Trail BC has hundreds of rock walls, and the Rock Wall Project Entusiastico Society has documented their history! With over 460 photos in the book, the following book excerpts represent a tiny portion of the stories that had to be told! All photos and text provided by  Eileen Pedersen. Click here for order info.     (Click any picture to enlarge).

The Railway Lane retaining wall in Trail's "Gulch"

Raising a rock wall entails a sound knowledge of geology and engineering plus a tremendous amount of unseen physical labour. In his book Building Stone Walls, John Vivian determined that “a cubic foot of rock weighs the better part of a hundred pounds.” Based on this calculation, if the 688-foot Railway Lane wall measures an average of seven feet in height and two feet in depth, it would weigh close to 500 tons. Vivian estimates the actual mass lifted by stonemasons to be four times as much, due to the repeated prying, pushing, loading, and unloading of the stone during the building process. The Railway Lane builders would have lifted over 20,000 tons, or 40 million pounds, of rock.

The lush beauty of spring-green grasses, blossoming mock-cherry trees, undulating rock walls, and wide curving sidewalks inspire repeated returns to this breathtaking park. This portion of the 644-foot rock wall intentionally mimics the flow of the Columbia River. Its design was conceived in the early 1950s by Parks Board superintendent Reg Stone. The water park, concession stand, and large grassy picnic area with gazebo are found behind the trees at the end of the sidewalk.

Munter Street rock wall built from 1938 to 1942

A vintage car rally stopped in Trail during the summer of 2004. Les and Roberta Holden, from South Pines, North Carolina, generously agreed to scale our steep hills and pose at the aged wall with their 1910 Peerless, a top quality car from that era.

The Diamond Street wall as seen from Daniel. Arguably the most stunning of Trail’s historic rock walls, the 256-foot tightly curved beauty rises to a height of 10 feet. It took shape in 1951-52 with the work of stonemasons Frank Balkovec and Frank Plati.

A coal chute opening in the rock-in-mortar guard rail along Lookout Street in West Trail frames a distinctive view of the city. The “new” bridge across the Columbia River leads from the downtown core to the East Trail residential area, Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital and J. L. Crowe Senior Secondary School.

Frank Santilli’s rock wall at 306 Rossland Avenue

On Rossland Avenue, next door to Star Grocery, is a yard upheld by an eye-catching wall of stone. The small granite pieces selected for this wall were meticulously carved and fitted by master stonemason Frank Santilli in 1965, two years before he retired from the City of Trail. It replaced a rock wall erected by Pete Vit, which was demolished when a waterline was installed through the Zanier property. The City required permission from Santina Zanier and her daughter Mary to remove the first wall. When Mary insisted that the wall must be replaced with another of stone, she was told, “These men are all old now, who is going to rebuild it?” The City called upon Frank Santilli.