How We Saved the Kinsol Trestle

Kinsol Trestle photo credit Toad Hollow Photography

You’ll have noticed, I’m sure, the spectacular Toad Hollow photo of the Kinsol Trestle that’s the masthead for www.CowichanChronicles.com. (Thanks to good friend and great photographer Scott Johnson.)

(You can also see an excellent photo and scale model exhibit of the Kinsol Trestle,at the Shawnigan Lake Museum, by the way.)

For those of you who’ve never visited the Kinsol Trestle—and those of you have—I offer this virtual tour and history of one of the largest wooden railway trestles ever built. Sadly, it’s now one of less than a handful that survive.

How big is it?

It’s no less than 145 feet (38 metres) high–taller than a 14-storey building–and 614 feet (187 metres) long! Situated at Mile 51.1 of the former Canadian National Railways mainline, and spanning the Koksilah River, it’s thought to be the highest and longest surviving structure of its kind in North America.

(If you think you’ve read any of this before it means you have a copy of my popular handbook, Historic Hikes, Sites & Sights of the Cowichan Valley. Or my map guide, Rails to Trails Historical Map & Guide. Good for you!)

For access to the crown jewel of the Cowichan Valley, from the north side, from the Trans Canada Highway, turn west onto Bench Road then right onto Koksilah Road. Cross the bridge, turn left onto Riverside Road and follow for 15 minutes over pavement and gravel to a gravel parking lot with large boulders. From the kiosk, follow TC Trail to the left for 10 minutes.

From the south side turn west from the Trans Canada Highway onto Hutchinson Road. Left again onto Cobble Hill Road (which becomes Shawnigan Lake Road) then right onto Renfrew Road. Another right onto Glen Eagles Road and, again, turn right onto Shelby Road to the parking lot on the left.

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I first saw the Kinsol Trestle on a typical rain forest winter day: wet and dismal.

This Kinsol Trestle signboard shows a CNR freight train heading south to Victoria. A repair crew's "speeder" is parked alongside the tracks.

So was the fabled Trestle, for that matter, appearing almost ghost-like in the downpour because of its silver-grey timbers.

We’d approached it from the north end and that first impression was made all the more memorable because of a gap at mid-span, the result of two arson attempts, Consequently, access to the Trestle had been denied by removing both end “bents” and posting large warning signs.

But we could still go down below and look up—way up—at its elaborate timber construction. Just above the Koksilah River, the Howe Truss, a bridge within a bridge, appeared to be in perfect condition thanks to its heavily-creosoted timbers. (As indeed it turned out to be; this became a deciding factor in the Trestle’s rehabilitation.)

The Trestle’s obvious state of disrepair wasn’t just the work of arsonists but mostly because its outermost timbers had never been sealed against moisture; this wasn’t just depressing but galling. How could the provincial government allow such an historical treasure to go to ruin? It was nothing short of criminal!

So I thought at the time. But life was full and, other than several re-visits, the Kinsol Trestle faded from mind until the news reports that it was going to be demolished because of liability concerns.

I, and others, were appalled.

A closeup of some of the rotted Trestle timbers. Despite their appearance, they were superficial as these cross-braces were the most exposed to the weather over 30 years without maintenance, and they hadn't been treated for moisture resistance in th… — A closeup of some of the rotted Trestle timbers. Despite their appearance, they were superficial as these cross-braces were the most exposed to the weather over 30 years without maintenance, and they hadn't been treated for moisture resistance in the first place. Most of the weight-bearing piers passed muster with flying colours when inspected to determine if the Trestle could be cost effectively rehabilitated.

And, initially, stymied. I mean, seriously, how does one go about trying to rouse public support to save, at great cost to taxpayers, a decrepit old bridge in the middle of nowhere? We had no idea how much it would cost—in truth, we didn’t really care. We just knew it “had” to be done.

Personally, I had no choice. If I didn’t try to do something, or speak out, all my years of championing heritage in print would make me in effect a fraud. But how to do it? My first step, as much in frustration as by calculation, was to Google the Kinsol Trestle. Lo and behold, I found it was known internationally to cyclists, hikers and equestrians; in fact, it was a travel guidebook’s “must-do” for anyone visiting Vancouver Island from afar.

That, at least, was encouraging. I used my twice-weekly historical column in the Cowichan Valley Citizen to the max. Never have I appealed more earnestly and passionately for our history and heritage. Never before had I vented my spleen against government and bureaucratic shortsightedness in my public writings but I sure did this time—not once but repeatedly. The closer local and provincial governments moved to demolition the more venomous was my editorializing. And people began to pay notice as the Kinsol Trestle became a cause celebre for local, regional and national newspapers, radio and television. Almost without exception the men and women of the media who came to see it firsthand became converts to the cause; they became our fifth column with their sympathetic, even enthusiastic, coverage.

I claim no great personal credit for what ultimately became the saving of the Kinsol Trestle.

But I am proud to say that I was there in the front lines and that we ultimately won.

Here then is the story of how the Kinsol Trestle was saved for posterity.

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In 2006 the Cowichan News Leader described the Kinsol Trestle as “the largest wooden bridge in the history of the British Commonwealth,” as a draw to tourists, as part of our heritage that was “worthy of saving and it should be saved”.

Named for the Kinsol Valley, which takes its name from the nearby King Solomon copper mine that was active at the turn of the last century, construction of the former railway trestle was begun in 1911 by the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway. But because the First World War intervened and the CNPR bankrupted, it wasn’t completed until 1920 by Canadian National Railways. It consists of as many as nine tiers of cross-hatched timbers above a ‘Howe Truss’ mainframe just above river level.

The original trestle, which had its Howe Truss atop an open span, was swept away by a rampaging Koksilah River within 10 years of its completion. Last used for rail traffic in May 1979, the restyled structure then withstood a further 30 years of neglect, vandalism and two attempts at arson.

The entire CNR Mainline on Vancouver Island was acquired as a recreational corridor by the provincial government in 1986 and is administered, as part of the Trans Canada/Cowichan Valley Trails system, by the Cowichan Valley Regional District.

The Kinsol Trestle, however, because of its magnitude and the attendant costs, was allowed to deteriorate.

As early as January 1984, as the rails were about to be lifted, and two years before British Columbia acquired title to the former right-of-way, the late Cowichan Valley historian Jack Fleetwood appealed to the provincial government to “repair the trestle in fit condition to be a Cowichan Country showpiece” so as to attract tourists to the Valley. The province agreed only to instruct the private company contracted by CN Rail to salvage rails and ties to leave the trestle intact (other than removing the rails) during its negotiations for acquiring the right of way as a recreational corridor. Three months later, the provincial secretary notified the Duncan-Cowichan Chamber of Commerce that there would be no money towards preservation and he wouldn’t recommend that the Kinsol Trestle receive designation under the Heritage Conservation Act. But he would “alert all agencies of the government to the historic value of the trestle and ensure that it is considered in all planning for the future use of the former railway corridor”.

An application to Projects National Parks Centennial Citizens’ Committee for funding for the Kinsol’s restoration was also denied.

In March 1986 the former CNR grade was transferred to the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Highways. MOT Minister Alex Fraser informed Jack Fleetwood that, “at the request of local Historical Societies, we have left the Kinsol Trestle standing,” on the understanding that “formal application will be made by one of your organizations for a lease covering this portion of right-of-way and that organization will be responsible for any liability insurance as well as maintenance of the structure”.

In other words, volunteers were expected to save it out of their own pockets!

Four years later, Shawnigan resident Richard Pope unsuccessfully tried to organize the Vancouver Island Industrial Heritage Society to preserve the Kinsol and two other, privately-owned wooden bridges in the Shawnigan-Renfrew areas as “historical artifacts of the logging industry and as tourist attractions”.

By the time work was about to begin on the Cowichan Valley section of the Trans Canada Trail, in August 1998, the Kinsol Trestle had been declared unsafe. Nevertheless, the CVRD received a Heritage Trust grant to undertake a $9000 structural/feasibility study for restoration. This study determined that the trestle could be repaired for use by pedestrians, equestrians and emergency/maintenance vehicles for $525,000 or reduced to its Howe Truss mainframe for foot traffic only–at the cost of “eliminating a significant feature in the railway history of Vancouver Island, B.C. and Canada”. The CVRD had its staff approach the federal and provincial governments and explore the possibility of funding from interested parties.

Although the federal government rejected a request for $175,000, the provincial government offered $250,000 in October 2000 and challenged Ottawa to match it. A year later, Human Resources Canada came through with $91,000 and the Rotary Club of South Cowichan put up a further $35,000 towards improving the trestle’s approaches.

After a further two years of inactivity, it was back to talking of razing the increasingly-decrepit structure to its Howe Trusses. Even this radical surgery, it was feared, would consume the originally estimated half-million dollar budget.

Said Lake Cowichan’s Mayor Jack Peake: “I’d rather spend a million and a half to restore it than $5 to replace it.”

Shocked at an estimated cost of $3.9 million to dismantle and reconstruct the trestle–but not to its original state which would cost more because of further deterioration–the CVRD embarked upon another detailed engineering study and an economical benefits analysis to determine whether the trestle was worth rebuilding. Apparently it was this study that led a department official to later say, “It’s not possible to conserve it as it is. A lot of rot, a lot of decay was found throughout.”

Hence, by August 2005, the CVRD’s embracing “a similar safe bridge” to be financed through a public fundraising campaign. The MOT, rather than advance any money towards rebuilding, chose to conduct its own study into the Trestle’s condition. When, five months later, the verdict from Klett Consulting Services came in, headlines such as these, ‘COMING DOWN: Historic Kinsol trestle slated for demolition,’ and ‘Trestle a bridge too far gone,’ touched off a wave of public protest. A newspaper editorial summed up the feelings of many: “It would be a huge mistake to lose the Kinsol Trestle... The largest wooden bridge in...the British Commonwealth is a draw. It is our heritage. It is worthy of saving and it should be saved.”

With the MOT’s commitment to demolish the Trestle as unsafe, the CVRD forged ahead with its plan to replace the Kinsol. The projected cost of $4.2 million included $1.5 million “for the safe and environmentally sensitive removal of the existing structure” and $2.7 million for construction of what was described as a “slightly modified wooden trestle design...to realize cost savings while retaining the span, height, design quality and historic character of the original structure”. According to a CVRD Parks representative, “The look, feel and function of the reconstructed trestle with the modified design will be identical to the existing wooden trestle when it was in operation...” Built with three timbers to every five of the original, this replacement structure was intended to be “something very similar to what is there now”.

More likely, as one critic sneered, this “Martha Stewart bridge” would look “like construction scaffolding”.

It was at this point that a small group of historical “purists,” as they came to be termed, not always respectfully, began a campaign to save the Kinsol Trestle. Arguing that it’s a priceless icon of Vancouver Island industrial heritage, a potential world-class tourist attraction, and the crown jewel of the proposed Cowichan Valley trails system, they soon discovered that they had allies. The Kinsol Trestle was already a popular theme of international travel writers who recommended that hikers, cyclists and horseback riders check it out. And, without exception, media people, none of whom had seen the Trestle before the news of its impending demolition prompted their attention, saw its value as a monument to the province’s railway and logging history.

None of this changed the cold hard fact that the Kinsol Trestle would cost millions to repair and was beyond the sole capability of the taxpayers of the Cowichan Valley. The provincial government had money to demolish but not to restore, and the federal government–despite the fact that the Kinsol Trestle is a relic of Canadian National Railways and is now part of the Trans Canada Trail–wasn’t interested.

This left Trestle supporters with one tool to hand, publicity. Kinsol in Crisis, a summer-long exhibit at the Cowichan Valley Museum created by curator Kathryn Gagnon and artist Alison Irwin, debuted with a slide show before a full-house by noted Island railway historian and photographer Elwood White. It was Elwood who, privileged to ride with the CNR crews many times, snapped the famous photo of a passenger train–the only one ever to cross the Kinsol Trestle–that was used on the CVRD’s brochures.

One of the most effective tools used to promote salvation/restoration was a 12,000-signature petition gathered by Marlene Spaeth and Dave Elliot that Malahat-Juan de Fuca MLA (now premier) John Horgan tabled in the Legislature.

CVRD Director Gerry Giles, NDP opposition leader John Horgan and CVRD Director Jack Peake.

As a result of these and other efforts, the Trestle received more than 150,000 visits to its website and real-life visitors from as far as England, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States and Uruguay. A vacationing Australian made the Kinsol Trestle his first Canadian stop.

For the first time Gordon Macdonald, co-owner of Macdonald & Lawrence Timber Framing Ltd., which was identified in the press as timber-framing specialists with an impressive international track record in heritage preservation, publicly entered the fray. “I’m alarmed at the [CVRD’s] numbers,” he said. “We’ll look at [them] and see if they stack up and if in our opinion they don’t, we’ll let...the CVRD know. It’s our neighbourhood and our community and it’s our responsibility to keep our eye on this. They’re calling it a historic jewel in the crown of the trail. It needs to be looked at from that angle.”

Support also came from an unexpected source when teenagers Tiffany Weatherston and Pierre Receveaux, Shawnigan Lake, wrote, in an impassioned letter to the editor of the Cowichan Valley Citizen: “We believe it is important to keep the history of the Cowichan Valley alive so that future children will be able to experience history for themselves. Please, Mr. CVRD, whoever you are, do not tear down the Kinsol Trestle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we hear you, costs, liability... Here is what we intend to do: Petition, school conferences, drawing contests, Web site, fundraising for the trestle and surrounding trails. Open your ears, Mr. CVRD, the youth are going to speak out!”

Their website, brash with their enthusiasm and dramatic photos of the Trestle, drew thousands of visitors and the attention of the media.

In July, Macdonald & Lawrence suggested their looking at the Trestle “as conservation specialists, with a mind to the latest techniques in repairing and restoring a structure” based upon viability not emotion. “If it turns out the bridge can and ought to be saved, we would help the CVRD put together a plan for how to do that.”

Opposition to a replacement bridge continued to mount. After showing the Trestle to Tourism and Heritage Minister Olga Ilich, MLA Horgan said that there was potential for provincial funding for restoration, but the CVRD “has to be a full partner”. In an editorial addressed to Regional directors, The Pictorial bluntly declared: “This is an opportunity to step up and secure an irreplaceable piece of the Cowichan region’s heritage and a tourism centrepiece at the same time. Don’t let it slip by... [The CVRD] must get on board the save-the-trestle train.”

And Lake Cowichan Town Council approved a letter to the province urging restoration rather than replacement.

In September it was reported that the ‘trestle movement’ appeared to be gaining momentum after The Land Conservancy expressed interest in the campaign.

You can still take the Kinsol Trestle Bypass Route but it's no longer necessary since the Trestle was rehabilitated.

Mountain Equipment Co-op agreed to lend its marketing muscle to preservation efforts, and Google offered its database to allow the group to track hits on the Kinsol Trestle website.

In response to this growing opposition, the provincial and regional governments staged a two-day open-house, on-site at the Kinsol. This much publicized public relations exercise was to convince the 300-odd persons who attended that the Trestle was in such derelict condition after 20 years of neglect by successive provincial governments that it must be dismantled because of safety and environmental concerns. To further convince visitors, “agency representatives” and “the consultants who prepared the dismantling reports” were present, “along with appropriate display materials to clarify firsthand why the trestle requires dismantling”.

The result was derisively condemned by those wishing to save the original trestle as a “Gong Show” when the very “consultant” whose company stood most to gain from building a replica bridge, enthusiastically demonstrated the rot of timbers most exposed to the weather by attacking them with a mountain climber’s pick.

A motion that CVRD staff lay the administrative groundwork for a non-profit group to raise funds for a replacement structure was sent back to committee after Jack Peake termed the resolution “too narrow” because it excluded participation by heritage preservationists. Although four other directors shared his belief that fundraising for restoration would likely be more productive than for a “replica,” two weeks later the board approved the establishing of a non-profit society to seek $4 million for the latter.

The “purists” fought on.

From England Chris Leigh, editor of Model Rail Magazine, wrote: “...If this structure existed in the United Kingdom it undoubtedly would have received National Historic Monument status by now, in the way that Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge and Arrol’s Forth Bridge have done... Kinsol is no less significant because it represents an ingenious and much more economical solution to a construction problem, solved by taking a peculiarly North American construction method–the timber trestle–to a new extreme... The Kinsol is unique in being a timber trestle of significant size. Lose this one and future generations will never be able to appreciate the innovation and skill that went into these uniquely North American structures...

“Money is scarcely an issue. The difference in cost between repairing the Kinsol and tearing it down and building a new footbridge is a drop in the ocean. It is little more than the price of a good house in the better part of town. Save the Kinsol and future generations will praise the far-sightedness of our generation for leaving them something which will draw wide-eyed tourists to come and marvel.”

In April 2007 came stunning news: Besides the $1.5 million to demolish the Kinsol, the province was offering a further $1.6 million from its LocalMotion Program towards the CVRD’s bridge of “modified design.” Jack Peake saw it as an opportunity to apply all $3.1 million towards restoration. The Friday announcement drew the notice of two television stations, a front-page headline–“Historic trestle back on track”–an editorial in the Times-Colonist, and interviews with the Globe & Mail, CBC-Radio and local media. That Sunday, the Trestle was swarmed by visitors.

Re-enter Macdonald & Lawrence.

Timber specialist Gordon Macdonald came up with the winning proposal for the Kinsol's rehabilitation not replication.

They proposed, based upon their consultations with some of the world’s leading experts in timber construction, to restore the Kinsol: “For less than what they’re considering spending [$4.5 million] on a look-alike bridge–which will not be historically accurate–we feel we can deliver the real deal and guarantee a service life which meets or exceeds the life of the bridge they’re considering building.”

Nanaimo-Cowichan MP Jean Crowder, an admitted fan of the Kinsol who’d already made a motion to save the Trestle in the House of Commons, promised to continue to throw her political weight behind it: “If we lose it, we’ll never replace the historical significance of it.”

She was joined by retired CN Rail bridge engineer Ralph Morris who oversaw the Kinsol’s last maintenance work in 1973-74. Ironically, he’d been admonished by his superiors for using creosoted timbers when the Cowichan Valley line was already slated for phase-out. In his opinion the Trestle is “a national treasure and was always special. I understand some people have suggested the whole bridge must come down because there is so much rot in the timbers, but I suggest otherwise.”

Many of Macdonald’s & Lawrence’s calculations were based upon the complete set of building plans for the Trestle that Mr. Morris had donated to the Cowichan Valley Museum.

Finally, the Kinsol Trestle was on a roll.

Fourteen months after arguing for its razing and replacement with a virtual trestle, the Times-Colonist described it as a masterpiece of engineering and a significant national landmark “too precious to lose” without further study. At a June 7th CVRD meeting to hear a presentation by Macdonald & Lawrence, the MOT extended its demolition deadline with an offer that the $1.5 million budgeted for demolition, and the $1.6 million granted for a rebuild, could be applied to restoration if the CVRD accepted legal responsibility for the Trestle.

For more than two hours, before a packed audience, directors heard from M&L and Calgary engineering consultant James Klett, designer of the proposed replacement bridge. After some of their queries were clarified by a representative of the MOT, Victoria engineering consultant Ian McColl and Calgary structural engineer Reed Costley, the board voted 11-1 to provide $160,000 for a “preliminary planning and peer review”.

Should the Kinsol Trestle pass this litmus test the CVRD would decide whether to commit to the restoration plan that M&L had pegged at just under $4 million–$2 million less than the CVRD’s own projected cost of restoration, less even than its estimate for demolition and construction of a “modified” bridge.

The photos below show the challenging job of replacing the fire-damaged piers.

Among the highlights of the Macdonald & Lawrence proposal:

– The Kinsol Trestle can be saved, and for less than the projected cost of replacement

– The Kinsol is an important part of our local and provincial heritage, an outstanding example of a time when no project was too grand, or scheme too bold to achieve with hard work and innovation

– [Our] proposed methodology meets or exceeds all current standards for the care of built heritage as defined by the International Council on Monuments and Sites, of which Canada is a signatory nation

– [Our] strategy avoids the need to demolish the bridge altogether [and] the existing bridge shape and geometry are retained [at a saving of] considerable cost and time

– Our proposal is based upon an anticipated service life of 40 years. With annual maintenance and modest expense the Kinsol can be preserved in perpetuity

– The vast majority of funds would be invested locally for the benefit of local business and approximately 20 new local jobs would be created

– There is more fundraising potential for an effort to conserve an important architectural treasure than there is for a hole in the ground where one once stood.

Because the Trestle no longer must bear the weight of loaded logging trains, M&L proposed that any fir timbers beyond saving be replaced with larger dimension western red cedar.

At last, the provincial and regional governments had seen the light!

This attractive geocache coin was a popular fundraiser and promotional tool when Kinsol Trestle fans were struggling to raise public awareness of its immense value as a Cowichan Valley tourist attraction.

So thought Trestle supporters who had no doubts that Macdonald & Lawrence’s proposal, compiled with the assistance of a structural engineer they’d financed out of their own pockets, would withstand professional scrutiny. Not only that, but they could be expected to attract film crews from the BBC and National Geographic to show the Trestle to the world in the fascinating process of revitalization–even more international exposure than the Kinsol’s website.

M&L’s projected timeline was six months for the construction study, three months for the review and 18 months to rehabilitate the Trestle, by Autumn 2009. Meaning that it would be ready for unveiling well in advance of the provincial tourism ministry’s 2010 Rails to Trails, “a network of recreational trails in the spectacular canyons and lush valleys of southern British Columbia”. Which, of course, includes the Cowichan Valley.

Despite the CVRD’s having been informed by its administrator that, although demolition of the Trestle posed no legal challenges–“we have all the papers in place for that”–restoration required public approval “because it becomes a capital liability”. So directors voted 6-5 to spend $35,000 for the first of two phases of a restoration assessment.

In the meantime, on August 3rd, officials of the Ministry of Transportation and the CVRD, ‘Geocachers,’ railway buffs and the public met at the south end of the Trestle to launch the latest collector coin produced by a Victoria firm to honour the 2010 Olympic Games. The obverse of this second of a series of five coins portrays a steam locomotive on the Kinsol Trestle.

“We were going to put a Myra Canyon trestle on the coin,” said Chris Edley, until Crofton geocacher Ed Bergen suggested the Kinsol.”

“We knew the Kinsol was under debate and had been following the stories. After listening to Ed so passionately explain his reasons we decided that the Myra Canyon area doesn’t need the publicity as much as the Kinsol does. We produced the Kinsol Trestle coin with the hope of being able to make a positive difference to its fate.” Over 400 of the handsome collector coins were sold the first day it was posted on their website.

At the Friday afternoon event, coins were presented to a representative from the MOT for Kevin Falcon, Minister of Transportation; Chris Causton, mayor of Oak Bay and a longtime champion of Victoria’s immensely popular Galloping Goose Trail; Jack Peake, chairman of the CVRD board and the Island Corridor Foundation; and several individuals who’d contributed to the public recognition of the Kinsol over the years.

That November, Vancouver’s Commonwealth Historic Research Management Ltd., M&L and a Burnaby bridge engineering firm undertook the final determination of whether restoration was feasible by swarming over the Trestle to examine the timbers visually and drill hundreds of test bores. The results of their inspection, the most comprehensive done to date, were immediate and heartening–“better than expected,” according to Gordon Macdonald. “We physically inspected every single cross-frame, we dropped ropes down each bay and took inventory of what was there, what was missing, what was rotted and what was not, and the information was very positive.”

In January 2008, based upon the latest estimates– $5.3 million for full rehabilitation* and $4.1 million for minimal rehabilitation–and buoyed by the possibility of a further $1 million from the Island Coastal Economic Trust (ICET)–the CVRD voted to go to Phase Two.

As this left the issue of taxpayers approving the annual maintenance costs unresolved, the CVRD chose to go to the electorate by means of ‘an alternative approval process opportunity.’ Bylaw 3076, which sought approval for $2.80 per $200,000 home equity per annum, would go to a referendum only if 10 per cent of eligible taxpayers responded in the negative.

This sign announced that restoration work was finally underway!

When fewer than one per cent indicated their opposition, the CVRD voted unanimously to apply for the Kinsol’s designation as a national historic site.

Gordon Macdonald with CVRD directors Gerry Giles and Jack Peake.

Before a small gathering at the Trestle, on a rainy day in October 2008, ICET board member Phil Kent presented a cheque for $1.7 million towards the Cowichan Valley Trail initiative, $1 million of which was for the Kinsol Trestle. Seeing it for the first time, even in a grey downpour, Ida Chong, B.C. Minister of Technology, Trade and Economic Development, said that photos didn’t do the Trestle justice but she could imagine “how magnificent it will be when it is complete”.

CVRD directors and other VIPS ham it up for the camera during a public event preceding opening of the Kinsol Trestle to the public.

Eight months later, this time a sunny day in mid-June 2009, the Cowichan Foundation launched a fundraising drive to come up with $2 million to complete the Trestle’s rehabilitation and to establish a seed fund for future maintenance. Previously, work crews had braced the fire-damaged mid-section and cleared away 30 years of vegetation which, by retaining moisture, had accelerated the span’s deterioration. Speaking for the Foundation, Jack Peake summed up all the hard work and efforts of so many over the previous three years, and put them in context: “There aren’t many opportunities in a lifetime to do something that will have a dramatic impact on generations to come, but this is one of those.”

The Trestle’s rehabilitation schedule called for detailed engineering plans to be completed by July-October 2009, timber and materials to be assembled by Fall 2009, tenders to be in by Fall 2009, and construction underway by Spring 2010 through Winter 2010-ll, with the Trestle and trail opening early in Summer 2011.

The surprise announcement, September 25, 2009, that the federal and provincial governments would provide the balance of the funding needed to complete the Trestle’s rehabilitation and thus complete this broken link in the Cowichan Valley’s stretch of the Trans Canada Trail, was the icing on the cake.

The multi-million dollar ‘rehabilitated’ Kinsol Trestle was opened to the public in July 2011.

After 30 years of neglect, two attempts to burn it down, and lengthy public controversy over whether to demolish it in favour of a look-alike bridge, or save it as the real thing, the Kinsol Trestle draws an estimated 100,000 visitors annually. That’s almost one million visitors so far. It’s magnificent and it’s the Cowichan Valley’s best known historical icon.

*Rehabilitation means refurbishing the Trestle to all intents and appearances as it was originally but without having to meet the load capacity of a railway trestle because it will only have to bear the weight of pedestrians, horses and up to a two-ton maintenance vehicle.

100,000 people tour the Kinsol Trestle each year. This visitor is studying the maze of timbers and cross-timbers from the south end viewpoint.

Kinsol Trestle Timeline

1914 - 700,000 feet of timber to build the Kinsol Trestle have been cut and stacked on both sides of the Koksilah River at Mile 51.1

1919 - The Cowichan Leader reports, “At long last a real start has been made on the Koksilah River [crossing].” 55 men are employed in building the Kinsol Trestle

1920 - By April the canyon has been bridged. Built on solid concrete piers, the new wooden trestle is 614 feet (187 metres) long and 145 feet (38 metres) high

1931 - That winter, the trestle is damaged by the flooded Koksilah River carrying logs and debris. Sporadic reconstruction is done 1931-36 (the midst of the Depression) and the trestle returns to service after a major renovation that sees the Howe Truss span moved from the top to the bottom

1944 – A forest fire sweeps several square miles to the north but spares the trestle

1954 – The first and only passenger train crosses the tKinsol and is recorded for posterity by the late Elwood White

1976 - CN applies to Canadian Transportation Commission to discontinue the line from Victoria to Deerholme

1979 - Last train, a locomotive with four cars carrying cedar poles, crosses the Kinsol Trestle

1984 - B.C. begins negotiations with CN Rail to acquire right-of-way as a recreational/traffic corridor. Local historian Jack Fleetwood asks that the provincial government “save this unique structure which we believe is the highest remaining wooden bridge in the Commonwealth”. The Projects National Parks Centennial Citizens’ Committee declines funding for the trestle’s restoration

1986 - The provincial government acquires ownership of the CNR right-of-way and places it under the Ministry of Transportation

1988 - Arsonist(s) destroy 25 feet of decking on the trestle. Blaze is extinguished by a Martin Mars water bomber

1989 - An engineering study describes the Kinsol Trestle as “an awe-inspiring engineering and construction relic that has few equals in Canada”. Westcoast Energy announces plans to run a natural gas pipeline 66 metres west of the Trestle

1990 - The Chemainus and Cowichan Valley Eco-museum Society attempts to have the Kinsol declared a site of ‘national significance’ by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada

1991 - The Cowichan Valley Regional District passes a board resolution to apply for a long-term lease for the length of the abandoned CNR right-of-way from south of Deerholme, and to support a sublease to the Industrial Heritage Society for development of a heritage site at the Kinsol Trestle

1998 - Arsonists make a second attempt to burn the trestle

1999 - An engineering study estimates the cost of restoring the Kinsol Trestle at $525,000 after deeming it, despite fire damage and decay from 20 years of neglect, “in good enough shape to warrant a face-lift”. Also considered was “dissembling the entire trestle and using the Howe Trusses underneath so trail users can still cross the Koksilah River”.

A CVRD Parks executive declares that even partial demolition would be “eliminating a significant feature in the railway history of Vancouver Island, B.C. and Canada”. Shawnigan electoral district representative Bill Davies says, “This [the trestle] is going to be the highlight of the Trans Canada Trail on the Island, there’s no question about that... It will boost tourism and the local economy”.

2000 - Attorney General Andrew Petter reports that $250,000 has been earmarked for upgrading the Kinsol Trestle and incorporating it in the Trans Canada Trail. The Eco-museum Society and CVRD host an all-day planning workshop to promote public interest in restoration. Chrysler Canada uses the trestle as a backdrop for a television commercial

2004 - Klett Consulting Services Ltd. delivers a report to the MOT/CVRD outlining six possible courses of action for the Trestle. The first two recommend restoration

2006 - The MOT budgets $1.5 million to demolish the Kinsol Trestle because of insurance liability and environmental concerns. A group of concerned citizens begins a campaign to save and restore the trestle

2007 – The Province offers $1.6 million towards a replacement bridge, then towards rebuilding the existing trestle after an internationally renowned timber framing company estimates restoration at just under $4 million. The CVRD commissions a study that confirms Kinsol Trestle can be ‘rehabilitated’ for $5.3 million which includes money for future maintenance

2008 - Island Coastal Economic Trust contributes $1 million to Trestle, $.7 million to Trans Canada Trail. Cowichan Foundation begins campaign to raise $2 million to complete trestle’s regeneration and to establish a maintenance fund for the future

2009 - The balance of money needed to ‘rehabilitate’ the Kinsol Trestle is put up by the federal-provincial governments as part of an infrastructure stimulus project

2011 – Rehabilitation is completed and the Kinsol Trestle is opened to 100,000 visitors annually

Governor General of Canada David Johnston, his wife Sharon and a host of VIPs braved heavy September rains to walk across the newly-completed Trestle. Referring to the Trestle's importance to the Trans Canada Trail, he said, "We are just so proud of what you people have done and it's an inspiration, of course, for the whole entire country...".

The cake marking the Kinsol's grand opening.