Hagwilget Canyon Bridge, Wet’suwet’en (1912-1914)

Hagwilget Canyon Bridge, built by the Wet’suwet’en people in British Columbia is the first written and photographed record of an ingeniously constructed bridge by local indigenous people. They used principles of cantilever design well before the design was used by people of European descent. Featuring natural local materials, the bridge had a central suspended span built with wood and rope.

The Hagwilget Bridge lies over the Bulkley River Canyon and has had great significance as a key transportation and communication link in the Kitimat-Stikine region for over a century. The bridge historically provided an important link between the inland Wet'suwet'en nation on the east side of the canyon and the Gitxsan on the west side. Today, the present-day Hagwilget Bridge is a single-lane steel suspension bridge located along Highway 62, between the Village of Hazelton and the District of New Hazelton in northwestern British Columbia.