The Brooks Aqueduct

The replacement canal was put into operation in 1979, the same year the Brooks Aqueduct ceased operating as an irrigation canal.

The new earthen canal flows south of the Aqueduct and in a eastern direction, entering this map from the lower left corner.

The road we are following was once a railway line.

Each 80 foot section of these giant concrete flumes are suspended between huge columns and girders.

Copper expansion joints separated each of the flumes and allowed for the expansion and contraction of the concrete during temperature changes.

Deterioration of the aqueduct concrete was a constant problem. In 1920 the CPR invested in a "cement gun". The apparatus sprayed mixed concrete at 350 feet per second in any desired thickness, in order to repair the weakened concrete.

The four million pounds of steel rebar used in construction came from Selkirk Manitoba.

The steel rebar mesh was sandwiched between two plywood forms during the continuous pouring of concrete that made up the 5 inch thick 80 foot sections of flume.

Ten drain pipes were installed in the barrel of the flume along its 2 mile length not only to provide thorough drainage of the flume, but also water access points for nearby farmers.

One of the water access points.

Workmen called "Ditchriders", would climb these ladders to the top rim. It was their job to monitor the condition and efficiency of the flume as they walked along the rim 60 feet above the ground and inches away from the moving water travelling at a velocity of 3.5 feet per second. And if the wind was blowing that would certainly heighten the drama.

I was also told that the workmen would occasionally fish and swim in the water.

Stalactites

Over the years stalactites formed under the bellies of the concrete flumes when the flowing water seeped through and leached out lime and calcium. Today drop by drop these stalactites are still forming due to rain seepage.

Colonies of cliff swallows once nested under the Aqueduct girders and braces, but today all we could spot were pigeons.

I am standing part way down an embankment next to the country road we drove in on. Facing east, I'm looking down a cut out section of the flume.

Various trees and shrubs are growing up through the flume bottom.

ALBERTA STOPS Brooks Aqueduck

We are standing in the western end of the flume which was the Aqueduct intake.

The flume's unique shape, known as the "hydrostatic catenary curve", was 8 feet, 8 inches deep, and 22 feet, 6 inches wide.

The quarter mile of steel struts were fastened high enough down the rim of the flume so as not to create a backwash when the flume was full.

These struts were the City of Calgary streetcar rails discarded when the city switched from streetcar to bus transit.

The parents told their son he was not getting out till he promised to clean up his room when the family got back home.

I remember as a kid getting a kick out of watching tumbleweeds of sage blowing around in the wind.

I can not imagine myself as a "Ditchrider" walking along the edge of the flume on a windy day--not even on a perfectly calm day--checking for plant growth and debris moving along in the water. Nope. Never never. Not this cowboy.

This replacement canal just south of the Aqueduct was put into operation in 1979. The decision to build this earthen canal was made six years earlier when it was decided the Brooks Aqueduct was becoming too expensive to operate.

"Named a Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Historic Site in 1988, and designated a National and Provincial Historic Site in 1989, the Brooks Aqueduct was officially opened as an interpretive facility in
August 1989."

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