In Canada, several huge bridges were built which are now long gone. The Gaspe Peninsula had a giant red bridge across the Cascapedia River. It was the second largest covered bridge in North America, built in 1926. Before the bridge was built, the Cascapedia ferry transported passengers and vehicles across the river, between Maria and New Richmond. The structure of the bridge was described as a town truss measuring 900 feet. It stood over the river until an arsonist set it on fire the night of 4 August 1953.
Before the covered bridge was built in 1926, the Cascapedia ferry (pictured here) transported passengers and vehicles across the river, between Maria and New Richmond.
River ferries were the only form of transport for some time. There were a few rough trails and the odd logging route along the upper sections of the river, but no road was built until the 1940s.
On land residents mainly walked or travelled by horse, until cars were introduced to the area. In the picture to the left, Austin McKay, a Cascapedia-St-Jules locale, stands with his horse and buggy. Austin McKay’s family settled in the Cascapedia area in 1832. They started a ship building business.
In the photograph to the left a group of Cascapedia-St-Jules locals pose with a horse and buggy.
Horses were also used to plow roads in the winter time.
In 1836 John A. Campbell decided to expand his operations and built a general store in Cascapedia. For decades it was one of the two main general stores in the community. In the 1920’s John A. Campbell named his stores, in New Richmond and Cascapedia, the Campbell Brothers stores and gave one to each of his sons. Peter Cobley Campbell, just home from serving in the First World War took over the running of the Cascapedia business with his wife Ida (Robertson) Campbell. The building picture here (the original store) became a secondary storage building in the late 1930s when the ‘new’ store was constructed adjacent to it. J.A. (Buddy) Campbell, son of Cobley and Ida, eventually inherited the business which saw expansion and major renovations in the 1960s. The store was closed on September 7th 1991, after serving generations of families in the community for 155 years, and it is this building which now houses the Cascapedia Society and the Cascapedia River Museum. The ‘old’ store (pictured here) was torn down in 1991.
In the late 60’s - early 70’s (when this photograph was likely taken) this hotel was affectionately nicknamed the Singing Hills Hotel in the Cascapedia-St-Jules community. The official name remained simply the Cascapedia Hotel – the name it was known by for many years previous to this and for which it would be known in the years still to come. In the 1940s and 50s the hotel was run by Jack Nadeau and his wife Alma Clapperton Nadeau. They both lived in the hotel while they were running it initially, though later they got their own home.
Before the building was converted into a hotel, however, it was the private home of a locale shopkeeper named Henry Nadeau (1888-1955). On June 5, 1920, Henry Nadeau went fishing at Judge’s Pool, one of the best early season pools on the river. He caught a giant salmon which measured 48 inches long and weighed either 53 or 54 pounds. According to historian Ronald S. Swanson, Nadeau’s fish remains the largest Atlantic salmon ever caught by a Canadian.
Plans to start constructing a railway from Matapedia to Gaspe began in December 1872. It took more than 10 years, however, for the project to begin in earnest and in 1886 the first tracks were laid. The most difficult part of the project was consulting the bridge that crossed the Grand Cascapedia River. When this majestic bridge was completed in 1893 the communities of Cascapedia and St-Jules named it in honour of the man who oversaw the project, Honoré Mercier.
The Grand Cascapedia train station caught fire, however, and was burned to the ground.
After the fire, the train station was re-built so that visitors could continue to travel to the coast in ease and comfort.
The station was eventually discontinued. The building was moved to New Richmond and is currently being used as a warehouse.
What really made the community of Cascapedia-St-Jules special, however, were the people who lived and worked there. In this picture you can see Roy Coull standing in the foreground, with Henry Nadeau's General Store in the background.