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 standard stone arch bridge crosses Sucker Creek between US-12 and Oliver Avenue, in Cokato.
Built in 1900, the bridge features a typical one span design. These types of stone arches were built in approximately 1900 for these routes, and are not as old as comparable structures on other railroads.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in good condition.
The author has ranked the bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.
The photo above is an overview.