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Clairemont Avenue Railroad Bridge

Eau Claire County, Wisconsin

Photos 

Clairemont Ave Railroad Bridge

Looking from Clairemont Ave

Photo taken by John Marvig in May 2012

Enlarge

BH Photo #231996

Map 

Description 

From south to north, a detailed description and history. Date comes from the Milwaukee Road Archives and the Milwaukee Central Library

1-19' Concrete Slab (Built 1911)

1-127'9" Pin Connected Pratt Through Truss, Relocated from the Minnesota River Crossing at Chaska, Minnesota in 1911, originally built 1886 to cross the Zumbro River, at Kellogg, Minnesota.

2-142' Pin Connected Pratt Through Trusses, relocated from Des Moines River crossing at Ottumwa in 1911, originally built 1887.

1-134'6" Pin Connected Warren Through Truss, relocated from Madrid, Iowa crossing of the Des Moines River in 1911, originally built 1888

7-14' Timber Trestle spans, built 1969

Facts 

Overview
4 Span Through Pratt Truss Bridge on Chippewa River State Trail
Location
Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin
Status
Open to pedestrians
History
Built 1911 using relocated trusses, turned into a trail sometime in the 1990s
Builder
- Union Bridge Co. of Buffalo, New York & Athens, Pennsylvania
Railroads
- Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (MILW; CMStP&P; CMStP)
- Rail-to-trail
Design
1 Concrete Slab Span
3 Pratt Truss Spans
1 Warren Through Truss
6 Spans Trestle
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 145.0 ft.
Total length: 670.0 ft.
Also called
Chippewa River State Trail - Chippewa River Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+44.79731, -91.52578   (decimal degrees)
44°47'50" N, 91°31'33" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/616600/4961491 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Eau Claire West
Inventory number
BH 47521 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

6-panel truss (546)
7-panel truss (342)
8-panel truss (347)
Beam (11,817)
Built 1911 (673)
Built during 1910s (8,713)
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (823)
Chippewa River (Wisconsin) (17)
Eau Claire County, Wisconsin (22)
Eau Claire, Wisconsin (12)
Open to pedestrians (3,508)
Owned by state (13,562)
Pin-connected (3,173)
Pratt through truss (4,568)
 Pratt truss (7,965)
Preserved (1,053)
Rail-to-trail (1,299)
Railroad (13,044)
Relocated (629)
Slab (1,508)
Span length 125-175 feet (3,754)
Through truss (12,857)
Timber stringer (3,333)
Total length 500-1000 feet (2,517)
Truss (29,369)
Union Bridge Co. (48)
Wisconsin (1,218)

Update Log 

  • May 6, 2016: New photos from John Marvig
  • August 18, 2015: Updated by John Marvig: added several build dates and original locations
  • August 10, 2012: Updated by John Marvig: Added categories "Railroad"
  • May 17, 2012: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Added category "Rail-to-trail"
  • May 16, 2012: New photos from John Marvig
  • May 13, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Removed category "Chicago, Milwaukee St. Paul and Pacific Railroad"
  • January 4, 2011: Added by James McCray

Related Bridges 

Sources 

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Comments 

Clairemont Avenue Railroad Bridge
Posted August 18, 2015, by John Marvig (marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Turns out the bridge does indeed have an interesting history. Spans came from Chaska, Minnesota; Ottumwa, Iowa and Madrid, Iowa. All were built between 1886 and 1888 at the original locations, and relocated here in 1911.

Clairemont Ave Railroad Bridge
Posted May 16, 2012, by John Marvig (johnmarvig [at] chaska [dot] net)

If you look closely, you can see that the piers were likley encased. From the top of the bridge you can see the stone...

Chippewa River State Trail Footbridge
Posted May 13, 2012, by Ed Hollowell (erhollowell [at] aol [dot] com)

It looks as if the piers were updated as well. From the photo they appear to be concrete which would date it from sometime about or after 1900. Cut stone was the standard in the 1880's.