The Doukhobars were a group of migrants from Russia who adopted a way of life they termed Spiritual
Christianity - principally pacifism and a desire to avoid all forms of government intervention in
their lives. They settled in the Ootichena Valley in 1908 and built the bridge, known as the
Brilliant Suspension Bridge, to span the Kootenay River in 1913, in a record 7 months.
It was closed in the late 1960s and is currently being restored as an historic monument.