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CGW on Boom Island
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In 1901, the Wisconsin Central Railway (WC) began building a new railroad line to serve the logging industry at Boom Island, in Minneapolis. The line paralleled the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway (later Great Northern Railway) line, curved away at the East Channel bridge, followed the north edge of Nicollet Island, crossed a truss bridge to Boom Island, and terminated at Boom Island at an extensive facility, including a roundhouse and large yard. The line would be purchased by the Chicago Great Western Railway (CGW) in 1909, which was later purchased by the Chicago & North Western Railway in 1968. By the early 1970s, the line was no longer necessary, and it was removed between 1972 and 1979. Today, the portion along Nicollet Island is a trail, with the truss bridge to Boom Island restored for pedestrian use. The east channel bridge is abandoned, and there is no evidence there was ever railroad yards on Boom Island.
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