Bear Creek trestle
In the mid-1930’s, the San Juan Valley attracted a large scale logging operation. Obtaining timber licenses in the upper reaches of the valley, the Malahat Logging Co. built a railway line from their beach camp, extending 22 km/13.6 miles to beyond the bear Creek Valley. The line followed much the same route as the Red Creek Main Line.
Beach Camp, one of two camps built by them, was located where the present Port Renfrew townsite is today. At the time, the camp had a large shop, a rail line rightaway, an office, a cookhouse, a few homes and bunkhouses for the boommen and railway crews. The second camp, located on the west side of Bear Creek housed the fallers, donkey punchers, high riggers, hooktenders and chokermen, the men who worked to get the timber out of the woods, This camp was built in 1938-39 when construction was started on the Bear Creek Bridge. Standing 242 feet high and spanning 517 feet across, the bridge was, in those days, the highest wooden trestle in the world.
Later in years when the bridge was showing its age, the train crew would send someone across the bridge on foot. Then they would send train with loaded skeleton cars across the bridge unmanned. When it got to other side, they would jump back on. Info from “Hiking through History” taken from internet
Picture 4 you can see the roofs of camp 2 just above the bridge .
The trestle was blowen up on January 30th 1957.