Description of Historic Place

The Gardenton Truss Bridge, a narrow timber through bridge erected in 1918 as Manitoba Highways structure No. 381-00, spans approximately 25 metres over the Roseau River east of Gardenton. The municipal designation applies to the bridge structure.

Heritage Value

The Gardenton Truss Bridge is an impressive local landmark symbolic of the early development of Manitoba's rural road network. It also is a good example of a Howe truss bridge whose comparatively light structural assembly of rigid triangulated members can support heavy loads over a long span. The timber bridge, built to facilitate the efficient movement of people and goods in the Gardenton area, is appropriate in size and proportion to its situation, with a one-lane roadway passing through its hollow skeletal frame and sufficient clearance below to cope with high water. The basic yet enduring structure, designed by N.B. MacTaggart of the provincial public works department and in use for some nine decades, is a testament to early twentieth-century engineering and construction and to the community dedicated to its preservation.

Source: Rural Municipality of Stuartburn By-law No. 038/2001, February 5, 2002

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the site character of the landmark Gardenton Truss Bridge include:
- its convenient and suitable placement over the Roseau River, just east of Gardenton on Old Bridge Road

Key elements that define the structure's Howe truss design and timber construction include:
- the basic configuration of a single-span fixed bridge of the through-truss type, approximately one road lane in width and 25 metres long
- the substructure comprised of stone and concrete abutments with wings on footings
- the wooden deck, including timber stringers that run the length of the bridge, braced by underlying cross beams, and wood flooring
- the bolted skeletal framework, including horizontal timber chords, diagonal timber web members inclined toward the centre of the span and crossed by counter braces in a series of Xs, vertical metal truss rods, lateral upper-chord braces of wood and metal, wooden portal braces, etc.
- details such as the anchor bolts, simple railing boards and metal cables, the date '1918' carved into the east abutment's south wing, etc.