By 1868, it was extended another 29 miles to Howard Lake, and 49 more miles to Willmar the following year.
In 1879, this segment of the StP&P was sold to the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway. The StPM&M had a considerable amount of trackage throughout Minnesota.
By 1890, the StPM&M became part of the Great Northern Railway. The collection of railroads dating back to the St. Paul & Pacific were primarily controlled by railroad magnate James J Hill.
Great Northern used this as a main line, with secondary connections to other points.
By 1970, the Great Northern merged with rival Northern Pacific and Chicago Burlington & Quincy to form Burlington Northern Railroad.
BN continued to use this as a mainline, supplementing other busy segments throughout the area.
In 1996, BN merged with Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to form BNSF Railway, the current owners of this line.
BNSF continues to operate this route with a fair amount of traffic. It is known as the Wayzata Subdivision.
06/26/21
This bridge is an example of substructures from a similar structure reused onto a new structure.
Built in 2006, this structure replaced a similar 4 span concrete slab. When the new superstructure was placed, it reused the older concrete piers.
The bridge has no other historical value, although is an interesting perspective on the condition of the former GN substructures.
The author has ranked this bridge as having no significance.
The photo above is an overview.