t he Wotsonqua bridge, was built by the people of Hagwilget village. At that time they were mostly Wet’suwet’en but now they are a mixture of Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en people. The Gitksan name for the village is Hagwilget but the Wet’suwet’en name is Tse-kya. Maureen Cassidy, in The Gathering Place. A History of the Wet’suwet’en Village of Tse-kya, says, This shot of the bridge at Tse-kya by Charles Horetzky captures the gracefulness and beauty of the construction. The photogra- pher was in the area searching for a route for the proposed transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway. He spent Christmas at Hazelton. Afterwards, on December 28th, he and some others took ‘a little tour up theWotsonqua, taking with us a camera.’ letter from Hagwilget Lyndale George
The bridge at Tse-kya was part of a network of bridges built along the native trails of the northwest where rivers proved to be unfordable. Other bridges were located at Kyah Wiget and the Suskwa River where it is joined by Skilokis Creek. Gitksan, Niska and Tahltan engineers also built bridges in this style. The one at Tse-kya certainly became the most famous of the lot. This is partially because it was on the main non-native east-west trail between the coast and the interior in the northern half of the province. Many early white travellers came to bless its sturdy usefulness. Now the bridge doesn’t look quite as spectacular, it is all metal, but still one lane. It is called the Hagwilget bridge and I know that it has changed a few times since. My husband’s cousin who is one of the oldest people in the community and he says he can remember when the new steel bridge came in. He was about 4 at the time and he is now in his seventies. There is no one left who had a part in building the old bridges, of which he says there were more than one and built in different locations. Canada on the Pacific by Charles Horetsky Montreal: Dawson Brothers, 1874. p. 103
Horetzky described the bridge as being—
built entirely of wood, fastened together by withes and branches; it’s height above the roaring waters beneath is fifty feet, and it sways about under the weight of a man. This bridge and the several which have followed it are perhaps the thing most associated with Tse-kya by the general public. A spectacular construction in a spectacular location, the early bridge spanned the WaDzunKwuh employing engineering concepts usu- ally associated by non-natives with recent Western technology.
Lyndale George is presently working with the Gitskan Government Commission. Although not from the area originally (she is Haida) her husband is, and they live in the community of Hagwilget where the above picture was taken.
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O n S ite review
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I ssue 9 2003
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