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.
08/18/21
Located just east of Dassel, this four span concrete slab bridge crosses 730th Avenue.
Built in 1924, the bridge uses a standardized design. Four concrete slab spans are set onto concrete piers. These slabs are of standard length.
Bridges like this were commonly built to replace older wooden structures along mainlines.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in fair condition. Some deterioration has begun on the bridge.
The author has ranked the bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.
The photo above is an overview.