Exploring Highland Creek (concrete channels and wild streams)

[TorontoBoris]

I've decided to start a personal project.. We'll I've been on it for a while but figured I'd share some images here. So some images of the Highland creek as I wander about the different ravines and concrete channels.

West Highland Creek flowing through an industrial area.

Flowing down to the 401 tunnel.

 

[TorontoBoris]

Looking north from the 401.

A bridge over a bridge over the Highland Creek.

 

[TorontoBoris]

Recently I was walking the dog along Highland Creek at Tam O'Shanter Golf Course. I noticed these bridge pillars I haven't see before.

I don't ever recall a 4th bridge over the creek at the golf course. But there are leftover pillars.

Arial view of the golf course from 2022. Red circle is where the pillars are and green are the current bridges.

Looking through https://schoolofcities.github.io/historical-aerial-imagery-toronto/…
Shows no record of the bridge ever existing. At least not in the select years they complied. But could it have existed somewhere in-between?

I guess we gotta go to the Toronto historical aerial photographs archive.

Aerial Photographs

For best performance, it is recommended to view these maps on a laptop or desktop computer. Aerial photographs document Toronto’s changing landscape from 1947 to 1992. Taken from aircraft, these photographs show rivers, forests, parks, buildings, roads and other features of the urban...

www.toronto.ca

I guessing it would have existed sometime after the 1965 aerial and possibly after 1978 but not before the 1990s.

Success!
The first clear image of a line bridge in that location is in 1968. On the immediate left is Birchmount Rd. Note the three other bridges over the creek are no there.

Last image the bridge appears on 1973, there are no aerials for 1974 on the city record. Note the three other bridges do not yet exist.

And the 1975 aerial photos show that the bridge is gone. The three current bridges are there.
Such an odd little thing. A bridge that existed for some 5-6 years over the Highland Creek. But its pylons still are standing some 65 years later.

 

[TorontoBoris]

Small unnamed creek flows from under the train tracks.

Less than 100m down the concrete stream it meets the West Highland Creek channel.