09/13/2026
10 THINGS THAT VANISHED FROM THE ATHABASCA REGION
#8 THE CAGE THAT CARRIED PEOPLE ACROSS THE ATHABASCA RIVER
For 18 years, residents crossed during freeze-up and breakup in a cage suspended from a cable
ATHABASCA — Imagine needing to get into Athabasca during spring breakup in the 1940s.
There was no bridge.
During open water, there was a ferry. In winter, people could cross on the ice.
But there were periods during spring breakup and fall freeze-up when neither was a dependable option.
For residents living north of the river, there was another way across.
You climbed into a cage.
Beginning in 1934, a cable carriage carried passengers across the Athabasca River during those difficult periods between the ferry and ice-road seasons.
For 18 years, it was part of life in Athabasca.
And it was not what residents had been asking for.
By 1933, pressure was building for the Alberta government to construct a permanent traffic bridge.
That November, the Athabasca Echo reported that about 500 farm families north of the river had been cut off for more than five weeks, unable to get goods to or from market and without normal access to medical or police services.
Residents began circulating a petition.
They wanted a bridge.
The province came back with something considerably cheaper.
A low-level traffic bridge had been estimated to cost approximately $150,000.
The cable carriage installed in 1934 cost $413.08.
Operated by a small engine, it provided passenger service during freeze-up and thawing periods.
But the calls for a bridge did not go away.
By the mid-1940s, residents north of the river were again organizing meetings, petitions and a delegation to Edmonton.
And they had numbers to back up their argument.
A brief prepared by the Athabasca and District Board of Trade reported that ferry traffic had increased 450 per cent over the previous 16 years.
During one month alone, the cage had carried nearly 3,000 passengers to town and back.
Among those relying on it were children trying to get to school.
In November 1945, the Athabasca Echo reported claims that more than 30 schoolchildren could be left standing in the winter cold waiting their turn to cross by cage.
They made the trip to and from school five days a week.
For families north of the river, a bridge was about much more than convenience.
A resolution sent to the province argued that the transportation problems were affecting children’s education, creating difficulties for people needing hospital care and holding back development north of Athabasca.
Still, they waited.
In 1947, Alberta’s public works minister said a bridge at Athabasca was out of the question at the time because steel was in short supply and bridges were urgently needed at locations carrying heavier traffic.
So the old system continued.
The ferry when conditions allowed.
The ice road in winter.
And during those awkward periods in between, the cage.
One photograph preserved by the Athabasca Archives captures just how unusual that crossing was.
Taken from inside the cage during spring breakup in 1949, the photograph looks out over the Athabasca River as large chunks of ice move through the water below.
Another archival photograph shows the cage itself suspended over the river from the north shore.
By then, people had been pushing for a bridge for years.
Finally, in September 1950, the Athabasca Echo broke the news residents had been waiting for.
A bridge was coming.
Construction followed, and on March 31, 1952, the new Athabasca River bridge was completed.
It cost approximately $470,000 and stretched 280.4 metres across the river.
With its completion, three familiar ways of crossing became obsolete.
The ferry.
The winter ice road.
And the cage.
Athabasca celebrated the bridge’s official opening on June 9, 1952.
Contemporary estimates placed the crowd between 7,000 and 8,000 people, with the Echo reporting that old-timers considered it the largest crowd ever assembled in Athabasca for any occasion.
There was an RCAF band, a parade, speeches, competitions and a ceremonial opening at the north end of the bridge.
And among the parade entries was a float commemorating the ferry and cage that had carried people across before the bridge arrived.
More than seven decades later, the story is coming full circle.
The bridge that made the ferry, ice road and cable cage obsolete in 1952 is now itself being replaced.
Construction of the new Highway 813 bridge began in 2022 as part of a $70-million provincial project scheduled through 2026.
Soon, another chapter in the history of crossing the Athabasca River will begin.
The cage disappeared when the bridge arrived.
Now the bridge that replaced it is becoming history too.
SOURCES
Athabasca Archives, A Bridge is Built, including historical reports from the Athabasca Echo.
Athabasca Archives, Ice Roads and the Ferry.
Athabasca Archives, The Athabasca Bridge.
Athabasca Archives, Opening the Bridge.
Athabasca Archives, River Crossings.
Town of Athabasca, Brief History.
Athabasca Historical Walking Tour.
Government of Alberta, Highway 813 Athabasca River Bridge Replacement.
Do you remember hearing stories about the cable cage? Did your parents or grandparents ever cross the Athabasca River in it?
