During 1838 and 1839 a wooden covered bridge was built across the Wabash River where the canal crossed the river at the town of Carrollton, and was called the Carrollton Bridge. A ferry boat was used to cross the river at this point before the bridge was built. This was claimed to be the first permanent bridge across the Wabash River in Indiana. The north abutment of the bridge was a part of the canal lock on the north bank of the river.
A tramroad built along the lower side of the bridge was used by the horses and mules to pull the canal boats across the river. Sometimes they were pulled into the river and drowned when the .current in the river was swift during floods.
At the insistent demand of the citizens of Logansport, a part of the covered bridge was built as a draw bridge so that steamboats might go up the river to Logansport. Only one steamboat used the draw bridge to go up the river, and it was wrecked near Logansport and did not return.
A storm on July 4, 1873 destroyed the covered bridge, and it' was replaced by an iron bridge with five spans.