Rochfort Bridge Explained

Rochfort Bridge
Settlement Type:Hamlet
Pushpin Map:Alberta#Canada#North America
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Canada
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Name1:Alberta
Subdivision Type2:Municipal district
Subdivision Name2:Lac Ste. Anne County
Unit Pref:Metric
Population As Of:2008
Population Footnotes:[1]
Population Total:71
Postal Code:T0E 1N0

Rochfort Bridge is a hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Lac Ste. Anne County. It is located approximately 105km (65miles) northwest of Edmonton and 8km (05miles) east of Mayerthorpe. Rochfort Bridge is named for Cooper (Cowper) Rochfort, who with his associate, Percy Michaelson, homesteaded on the Paddle River at the point where the old trail from Lac Ste. Anne to the MacLeod River crossed the Paddle River.[2]

One of North America’s longest wooden train trestles is located just east of the hamlet, which crosses over the Paddle River valley and Highway 43. Rochfort Bridge Trestle was built in 1919 by Canadian Northern Railway.

History

A farm near Rochfort Bridge and Mayerthorpe was the site of the Mayerthorpe tragedy on March 3, 2005, in which four officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were shot and killed in a raid on a marijuana drug operation.[3]

On December 5, 2019, a fire broke out in a home inside the hamlet. In the early morning hours of December 6, fire crews announced a body had been discovered, and later on after a more extensive search, four more bodies had been discovered. Two adults, Marvin and Janet Gibbs, and their three grandchildren all were killed in the fire.[4]

Demographics

The population of Rochfort Bridge according to the 2008 municipal census conducted by Lac Ste. Anne County is 71.[1]

Notable people

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Alberta Population Summary: Alberta's Hamlets Alphabetically, 2010 . Alberta Population . September 25, 2021.
  2. Book: Lac Ste. Anne Historical Society, Archives Committee. West of the Fifth: a history of Lac Ste. Anne Municipality. The Institute of Applied Art Ltd.. 1959. Edmonton, CA. 49–50.
  3. Web site: Report confirms Mayerthorpe RCMP killed instantly. 9 March 2007.
  4. Web site: Alberta First Nation reeling after 5 found dead in house fire: 'The grief is heavy' | Globalnews.ca.