MN&S - Wolf Creek Arch Bridge
Photo
Abandoned Concrete Arch
In the background
Photo taken by John Marvig in January 2012
BH Photo #240984
Facts
- Overview
- Closed-spandrel arch over Wolf Creek on Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern Railway
- Location
- Rice County, Minnesota
- Status
- Abandoned
- History
- Built 1912 for a planned line to Faribault, Minnesota; Never used
- Railroad
- - Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern Railway (MNS)
- Design
- Closed-spandrel arch
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +44.41414, -93.22675 (decimal degrees)
44°24'51" N, 93°13'36" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/481947/4917897 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Northfield
- Land survey
- T. 111 N., R. 20 W., Sec. 16
- Inventory number
- BH 53756 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- October 26, 2015: Updated by Luke: Added railroad info per research done by Clark
- October 4, 2012: New photo from John Marvig
- October 3, 2012: Added by Luke Harden
Sources
- Luke
- John Marvig - marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
Clark,
The Milwaukee Road line was built in 1865 by a predecessor, while the Rock Island line was built in 1901 by the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern. What I recall from my visit (nearly 4 years ago) was the ROW was utterly erased to the north from whatever the concrete structure carried.
However, this being said; a look at a 1951 aerial shows a clear railroad right of way on both sides of this bridges. Given the right of way, I am not certain this is Milwaukee Road. The stone arch appears to predate the BCR&N by a bit.
The other possibility would be that the bridge was part of the graded, but never built Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern expansion to Faribault, built and abandoned in 1921. Following the ROW, it appears to head north into Northfield and meet up with the MN&S line.
See the historic aerial below. Would be interested in further comment.
http://maps2.dnr.state.mn.us/airphotos/usda/wg/y1951/wg04h06...
An 1874 map shows one RR through Dundas: Minnesota & St. Paul RR
Maybe a site visit will tell more about an old RoW.
As far as I know, the Milwaukre Road and BCR&N (later RI) used the same track. However, I will take a look at this and maybe take a little trip down there. It would make sense, however the only issue is the difference in elevation between the two embankments. It's entirely possible and maybe likely that this is an old railroad bridge though.
I can't find any maps showing a road here. The 1960 quads show two tracks converging just south of present day 140th street. The 1960 Little Chicago quad shows parallel tracks; Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific on the west, and Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific on the east. I think it's likely this bridge was built for a railroad.
Yeah, I'm almost certain it would be old US-65 (the predecessor to MN-3). I will have to take a look on old maps to confirm for sure.
Was that an original hwy bridge into town? I've always been curious.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/mn/rice/bh53756/
Seeing the long view in the photo it looks as if the RoW curves a bit at the creek as if it is bypassing the bridge on the NW. I'm not sure what the exact timeline is for this location but I feel fairly comfortable saying this is a railroad bridge. Too far for me to run up to look but there might be some insight to be gained from looking closely at the two structures to get an idea of the relative ages. I doubt either is the original bridge from the 1870s.