Bridge Series: Redwood Traditional Cache
Stonagal: Archived to make room for a new cache that will bear the new name of the bridge. Thanks to all who found this one and kept it safe in such a visible area!
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(micro)
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The Redwood Bridge is the oldest as-constructed bridge in Winnipeg. It has never been rebuilt since its original development in 1908. The drive to build the bridge was spurred by a 1906 vote of the formerly independent municipality of Elmwood to amalgamate with the City of Winnipeg. By extending Redwood Avenue east over the Red River, Elmwood was linked with Winnipeg’s North End.
The Redwood Bridge connects its namesake feeder street on the west with Hespeler Avenue on the east. Like its upstream neighbour and lookalike, the Louise Bridge, it once carried streetcars back and forth over the river. Legend has it that Redwood Avenue was so named because of a store that once occupied the nearby riverbank, which was topped with a red-coloured wooden roof.
The bridge might have opened more than a year sooner than it did, if not for a municipal oversight. Under federal law (i.e. the former Navigable Waters Protection Act), Ottawa must OK any project that spans a navigable waterway. When federal engineers came to examine the nearly complete bridge in March 1907, they determined that its spans were too close together. The local authorities had no choice but to tear it down and begin construction all over again.
Congratulations to V A for the second of seven FTFs in the series!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Rknpgyl jurer lbh guvax vg vf. Qvssvphygl engvat vf qhr gb zhttyrf’ ivrj bs gur ybpngvba. Qvssvphygl 1 ng avtug. OLBC.