Carver at one time had two major railroad bridges, with this being the northern of the two structures.
The original structure was built in 1872, and replaced at least twice. The first bridge was a large wooden deck truss structure.
In the 1880s, it was replaced with a large wooden trestle, and a deck girder span was added from Bridge #A-158 (Rondout, IL).
By 1936, it was desired to build a new structure. The bridge was completely rebuilt with six secondhand deck girder spans, trestle approaches and wooden towers.
At the time of removal, the bridge consisted of the following spans:
3 span pile trestle (last renewed 1936)
1-47' fishbelly deck girder (Built Ca. 1900 at an unknown location)
1-33' deck girder (Built Ca. 1900 at an unknown location)
1-62' fishbelly deck girder (Built Ca. 1900 at an unknown location)
1-33' deck girder (Built Ca. 1900 at an unknown location)
1-60' fishbelly deck girder (Built Ca. 1900 at an unknown location)
1-33' deck girder (Built Ca. 1900 at an unknown location)
3 span pile trestle (last renewed 1953)
At some point, the deck girder spans were twinned, using four girders. It is unknown where these spans came from, and they may have come from nearby or far away.
The towers of this unique bridge were also unusual, using tension cables and timber posts.
In 1981, the bridge was removed due to liability issues. There was reportedly a push to preserve the structure, which inevitably fell through.
The bridge was notorious for snowmobiles, jeeps and other all-terrain vehicles crossing it after being abandoned.
If the bridge was still extant, the author would have given it a ranking of regional significance, due to the unique design and rather large scale for this area.
The photo above was taken by Vern Wigfield, and is looking west along the bridge.
Photos that made this page possible were contributed by Vern Wigfield (VW), John Hill (JH) and Carver on the Minnesota (*)