Crosscut Films

08/21/2026

Okay, this is a big one.

I just received a huge batch of scanned bridge records from SARM, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around what’s in them.

There are construction photos. Inspection photos. Photos stretching from the 1920s through the 2000s. There are even photos from around 1915–1917 of some of the old wooden bridges that Saskatchewan’s concrete bowstring bridges eventually replaced in the 1920's and 1930's.

And there are construction photos of bowstring bridges that don’t even exist anymore.

Not one or two photos, either. In some cases there are entire sequences showing these bridges being built.

I’ve spent the last little while scrolling through them with my mouth hanging open.

For "The Last Bowstrings", this is pure gold.

A huge part of this project has been trying to reconstruct the story of these bridges from old records, maps, photographs and what still survives on the landscape today. Suddenly I have access to images that can actually show some of that history unfolding.

There is going to be a LOT to go through and it's gonna take me a couple days, but some of these photographs are ABSOLUTELY going into the film.

A VERY big thank you to Alexander Udey and Daniel Segal at SARM for opening up these records to me and helping me preserve a piece of Saskatchewan history that very easily could have remained buried in a filing cabinet.

08/20/2026

A little good news / bad news update on "The Last Bowstrings".

The good news: the film is coming together extremely well.

Principal photography is essentially complete, the research has gone much deeper than I ever expected, and I’m now well into the edit, along with the maps, graphics and archival sequences that will help tell the larger story.

I’m also going to use the extra time to get some additional fall and winter footage. For a film about bridges that have stood through nearly a century of Saskatchewan weather, I think seeing them through different seasons will add a lot.

I’m also hoping to arrange some local screenings here in Saskatchewan once the film is finished, particularly in communities connected to the bridges and their history.

The bad news: if you were expecting to watch it online this fall, you’re probably going to have to wait a little longer.

I’ve decided to hold back the digital release of "The Last Bowstrings" until after its film festival run.

I’m planning to submit it to a number of festivals, including the Yorkton Film Festival and the Architecture & Design Film Festival, with a few other Canadian festivals also on the list.

That means the completed film will likely be seen first at festivals and, hopefully, at some Saskatchewan screenings before it gets its full online release.

It wasn’t really part of the original plan, but as the project has developed, I think it deserves the chance to have that kind of run before I put it online.

The eventual digital release will still include the full-length "The Last Bowstrings", followed by the three individual chapters for people who prefer to watch it that way.

So, good news: I’m giving myself the time to make this the film I want it to be, and hopefully give people a chance to see it on a big screen.

Bad news: you may have to wait a little longer to see it from your couch.

I think the wait will be worth it.

08/07/2026

Most of my history videos are around 10–12 minutes long, but I’m curious about something.

When you click on a video that interests you and see the runtime, at what point do you think:

“Ain’t nobody got time for that.” 😆

15 minutes?
20 minutes?
30 minutes?
45 minutes?
An hour?

Or if the subject grabs you, does the runtime really matter?

08/07/2026

A little bit of sad news.

Signature Developments has announced that the historic bridge south of Prince Albert will be demolished after a structural review determined it is unsafe and no longer practical to preserve.

What really hits me is that their original plan was actually to keep the bridge as a heritage feature in the development. Unfortunately, deterioration has apparently reached the point where that’s no longer possible.

This is exactly why I started documenting Saskatchewan’s bowstring bridges. These structures can seem permanent right up until the day they aren’t.

I’m very glad I was able to photograph and film this one while it was still standing, but it’s hard not to feel a little sick seeing another one added to the list of bridges we’ve lost.

At least in this case, the developer says a commemorative monument will be installed nearby and the area will be developed as a public park recognizing the bridge’s history.

Another reminder that if we want a record of these places, sometimes the time to document them is now.

08/05/2026

Kind words from a fellow explorer!

Besides walking, I (we),need to drive to most of our locations to walk. And other times I like to travel down some of the old highways and even a number of grid roads to explore things off the beaten path. You come across old towns, abandoned farms and cemeteries etc.. An interesting project has come up just recently with Scotty Woroniuk and Crosscut Films. If you have been following my page you will see that I shared his story about bridges in our province and I for one am looking forward to see the story he is putting together, very cool. Check it out. So hats off to him on the project. With that keep exploring, stay safe and be kind to each other.

08/05/2026

Thanks to Alyssa Rudolph at BattlefordsNow for reaching out about my little project.

https://battlefordsnow com/2026/08/04/its-not-just-a-piece-of-engineering-documentary-highlights-saskatchewan-bowstring-bridges/

(Add the "dot" before the "com" to read the article on their website - story text below)

By Alyssa Rudolph
LOCAL HISTORY
‘It’s not just a piece of engineering’: Documentary highlights Saskatchewan bowstring bridges
Aug 4, 2026 | 4:45 PM

What began as an appreciation for a distinctive piece of Saskatchewan engineering has become a race to preserve a disappearing part of the province’s history.

Scott Woroniuk, a filmmaker with Crosscut Films, is producing The Last Bowstrings: History of Saskatchewan’s Bowstring Arch Bridges, a documentary exploring the concrete bridges that once dotted Saskatchewan’s rural landscape.

Woroniuk said his fascination with the bridges began with his father, who had a deep knowledge of the province’s lesser-known history.

“I was attracted to them simply because they were so Saskatchewan,” he said. “And also you just had that really graceful arch that you didn’t see anywhere else on the Prairies.”

The project was partly inspired by the disappearance of Saskatchewan’s grain elevators, structures that once seemed permanent before vanishing from the landscape. He believes the province’s bowstring bridges are reaching a similar point.

Of the 97 built across Saskatchewan, only 18 still carry traffic. Another 19 remain standing after being bypassed by newer roads or road realignments, while the rest have been demolished.

The bridges once stretched across much of the province, from the Carlyle area in the southeast to Turtleford in the northwest, and from Maple Creek and Piapot in the southwest to Tisdale in the northeast.

To document those that remain, Woroniuk has travelled more than 3,600 kilometres, filming every surviving bowstring bridge to create a visual record before more are lost.

“I don’t want people looking back maybe decades from now and wishing somebody had documented them while they were still here,” he said.

He has also been searching for historic photographs, particularly images taken during construction, though he said those have been difficult to find despite extensive research at the Provincial Archives in Regina.

The documentary will be released on YouTube in three parts this fall. The first installment examines why the bridges were built, where they were located and how they were constructed. The second explores why so many disappeared, while the third focuses on the historic Borden Bridge over the North Saskatchewan River.

“From the time it was built, it was the longest concrete bowstring arch bridge in North America. Generally, bowstrings were just meant for small prairie crossings, but this was taken to a completely other level.”

“It’s not just a piece of engineering,” Woroniuk said. “It’s got some grace and some style to it.”

As filming continued, Woroniuk said the project evolved beyond documenting engineering and architecture. People began sharing the memories they associated with the bridges, stories of family visits, road trips and the familiar landmarks that signalled they were almost home.

“People would say, ‘When I saw such and such a bowstring, I knew we were getting close to grandma and grandpa’s place,’ or ‘I knew we were almost home,’” he said. “It became less about engineering and architecture than it was about how these bridges still keep Saskatchewan tied together, even if it’s just through memory.”

--

08/04/2026

Thanks to CTV Saskatoon for the interest in my little project!!

A Saskatoon photographer is working to preserve the history of some...

08/04/2026

Thanks to Hallee Mandryk, Matt Young, Rhonda Nye and CTV News Saskatchewan for taking an interest in my little project!! 👏

https://www.ctvnews ca/saskatoon/article/sask-man-aims-to-preserve-history-of-bowstring-bridges/

(Add the "dot" back in after "news" to see story on the CTV site)

Story text:

Scott Woroniuk recalls having an interest in Saskatchewan’s history and landmarks from a young age. He shared that his father often turned road trips into history lessons, and those lessons stuck.

“My dad had a really encyclopedic knowledge of Saskatchewan. And as we travel across the province, he would always tell me, ‘Oh, this happened here, this happened there, this used to be over there.’ ... it was about the smaller, little-known stories and every time we would travel somewhere, he had something to say,” Woroniuk said.

During those road trips, one sight in particular caught Woroniuk’s attention: bowstring bridges.

Named for their bow-like (as in bow and arrow) appearance, this style of bridge was common in Saskatchewan’s early days. Woroniuk is now in the process of making a documentary to tell the story of these unique structures.

"These bridges tell the story about when Saskatchewan was young, because the province was only 20 years old when they started building this road program,” Woroniuk said.

“And because of the grid road system, they had to build so many bridges.”

Bowstring bridges were quite common when Saskatchewan was first establishing itself as a province. Woroniuk shared that after a trip to the Provincial Archives, he counted 97 bowstrings bridges built at one point or another throughout Saskatchewan’s history.

But now, Woroniuk said only 18 out of those 97 bridges still carry traffic. Furthermore, only 19 additional bridges are even still standing, with bypasses built to take traffic a different way.

Though once common, Woroniuk said bowstring bridges were unable to keep up with safety requirements as well as the stress of modern, heavy-duty machinery.

"They were too narrow to allow modern plows and that sort of thing to travel. And most of the ones in the southeast were taken out because they couldn’t support the width of the weight of all the oil equipment,” he said.

Over the past three years, Woroniuk travelled more than 3,600 kilometres across the province to document every bowstring bridge that still stands.

“A lot of the bridges – there are no old pictures of. There were no new pictures of [them] because when the bridges were taken out or replaced, there was no ceremony, there was no fanfare, there was no press release, Woroniuk said.

“They were just an old bridge that had to get taken out or replaced. But now people are realizing that these bowstring arches all over the province are just something that’s a little special and a little Saskatchewan.”

While Woroniuk looks forward to telling the architectural side of the story in his documentary, he said the most meaningful part of the process has been learning more about the impact bowstring bridges have had on people’s lives in the province.

“It was the memories that were attached to them like, ‘Oh, I remember that when we crossed over this bridge by this town, it meant we were getting close to Grandma and Grandpa’,” he said.

“[Or] ‘I remember we used to go berry picking by this bridge’ ... it’s not so much the bridges, it’s the memories that people have attached to them.”

Woroniuk shared that his goal is to help preserve a piece of Saskatchewan’s history through his film.

“My hope is not only will people enjoy watching and learning about them, but at some point, my work might be able to be used as a reference for somebody looking 30, 40, 50, 70 years [from now] that I did manage to visually document every surviving bowstring bridge across the province,” Woroniuk said.

Through his production company, Crosscut Films, Woroniuk plans to release the documentary, titled The Last Bowstrings: The Story of Saskatchewan’s Historic Bowstring Bridges in three parts via his YouTube channel in the fall.

The filmmaker shared that he has also been in contact with the Architectural + Design Film Festival in Winnipeg to hopefully showcase the project.

Hallee Mandryk
Videojournalist - CTV News Saskatoon"

07/17/2026

Three thousand kilometres.

That's what this documentary has taken so far, just to capture the principal photography.

Over the past ten days I've crossed eastern, southern and southwestern Saskatchewan, filming these remarkable bowstring bridges wherever they're still standing. Some are still carrying traffic. Others sit quietly at the end of abandoned roads, slowly becoming part of the landscape again.

There are only seven bridges left to film on the northeast swing before I turn my attention to the Borden Bridge, which deserves several shoot days all its own.

It's been dusty roads, early mornings, late nights, 20 hour days, and more gravel than I care to think about... but every bridge has added another piece to the story.

This isn't just becoming a documentary about old bridges.

It's becoming a documentary about Saskatchewan.

07/14/2026

Combining work and.... work.

Departing today for a corporate shoot near Esterhazy tomorrow at a different location of a long time client.

On the way down, I have the opportunity to do more principal photography for my bowstring arch documentary, then the corporate shoot all day tomorrow, then taking a day to shoot more bridges from the Manitoba border along the Qu'Appelle Valley to almost Regina.

Friday, I hope to finish the documentary principal photography with the north and northeast sections of the province.

Gonna be a busy week and I hope you have a good one too!