Brooks Aqueduct

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The Brooks Aqueduct, located about 8 km southeast of BROOKS, Alta, is considered by many to be one of the most significant engineering feats in Canada. It has been declared both a national and a provincial HISTORIC SITE. As part of the Government of Canada's support for the construction of railways, the CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY acquired 1.2 million ha of land between Calgary and Brooks. Much of this land was arid and had little value as farmland so the CPR began a massive irrigation and colonization scheme throughout what is now known as the Eastern Irrigation District. In 1914, when the Bassano Dam was completed on the BOW RIVER, water began to be diverted through a complex system of canals and aqueducts to area farmers. That same year CPR engineers completed a huge aqueduct across a 3.2 km wide valley. An interesting feature of the aqueduct is its siphon which carried water under the CPR main line. Tours and other interpretive programs are offered at the site from mid-May to early September.

Author DEBORAH WELCH and MICHAEL PAYNE


Links to Other Sites
Brooks Aqueduct National and Provincial Historic Site
Explore the history of Brooks Aqueduct at this Alberta Community Development Historic Sites and Archive Service website.

The Canadian Register of Historic Places
Canada is home to a vast array of fascinating historical sites. Many of them are illustrated and described in this searchable online database of Canadian historic places that are of local, provincial, territorial, and national significance.

Eastern Irrigation District
Eastern Irrigation District is concerned with the construction, operation, and maintenance of local irrigation works. Includes historical information about the Brooks Aqueduct, a National Historic Site.

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