoreflex T camera, jumped on his 10-speed and headed south. Lucky for us, he had decided to spend the day on a bridge tour—taking photos of the Fraser Street Swing Span Bridge, the Knight Street bridge and the Arthur Laing bridge, both which were under construction.
Story, photos and captions by Angus McIntyre, who is now 75, still cycling and still taking photos.
Two Bridges:
“If you were a motorist in Vancouver 50 years ago, there were two bridges that you could cross to get to Lulu Island and Richmond – the Oak Street Bridge and the Fraser Street Swing Span,” says Angus. “There were no other bridges until you reached the Queensborough Bridge, although two new ones were under construction.”
The speed limit sign says 20 miles-per-hour (about 30 km)
There was just room enough on the bridge for two cars to pass. “The bridge was not wide enough for trucks and buses to enter at the same time as automobiles,” says Angus. “Without any signs warning about this, everyone knew that a truck or a bus had the right of way and opposing traffic would wait until the truck exited the span.”
“The swing span bounced up and down with heavy vehicles,” says Angus. “If it jammed open in the rush hour, the traffic on Oak Street backed up to 41st Avenue.”
Built in 1894:
The Fraser Street swing span bridge was built in 1894 and lengthened in 1905. Terry Slack grew up on a houseboat at Wreck Beach in the 1950s, and worked with tugs, fishing and boatbuilding on the Fraser. He told Angus: “Tug boats called the channel ‘Shooting the Gap’ in the North Arm and many a tow boat skipper just called it a day, after knocking out one or both of the swing bridges and scaring the hell out of the bridge tenders!”
A bridge tender had a very dangerous job. The crow nest shack was on the opening and closing swing span of the bridge, says Terry. “Making the swing for marine traffic and being stranded in the middle of the channel, praying for the tug and barge to change course, was sometimes a daily happening.”
Once on Mitchell Island you had to cross a fixed wood trestle bridge to get to Richmond. There were no street lights. If you’d like a sense of what this was like, take a drive out to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary on Westham Island and you’ll cross a single lane swing span wood trestle bridge.
Barge Smashes into Bridge:
With shades of the English Bay barge mishap last November, on July 23, 1966 a barge struck the centre span of the Fraser bridge punching out a 150-foot section. Six teenage boys who were cycling across the bridge to pick strawberries in Richmond, were thrown into the water and rescued by a tug crew. George Symonds, 27 of North Burnaby was driving his truck across the bridge when he was thrown into the swift flowing river. He survived by smashing his fist through a side window and swimming to the surface.
Note: I was confused when I searched for information on the swing span bridge and came across the Fraser River Bridge. Angus tells me that this bridge was built for road and rail traffic in 1904, connecting New Westminster with Surrey. It was decommissioned as a road bridge when the Patullo Bridge opened in 1937, but still exists for rail. Road trip!
To be continued with Part 2: Knight Street Bridge and Part 3: the Arthur Laing Bridge.
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