The Ironworkers Memorial Bridge collapsed June 17, 1958 killing 18 men, and one diver the following day. It is the worst industrial accident in Vancouver’s history. Thanks to Bruce Stewart for sending photos that his father Angus shot of the tragedy.
Bill Moore:
Bill Moore died on June 17, 1993—exactly 35 years after he survived the collapse of the Ironworker’s Memorial Bridge. His daughters Cheryl and Sandy were by his side. “He rarely spoke of the day the bridge came down, it had a profound effect on him for the rest of his life,” says Cheryl. “He passed away on June 17, 1993, after suffering a stroke a few days earlier and was unable to verbally communicate but he kept tapping his wristwatch. My sister Sandy figured out that Dad was asking for the date. That was June 16. He gave us the biggest smile and in the early hours of June 17 he squeezed our hands for the last time and passed away.”
Sandy adds: “Our Dad was an incredible person, and we miss him every day. The bridge collapse did have an everlasting impact on him. He never missed a single anniversary that took place at the memorial site at the base of the bridge.”
Sounded like an explosion:
Some described the noise of the bridge collapsing into the Second Narrows as gunfire or an explosion, others as a rumble or a loud snapping sound. On June 17, 1958 at 3:40 p.m., people from all over Vancouver stopped to listen, as two spans collapsed, tossing 79 workers into Burrard Inlet and killing 18 of them.
“I heard a loud bang, then everything crashed around me,” Bill Moore told a Vancouver Sun reporter the day after the accident. “I thought Sam (Ruegg) was dead—then to my surprise found him alive, cuddled up close to me.” The two ironworkers had been standing on the concrete pier that stands between the two fallen sections.
Rescue Operation:
The massive rescue operation that followed was modelled after a worst-case scenario plane crash at YVR. Some of the men were identified by the brand of cigarettes that they smoked.
Phil Nuytten, the North Vancouver entrepreneur, scientist and inventor of the Newtsuit, was only 17 at the time, and one of two divers sent to recover the bodies. The other diver, Len Mott, 27, became the nineteenth person to die on the job as a result of the bridge collapse.
Twelve-year-old Gerry Parrott was walking home from Hollyburn Elementary in West Vancouver. “We were outside and we thought the 9:00 o’clockgun had gone off by accident. My grandmother would never travel over the bridge. She said: ”It has fallen down once, it could fall down again.”
Lasted a few seconds:
Robert Hall worked for the company that had the contract for the concrete work. “I was on East Hastings Street heading for the bridge which was about five minutes away. It was a deafening sound but it only lasted a few seconds as the whole thing went down,” he wrote in a comment on my blog June 17, 2017.
“To access the north side, it was necessary to cross the old bridge which was known as the ‘Bridge of Sighs’ as it was so often open for river traffic causing long delays to both road and rail traffic. I knew some of the men who perished, most of whom worked for Dominion Bridge and there were two who were painters and worked for Boshard. I also knew the resident engineer and his young Australian engineer who both went down with the bridge.”
Calculation Error:
In 1994, the bridge’s name changed to the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing to honour those who died on the job that day. I’m sure that would have made Bill Moore very happy.
Related:
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25 comments on “The Day the Bridge Fell Down”
Amazing pictures and an amazing story Eve. I was too young to remember but was equivalent to a plane going down at the time. Unfortunately accidents like this have to happen before rules/laws are changed. Our North Shore and access to Vancouver Island were much improved after the complete of this bridge.
They say no one knows the day they’re going to die but Bill Moore surely did! Rest in Peace🙏
I remember this well. I know of several who died. One girl, Ann Munn, who went to Kits, lost her Dad. So sad, so shocking!
I remember that day. My sisters and I were running through the sprinkler when we heard an almighty bang. My mother came running out onto the porch drying her hands on her apron. I also remember I was wearing my sister’s bathing suit when I wasn’t supposed to. I was six.
I remember it well , I was 16 years old at the time living in the Heywood area of North Vancouver!
I remember it well, my friend & I were playing on her front lawn when it collapsed. Was very scary. 7 years later I dated a fellow who was one of the rescuers in the water. 10 years later my husbands best friend, well his father was one of the men who sold the steel for the bridge. Such a tragedy for all concerned I still think of them now and then. RIP those who lost their lives
I remember it well The sound of sirens from the ambulances seemed to go on for ever !
I remember that day very well.
Did management at Dominion Bridge ever face criminal or civil charges in a BC Court?
I was not alive when this tragedy happened. However, about 10 years ago I was interviewing a WWII veteran named Alan Kay. We got talking about his post-war life. Alan told me he was a supervising engineer in a firm that was commissioned to paint the bridge. That fateful morning, one of his staff working on the bridge called Alan to complain about problems that were making it difficult for the paint to adhere. Alan told his team to stop working and go home until he could resolve the problem. A few hours later, the bridge collapsed. Alan’s decision inadvertently saved the lives of his staff. He later testified at the inquiry.
I was metal dectecting back in in 1978 when I met a man named Lynk’s Moore and he told me he was an underwater diver working on the bridge. He said he had the day off that day and was driving with his family when he heard the news. They mentioned his name as one of the men that died day.
Thank you for the story, Eve. Like others, the moment is etched in my memory. I was 15 years old walking home down Hendry Street overlooking Burrard Inlet from what was then Sutherland Junior High. The roar was shocking and the image indelible. Those workers will never be forgotten.
This is Robert Hall who you mentioned above. In answer to Bob Hawkins, yes there was a long drawn out Royal commission to get to to the bottom of the cause. As there were a number of aspects involved including Swan
Wooster, the bridge designers, Dominion Bridge, the steel installation contractor, the fabricated and stock steel supply and other procedural aspects it was declared to be a care of human error with no specific a
blame attached to an individual or corporation.
In answer to Catherine Clement, yes there was one painter that went down with the bridge. He worked for Boshard Painting (Pete Boshard) and like you say it was so fortunate that most of their crew were not there at the time.
To Richard Griffin, yes a diver was drowned. It was two days after the collapse and he worked for the BC Toll Authority. He got tangled up in the wreckage below.
Earlier Peter Keiwit who erected the concrete columns lost three carpenters while erecting the formwork.
In all I think 22 perished in the construction of the bridge
14 Ironworkers
2 Engineers
1 Bogey Operator
1 Painter
1 Diver
3 Carpenters
I was 30 at the time and most of the men were around my age. I was on my way to the bridge and our site trailer was on the north side. Our firm had the contract for all the approach roads and the concrete deck surfaces of the bridge. I remember many of the guys that perished and they were a real friendly close knit group of guys. Ive been involved n construction for some 70 years and for sure that was the most tragic day of my life.
Thanks for this!
Eve, thanks for all your insightful articles on this Vancouver region…
Been a fan for over 40 years…
Zol Fox
The image caption “Burnaby Mountain” is incorrect. The shot is taken from Burnaby Heights. Burnaby Mountain is a few kilometers to the east.
Wonderful pictures, still so very sad. I was 5 years old at the time and with my dad who was on his day off, so it must have been a Tuesday, we were at Lumberman’s Arch with my grandparents and we heard this horrible noise and of course no one knew what it was. When we got home, and then my mom came home from work delivering diapers for Stork Diaper Service, she was very upset and told us that she had just crossed to old bridge and as she approached the pay booth, the old man in the booth was standing outside with his hands on his head very upset. She was so terrible close to when it collapsed, and I didn’t want to go over that new bridge when it opened!!
The photo caption claims it was taken from Burnaby Mountain. That is not true. The photo was taken from the Vancouver side and looks like Bates Park.
Thank you Robert and Peter for the correction. My dad, Angus Stewart had claimed he took the picture from Burnaby Mountain as he had business there the day of the tragedy. Calling into work that afternoon to see if he should come back to downtown Vancouver or go home, he was informed of the bridge disaster, which he had not known of at the time. The fact he was on Burnaby Mountain at the instant of the collapse, he did not hear the bridge coming down as he was too far east. When told of the event he must have rushed to get as close as possible for his ‘money shot’. That would be of course around Bates Park, as you have mentioned. Thanks, again fellows!
My mom and I were driving (she was driving, I was sitting with the passenger window open) to Burnaby. We were at the toll booth plaza when it went down. We had just left paying our toll when the man in the booth came running after us saying we couldn’t keep going. We had heard a loud cracking and a loud whooshing sound. We had gone far enough that we could see what happened. Both of us were really shaken and my mom turned the car around and we went back home on the north shore. It’s never left my memory.
I was 6 at the time and on our sundeck in North Van; heard a loud noise coming from the site and could see plums of ?smoke/debris from the site. My Dad worked at the Hooker Chemicals plant by the bridge; I was initially thinking it was his plant blowing up. My Dad was at work and he jumped into a boat that was available and they rushed over to pull men out of the water. I always look at the pictures taken that day to see if I can see him helping :).
My Dad worked on this bridge as he was a welder and saw the whole span go down, he lost a lot of friends that day and was late coming home from work. When my Mom asked him why he said the bridge had collapsed and he saw it while he was at work on the other end. He then cried and I will never forget that day. I went to Burnaby South High at the time and 3 of my friends lost their dad’s. What a horrid day. So very sad! Thank you for this story Eve!
You’re so welcome, I sorry to hear the impact it had on your friends and family!
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We were living on the water front at the end of Burard Inlet,Dad and 3 of his friends were always boating and on that day they were down on the beach when they herd what happened.Dad and 2 others were divers and they had there gear in the boats headed out to help, they never really spoke of that day either
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