This line also met up with an additional line, built 1892 that went to Lakota, IA.
In 1900, the line was extended further, going to Bricelyn, Minnesota. Here it met up with a Chicago Northwestern line that was built the year before. The CNW line went to Mason City, Iowa and Fairmont, Minnesota.
Rock Island had possetion of this line for a long time. It was finally cut in 1980, when the Rock Island was having bad financial trouble. The Chicago Northwestern came into possession of this line, along with several others in Iowa and Minnesota.
The Chicago Northwestern worked hard to fix up some of the infrastructure, including a bridge over the East Fork of the Des Moines River near Armstrong, where they replaced over half the bridge. There were also many other projects.
The Chicago Northwestern Railway was purchased by Union Pacific in 1995. The Union Pacific
continues to operate this line with hardly any trains. Maybe one every couple weeks.
06/26/21
Located west of Armstrong, this bridge features a large deck truss span crossing the E. Fork Des Moines River.
Built in 1900 during the initial construction of the line, the main span of this bridge is a large riveted Double Intersection Warren Deck Truss. This span sits on concrete abutments, and was originally approached by wooden trestle.
In 1992, the bridge was rebuilt with new approaches. During the construction of these approaches, several random I-Beam spans were used from other locations. One span was built in 1948 by American Bridge Company.
The truss on this bridge also features some unique designs. Trusses like this were commonly used as pony trusses, but it was not uncommon for them to also be constructed as deck trusses. However, light spans like this commonly were built in the mid to late 1880s, although a 1900 build date would not be unheard of for this bridge.
If the main truss is indeed older than the 1900 erection date, it was constructed at another location. However, no proof of this can be found, as Rock Island bridge records are notoriously bad and difficult to find.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in good condition. Little deterioration can be found on the substructure.
The author has ranked this bridge as being moderately significant, due to the deck truss design. This is one of three similar trusses existing in Iowa.
| Upstream | Head at Okamanpeedan Lake |
| Downstream | UP E. Fork Des Moines River Bridge (Algona) |