A historic bridge in Saint Louis, Sask., has been given a second life as a walking path after having been shut down over ten years ago.
Access to the former railway bridge was closed in 2014 due to concerns about its structural soundness. But now, it has become a tourist attraction and brought the community together.
The bridge is now an educational walking path that teaches people about the community’s rich Métis culture.
Saint Louis is about 100 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.
The bridge operated for a century, from 1914 to 2014. It crosses the South Saskatchewan River and acted as the main route north out of Saint Louis toward Prince Albert. It has a railway track in the middle and two extensions for cars.
When it closed in 2014, traffic moved to a new bridge on the east side of town. Construction of that new bridge led to a fascinating discovery.
“That’s when they discovered the antique bison,” Michel Dubé, a volunteer with the Saint Louis Historic Society, told CBC.
Crews working on the new bridge found bones in the area. That led to an archeological dig, which turned up the remains of a large antique bison and signs of an Indigenous settlement in the area. The bison remains are estimated to be 100,000 years old and 25 per cent larger than the average bison seen today.
With the new bridge open and the town focused on archeological dig, the old bridge sat untouched for years, full of barricades that Dubé described as an ‘eyesore’.
In 2018, the historic society expressed a desire to keep the old bridge as a tourist attraction.
“That’s when the Saint Louis Historical Society sort of got involved and said, ‘well listen, our town is kind of dying and slowing down economically.’”
“They [said] ‘let’s at least get rid of those ugly steel barriers. Then somebody [said] ‘why don’t we kind of make it as a walking area across the bridge?’”
The bison became a theme in the revitalization project.
The town now has a statue in the bison’s honour, and the entryway to the historic bridge is adorned with an image of a bison’s head created by Constant Pollievre, a Fransaskois artist known for his work designing logos for the NHL.
Once the idea came to fruition, the town dove headfirst into fundraising initiatives. There were bingo nights and fall suppers. Individual townsfolk also made contributions, Dubé said.
“People decided, ‘well, let’s start chipping in and seeing what we can do.’ And it kind of snowballed a little bit.”
Larger grants came from the town of Saint Louis, Prince Albert and provincial francophone associations.
The society raised $180,000 over seven years to add safety features and local artists’ work to the bridge.
Metis and fransaskois flags flap in the breeze of the revitalized bridge’s entrance, along with the Saskatchewan and Canadian flags.
“There was a very communal approach to the whole thing,” Dubé said. “That approach is reflective of the first people here, either settlers or First Nations or entrepreneurs. It’s kind of a coming together of the cultures in a way. And those cultures are represented by the flags.”
David Siebert, a spokesperson for Heritage Saskatchewan, said saving a landmark like the Saint Louis bridge is something that brings a community together.
“Heritage places are an important social, economical and environmental part of communities,” Siebert said.
“They are often treated like a member of the community. People love them and have an emotional attachment.”
Siebert pointed to a survey conducted by Heritage Saskatchewan, in which 80 per cent of respondants said they’re in favour of investing in cultural heritage to promote economic growth and employment.
Dubé said the bridge is an opportunity to teach visitors about the community’s rich history.
“People used it as a means of communicating with the rest of the province, it was a major transportation hub,” he said. “Farmers were shipping grain and people were shipping other products across the South Saskatchewan River.”
The bridge is adorned with placards highlighting that history.
“Signage is great,” Siebert said. “It’s a useful way of putting information out into a public space where you don’t have to go out of your way to find it.”
Dubé hopes this is the first of many initiatives to get future generations to stay in the community.
“It’s a step in the right direction to maintain the community and to create a sense of interconnectedness between the French, the Métis and the First Nations people,” Dubé said.
“Saint Louis is a mix now of all kinds of cultures and communities. There are younger families moving in and the school is still going strong. So I think we just have a kind of positive outlook.”
Dubé said that although the walkway is already open to the public, he wants to throw an official launch party this summer, with live music and a gathering of people on the bridge to commemorate the work everyone put into saving it.
