The Kettle Valley Railway included a spur line stretching from Merritt to Spences Bridge. The rail bed is still intact, along with the original bridges.
This settlement was originally known as Cook's Ferry because from 1862 to 1866 Mortimer Cook operated a ferry for crossing the river. The ferry was replaced by a toll bridge built by Thomas Spence under government contract.[6]:251
In 1891, the subdistrict of Spences Bridge had a population of 307.[7]
In 1905, one of the worst landslides in BC history hit a First Nations village near Spences Bridge. The village was destroyed and 18 people were killed.[8][9]
On 1 January 2014, the old Spences Bridge, a one-lane steel truss bridge, was decommissioned and permanently closed to all pedestrian and vehicle traffic after 82 years of service. This was deemed necessary by British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure engineers due to the poor condition of the bridge.[10]
Spences Bridge's location is mountainous, with higher elevations part of the Interior Plateau. The east side of the Fraser here is part of the Clear Range, a mountainous southwards extension of the Fraser Plateau located in the angle of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers. Arthur Seat lies in that range on the west side of Spences Bridge, and was named by pioneer John Murray for Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland.[11]
Climate
Spences Bridge has a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classificationBSk). The climate is very dry and mild by Canadian standards, with an average annual precipitation of just 263.7mm (10.38in) and low average snowfall of 30.4cm (12.0in) per year.[12] Winters are short and moderately cold for usually brief periods and sunshine hours are very low for a couple of months, while summers are quite long, hot, sunny and dry – compared to the rest of Canada, albeit with comfortable nights. Like much of the lower-altitude valleys in the Thompson Nicola region, there are more days (on average approx. 40 days per year) when temperature exceeds 32°C (90°F) than remain below freezing.[12]
Spences Bridge recorded Canada's second highest temperature on June 29, 2021, when it reached 48.6°C (119.5°F). The record is second only to Lytton, which recorded 49.6°C (121.3 °F) on the same day. However, Lytton had 2 weather stations and one of them recorded a temperature 1°C (1.8°F) lower than the other at 48.6°C (119.5°F). The station that recorded the higher temperature was later deemed to be correct. Otherwise, Spences Bridge would have been tied with Lytton for the highest recorded temperature in Canada.
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