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Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1

Meade County, South Dakota
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Photos 

The Full Throttle Saloon Bridge is a tourist attraction.

Photo taken by James McCray

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Street View 

Description 

This bridge and another truss bridge (Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #2) apparently was relocated to the Full Throttle Saloon to be apart of its tourist attraction. The bridge was the old Bismarck Branch Road Bridge (http://bridgehunter.com/sd/butte/10395403/).

Facts 

Overview
Pennsylvania through truss bridge over the Full Throttle Saloon property on a stage and a bar
Location
Sturgis, Meade County, South Dakota
Status
Open to pedestrians
History
Built 1912 over Belle Fourche River on Bismarck Branch Road, but relocated to present location in 2008
Builder
- Canton Bridge Co. of Canton, Ohio
Design
Pennsylvania through truss
Also called
Bismarck Branch Road Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+44.41430, -103.45294   (decimal degrees)
44°24'51" N, 103°27'11" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
13/623168/4919053 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Fort Meade
Inventory number
BH 47904 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Built 1912 (524)
Built during 1910s (6,729)
Canton Bridge Co. (140)
Have street view (9,894)
Meade County, South Dakota (5)
Open to Pedestrians (2,084)
Owned privately (543)
 Pennsylvania truss (308)
Preserved (652)
South Dakota (424)
Sturgis, South Dakota (2)
Through truss (9,210)
Truss (23,574)

Update Log 

  • August 9, 2012: New photos from Nathan Holth
  • August 9, 2012: New photos from James McCray
  • June 23, 2011: Updated by James McCray: updated history
  • February 2, 2011: Updated by Matthew Lohry: Corrected bridge type: This is a Pennsylvania through truss.
  • February 2, 2011: New Street View added by James McCray
  • February 1, 2011: Added by James McCray

Related Bridges 

  • Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #2 (Parts reused in) - The Bismarck Bridge was a two-span bridge that was relocated and reused as two different structures.

Sources 

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Comments 

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted August 9, 2012, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

I added the excellent pre-relocation photos that Lou posted in the forum into the actual gallery for easier viewing.

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted November 26, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

These bridges are going to get some more attention since this bar will be on Tru TV. An episode apparently has someone attempting to jump off the bridge. http://www.trutv.com/shows/full_throttle_saloon/index.html

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted June 19, 2011, by Lou (wasta20 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Bismark Bridge in its original location...

View attachment #1 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 943 x 574 x 24, 1625622 bytes)

View attachment #2 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 880 x 588 x 24, 1552374 bytes)

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted June 19, 2011, by Lou (wasta20 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Bismark Bridge in its original location...

View attachment #1 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 943 x 574 x 24, 1625622 bytes)

View attachment #2 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 880 x 588 x 24, 1552374 bytes)

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted June 19, 2011, by Lou (wasta20 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Bismark Bridge photos in origial location

View attachment #1 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 943 x 574 x 24, 1625622 bytes)

View attachment #2 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 880 x 588 x 24, 1552374 bytes)

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted June 19, 2011, by Lou (wasta20 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Photos of the Bismark Bridge in its location...now a attraction at Full Throtle.

View attachment #1 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 870 x 533 x 24, 1392250 bytes)

View attachment #2 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 911 x 533 x 24, 1458342 bytes)

View attachment #3 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 884 x 510 x 24, 1352574 bytes)

View attachment #4 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 898 x 590 x 24, 1590694 bytes)

View attachment #5 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 889 x 615 x 24, 1640874 bytes)

View attachment #6 (PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 930 x 597 x 24, 1666878 bytes)

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted June 19, 2011, by Lou (wasta20 [at] gmail [dot] com)

The two sections of bridge when together were called the Bismark Bridge. It was built in 1912 by the Canton Bridge Co. The two sections were a total of 274'. It was originally located 6 miles east of a tiny town called Vale, SD It was sold and moved to its present location (30 miles) in Aug.2008. Was on the National Historic Register.

The bridge plate is still in place. The deck is wooden planks. It was closed for safety reason and a new concrete one built beside it in summer of 2007.

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted June 16, 2011, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

We'd love to see these Lou!

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted June 16, 2011, by Lou Merchen (wasta20 [at] gmail [dot] com)

I have several photos of the Bismark Bridge when it was in its origianl location.

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted February 2, 2011, by Matthew Lohry

Makes me want to don a Harley and take a ride!! :>)

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted February 2, 2011, by Kim Harvey

I wished more private business owners would follow this example.

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted February 1, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

An excellent example of how creative thinking can lead to a unique adaptive reuse for a historic bridge.

I found several Flickr photos of higher resolution for both of these Saloon bridges, but all of them are "All Rights Reserved" and not allowed for reuse as such, but I did post links to them in the External Links section for each bridge.

Full Throttle Saloon Bridge #1
Posted February 1, 2011, by James McCray (jamesinslocomb [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Now here is an interesting way to preserve a bridge--relocate it to a biker bar and use it as a stage and a bar! Now, this bridge and the other one had to be relocated to the saloon, but, obviously, the bridges were in service somewhere else. Does anyone have a clue? I would like to know the history of these bridges.