Myra Canyon Section of the Kettle Valley Railway National Historic Site of Canada
Myra, British Columbia
General view
© Agence Parcs Canada / Parks Canada Agency, HRS 1131, 2004.
Address :
Myra, British Columbia
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
2002-11-01
Dates:
-
1912 to 1914
(Construction)
-
1910 to 1916
(Significant)
Other Name(s):
-
Myra Canyon Section of the Kettle Valley Railway
(Designation Name)
-
Trans Canada Trail
(Other Name)
-
McCulloch's Wonder, CPR Kettle Valley Division
(Other Name)
Research Report Number:
2002-018, 2007-064
Plaque(s)
Existing plaque: West of Trestle Nº 1 Myra, British Columbia
The construction of the Kettle Valley Railway line through the spectacular Myra Canyon was an outstanding Canadian engineering achievement. Between 1912 and 1914, an impressive number and variety of engineering works of enormous scale were built high up on these steep walls. Engineers used conventional technologies in ingenious ways to construct the railway through the rugged, mountainous terrain, where workers faced the dangers posed by blasting and rock slides. The completion of this section of the railway helped provide a vital all-Canadian link between the West Coast and the southern interior of British Columbia.
Description of Historic Place
The Myra Canyon Section of the Kettle Valley Railway National Historic Site of Canada is a 9.6 km section of railway roadbed which traverses extremely mountainous terrain by means of a series of high, steel and wooden trestles and tunnels.
Heritage Value
The Myra Canyon Section of the Kettle Valley Railway was designated a national historic site of Canada because the location, layout and construction of the Kettle Valley Railway through the Myra Canyon constitutes an outstanding engineering achievement which employed conventional technologies in highly imaginative and ingenious application in routing and constructing a railway in mountainous terrain.
The heritage value of this site resides in its illustration of a remarkable engineering feat. This section of track was in rail use from its completion in 1914 until it was closed to train traffic in 1978. It was subsequently developed for pedestrian use as part of the Trans Canada trail. In 2003 it was seriously damaged by fire.
Sources: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes 2002; Myra Canyon Section of the Kettle Valley Railway National Historic Site of Canada , Assessment of Surviving Values, October 2003.
Character-Defining Elements
Key features contributing to the heritage character of this site include: the roadbed in its location, length, and materials; surviving wooden trestles (# 1, 12, 16, 17) in their wooden construction, large scale, location, configuration, alignment, variety and integrity of design,
and two steel trestles in their location, form and materials, large scale, location, configuration, alignment, variety and integrity of design; two tunnels in their length and unlined nature with a 1940s concrete portal; the surrounding landscape in its setting and viewscapes; the oven in its location, form and materials.