- Prior to 1879: 3 miles completed from Tama to Toledo, Iowa by the Toledo and Northwestern Railway
- 1880: 83 miles completed from Toledo to Webster City, Iowa by the Toledo and Northwestern Railway
- 1881: 15 miles completed from Jewell to Stratford, Iowa by the Toledo and Northwestern Railway
- 1882: 43 miles completed from Stratford to Lake City, Iowa by the Toledo and Northwestern Railway
- 1886: 15 miles completed from Lake City to Wall Lake, Iowa by the Toledo and Northwestern Railway
- 1890: T&NW purchased by Chicago & North Western Railway
- 1969: Eldora to Lawn Hill segment abandoned
- 1972: Farnhamville to Carnarvon segment abandoned
- 1976: Harcourt to Gowrie segment abandoned
- 1976: Conrad to Eldora segment abandoned
- 1978: Stratford to Dayton segment abandoned
- 1981: Jewell to Stratford segment abandoned
- 1981: Tama to Gladbrook segment abandoned
- 1981: Ellsworth to Lawn Hill segment abandoned
- 1984: Dayton to Harcourt segment abandoned
- 1984: Gladbrook to Conrad segment abandoned
- 1995: Chicago & North Western purchased by Union Pacific Railroad
- 2006: Jewell to Ellsworth segment abandoned
- 1995-present: Union Pacific operates a branch line from Gowrie to Farnhamville
- 2013-present: Jewell to Ellsworth segment is a trail
09/09/21
This large deck girder bridge carries the JewEllsworth Trail across the South Skunk River, just outside of the town of Ellsworth.
Sitting along IA-175, the large deck girder crosses the river an impressive height above the river. The stone substructures of the bridge are rather large, carrying the deck girder spans.
After sitting abandoned for several years, the bridge was turned to a trail, which opened in 2016.
Historic photo of the bridge, with credit to PhotoLibrarian on Flickr, used with Creative Commons permission.
The author has rated this bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.
The photo above is an overview of the bridge. It can be accessed from the parallel highway.
| Upstream | Headwaters in Hamilton County |
| Downstream | UP S. Skunk River Bridge (Ames) |