While many of the other railroads in the area had existed since the 1870s and 1880s, the Soo Line was late to the game. During the first decade of the 20th Century, the company built an extensive amount of both branch lines and mainlines throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota.
This route served as a primary east-west route, connecting to the main line between Minneapolis and Winnipeg at Thief River Falls, and the Minneapolis-Portal mainline at Kenmare.
In 1984, Canadian Pacific Railway took control of the Soo Line, and made it a full subsidiary in 1990. While the Soo Line name still existed, Canadian Pacific controlled operations of this route.
Despite being a significant connecting line, the Soo Line leased the route to the Northern Plains Railroad in 1997, who continues to operate this line. The only significant abandonment on this line a segment from Kramer to Bisbee, which was removed in 2009. Today, the portion from Thief River Falls to Fordville is known as the Devils Lake Subdivision.
06/26/21
Located just east of Ardoch, this large deck girder bridge crosses an unnamed inlet of Lake Ardoch, which is located just to the north.
Built in approximately 1905, the bridge originally consisted of three deck girders with trestle approaches. In 2003, the approaches were rebuilt with steel stringer spans. In addition, new piers were constructed for the girders.
It appears that the approaches are secondhand spans, likely from other replaced spans or branch lines that have been abandoned. A Soo Line herald can be seen on two of these spans.
This style bridge was commonly used on branch lines, where a larger span was required, but a permanent substructure was not. Oftentimes, these girder spans would be moved from a mainline to replace several trestle spans. It is unknown if that is the case here.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in excellent condition, with no major deterioration noted. Unfortunately, it is not possible to get closer to this structure.
The author has ranked this bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.
The photo above is an overview.