Swing Bridge Traditional Cache
jearsy: The original location is gone and won't be able to revisit the GZ anytime soon.
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Welcome to the western outskirts of the community of Queensborough. A little southern area of the original capital BC, New Westminster.
Queensborough was the name originally chosen for the colonial capital by Royal Engineers Commander Colonel Richard Clement Moody. Queen Victoria designated New Westminster instead of Queensborough as her new capital's name. In the 1860s a survey of Lulu Island by the Royal Engineers resulted in the eastern tip of the island being designated a military reserve for the defense of New Westminster. This portion of land was not incorporated into the new Township of Richmond in 1879. Instead the rapidly growing City of New Westminster annexed the area in 1889. The City received title to the entire Military Reserve from the Provincial Government and it decided to subdivide the area for sale in 1890. A bridge was constructed to reach the area from the Mainland and the lands sold at auction.
The name Queensborough for this neighbourhood of the City was formally established in 1911 when the Queensborough Post Office was opened by early community leader and Italian immigrant Anthony Sprice. In the Chinook Jargon, it is said that an adaption of the name Queensborough - "Koonspa" - is the usual name for New Westminster as a whole. With its many lumber mills and canneries the area became a focus of new immigrants looking for employment and cheap lots to establish family homes. These early groups built their own cultural halls, churches and had many different mutual aid societies. However, the entire community united at time under the Queensborough Ratepayers Association founded in 1911. This group continues to operate and is often cited as the oldest ratepayers association in British Columbia. Early immigrants included the Japanese, Chinese, East Indians or Sikhs, Italians, Greeks, Slovakians, Ukrainians and Finnish peoples. The community grew slowly but developed a unique sense of place because of its unique cultural composition.
Queensborough is today a growing suburban district with a rapidly redeveloped waterfront area known as Port Royal. It also served as the inspiration for the song Sparks which is written and performed by the English band Coldplay[citation needed]. The song is featured on the band's debut album Parachutes. Queensborough connected to the rest of New Westminster by the Queensborough Bridge and Annacis Island in Delta by the Derwent Way Bridge. It is served by Highway 91A.
The New Westminster Bridge was constructed in 1904 and was originally built with two decks.
The lower deck was used for rail traffic, and the upper deck was used for automobile traffic. With the opening of the Pattullo Bridge in 1937, the upper deck was removed and the bridge was converted exclusively for rail use.
The toll for the upper bridge was 25 cents and created quite an uproar for farmers who found out quickly that by taking their livestock across on foot would cost them a quarter a head but if they put them in a truck it cost a quarter for the whole load.
The bridge was the preferred method of transport across the Fraser until the Pattullo Bridge opened in 1937. Prior to that to cross that part of the river meant using the K De K ferry which would dock at the present day Brownsville location.
The bridge is owned and operated by the BNSF Railway, while the Canadian National Railway has trackage rights as do Via Rail's The Canadian (to Toronto) and Amtrak's Cascades passenger trains (to Seattle).
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Original Description
Take a drive along River rd in Queensborough and you will come
across the CNR swing bridge that connects Lu Lu island with New
Westminster BC. We have lived in the lower mainland 14 years and
never knew this bridge was here until we ventured across it while
geocaching. We decided to place a cache here to bring others to see
what is one of the oldest bridges in the area.
Please rehide cache exactly as you found it to avoid muggle
detection.
Bring your own pen
CONGRATS to FST-1 for the FTF!!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
onfr bs cbyr haqre ebpxf
Treasures
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