At St. Cloud, it connected to an existing mainline towards Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The line would be sold to the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway in 1883, who began their empire in Minnesota.
At the same time, the Eastern Railway Company of Minnesota continued from Hinckley and built into Superior, Wisconsin.
In 1890, both these companies would be consolidated into the Great Northern Railroad, a significant system in the northern states.
However, the portion from St. Cloud to Hinckley would become a major way to get goods to the Twin Ports from South Dakota and Iowa.
In 1970, the Great Northern merged with rival Northern Pacific and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy to form Burlington Northern.
In 1983, Burlington Northern abandoned a 45 mile section of track. Most of this road bed was sold to private owners, except for a section near Milaca.
In 1996, the Burlington Northern merged with Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to form BNSF Railway, who sold a portion from Brook Park to Mora to the St. Croix Valley Railroad.
In 2003, the Brook Park to Mora section was abandoned because of unsafe conditions at the Mud Creek Bridge near Quamba.
Today, the short stubs that remain include the Hinckley to Brook Park section, as well as a short section owned by Northern Lines in St. Cloud.
06/26/21
This bridge is a simply designed deck girder, reusing the substructures from an older bridge.
Built in 1941, the bridge consists of a pair of deck girder spans, set onto stone and concrete substructures.
Since abandonment, the bridge has been used as an unofficial trail bridge. Its current status is unknown after a fire on the deck in 2017.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in good condition.
The author has ranked the bridge as being minimally significant, due to the common design and newer age.
The photo above is an overview.