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Atherley Narrows Swing Bridge

Canadian National Railway bridges in OntarioRailway bridges in OntarioSteel bridges in Canada
Atherley Narrows Swing Bridge from Hwy 12
Atherley Narrows Swing Bridge from Hwy 12

The Atherley Narrows Swing Bridge is a Canadian National rail bridge located at the confluence of Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching at the Atherley Narrows, near Orillia, Ontario. The current bridge was constructed in 1970 as a plate girder bridge, consisting of nine steel through plate girder sections supported on eight steel pile bents. The western end of the east approach for the steel through plate girder structure is supported by a concrete pier on wooden piles built in 1919. The end of the eastern pier is made of concrete. Between 1843 and 1964, three railway bridges were constructed at the site and a navigation channel was dredged, all of which disturbed the Mnjikaning Fish Weirs. The swing bridge was deemed unsafe in a 2010 inspection by the railway. Reports to local police and the railway in 2011 declared that the wooden timber cribbing at the base of the swing bridge was decaying and shedding material into the water below. As of 2013, the swing bridge is currently under review for use with the local trail system, as a link for pedestrian trails and snowmobile trails on both sided of the Narrows. The swing bridge is currently locked in the "open" position since the Canadian National Railway abandoned the line into Orillia and lifted the rails.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Atherley Narrows Swing Bridge (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Atherley Narrows Swing Bridge
Millennium Trail, Orillia

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N 44.605 ° E -79.3696 °
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Millennium Trail

Millennium Trail
L3V 1P1 Orillia
Ontario, Canada
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Atherley Narrows Swing Bridge from Hwy 12
Atherley Narrows Swing Bridge from Hwy 12
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Mnjikaning Fish Weirs
Mnjikaning Fish Weirs

The Mnjikaning Fish Weirs are one of the oldest human developments in Canada. These fishing weirs were built by the first nations people well before recorded history, dating to around 4500 BP during the Archaic period in North America, according to carbon dating done on some of the wooden remnants. The weirs were built in the narrows between Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe, now known as Atherley Narrows, over which Ontario Highway 12 passes today. They were preserved by the water and layers of protective silt. The weirs were built as fences using local wood species, including eastern white cedar, sugar maple, and white birch for the stakes. The weirs were used to trap the various fish species swimming through them. The early fishermen wove brush and vegetation among the weirs to make net-like fencing where the fish were guided to be speared, netted or kept for later use, particularly for consumption during the winter. The weirs – historically called ouentaronk (Huron) and tkaronto (Mohawk) – are believed to have provided the City of Toronto with its name, following a series of copy errors. They were in use for about 5,000 years, until about the early 1700s. Samuel de Champlain recorded their existence on September 1, 1615, when he passed the weirs with the Huron en route to the battle with the Iroquois on the south east side of Lake Ontario. The Mnjikaning Fish Weirs was officially recognized as a National Historic Site of Canada on 12 June 1982. It is managed by the Rama First Nation, who created the Mnjikaning Fish Fence Circle to protect and promote the site.

Orillia
Orillia

Orillia () is a city in Ontario, Canada, about 30 km (18 mi) north-east of Barrie in Simcoe County. It is located at the confluence of Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. Although it is geographically located within Simcoe County, the city is a single-tier municipality. It is part of the Huronia region of Central Ontario. The population in 2021 was 33,411.It was incorporated as a village in 1867, but the history of what is today the City of Orillia dates back at least several thousand years. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of fishing by the Huron and Iroquois peoples in the area over 4,000 years ago, and of sites used by Aboriginal peoples for hundreds of years for trading, hunting, and fishing. Known as the "Sunshine City", the city's large waterfront attracts many tourists to the area every year, as do a number of annual festivals and other cultural attractions. While the area's largest employer is Casino Rama, overall economic activity in Orillia is a mixture of many different industries including manufacturing, government services, customer service and tourism. Orillia is located on the shores of two connected lakes: Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching. Both lakes are part of the Trent-Severn Waterway. Travel north on Lake Couchiching, then through three locks and the only marine railway (Big Chute Marine Railway) still in use in North America leads to Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. Travel south-east across Lake Simcoe, through many locks (including two of the highest hydraulic lift locks in the world, Peterborough Lift Lock and Kirkfield Lift Lock) eventually leads to Lake Ontario. From either of these Great Lakes one can connect to the St. Lawrence and thence to the Atlantic Ocean.