Bridges are connections. But some think that’s not always a good thing

The Low Level Bridge, between Edmonton and Strathcona, which connects the present day communities of Cloverdale on the southside with Rossdale on the north, was the first bridge to span the North Saskatchewan River. 

Before that, crossing the river was a challenge, requiring a barge or canoe, maybe John Walter’s ferry, or just waiting for the river to freeze in winter. So when the first bridge was completed in 1900, it was a huge event. The connection got even better when a railway track was added to the bridge in 1902 for the Edmonton, Yukon and Pacific Railway (the E,Y&P). 

The bridge at first was called the Edmonton Bridge or the Inter-Urban Bridge. It became known as the Low Level Bridge when the High Level Bridge was opened in 1913.

Let’s circle back to 1902 with Edmonton anthropologist and storyteller Jan Olson. She says in those days the idea of being connected wasn’t a totally positive one. In fact, there was a lot of resistance to being connected.

“Strathcona didn’t want Edmonton to become more powerful, because there was huge animosity between the two,” Olson says. 

She adds that “Strathcona people came and tried to stop the connection for the train to be able to go into the Mill Creek Ravine and then over to the other side of the city. There were police there and rioting. It was quite the kerfuffle. And then late at night, in the wee bits of the morning, some of the guys from the E,Y&P, put in the links and the train went across. And that was kind of the end of Strathcona in a sense. This now exploded the population being able to go into Edmonton.”   

Strathcona’s attempt to stop the rail connection with Edmonton wasn’t the first clash between the rival towns on opposite sides of the North Saskatchewan River. In 1892, there was a violent confrontation colourfully called the Rat Creek Rebellion. And again, a bridge played a feature role.  

At the time, many people in Strathcona hoped that it would surpass Edmonton. 

They had good reason for that hope: there was no Low Level Bridge yet, Strathcona had a railway connection and Edmonton did not. In 1892, the stage was set for Strathcona to acquire another advantage. The federal government decided to move Edmonton’s land office to Strathcona. Homestead registration offices were not common in western Canada back then and having one was a big deal because it attracted a lot of business activity. 

Edmonton historian Tom Monto says Ottawa moving Edmonton’s land office to Strathcona made sense because it was an important stop for people arriving by train in Strathcona and those people didn’t like crossing the river at great difficulty to go to Edmonton.  

Whether it made sense or not, Edmonton didn’t like the idea of losing its land office. A mob, led by Mayor Matt McCauley, gathered to stop it. When government agents began to carry out the move, angry Edmontonians descended on the office. According to Wikipedia, they cut the horses loose and tore to pieces the wagon that the officer was packing with records for transportation. The situation escalated quickly, becoming heated. 

A couple of days later, Mounties were summoned from Fort Saskatchewan, their nearest headquarters, and McCauley took the mob of armed citizens to the bridge over Rat Creek, where Commonwealth Stadium is now. Standing on the bridge, McCauley stood off the police, and they returned to Fort Saskatchewan requesting instructions. 

Eventually the government reversed its decision to move the office. Instead, it simply opened an additional office in Strathcona. An interesting, and very significant, consequence of the Rat Creek Rebellion, was that the Mounties refused to keep law and order in Edmonton and city council had to set up the Edmonton Police.