RCP&E Boxelder Creek Bridge

Name	RCP&E Boxelder Creek Bridge Chicago & North Western Railway Bridge #H-225
Built By	Chicago & North Western Railway
Currently Owned By	Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad
Superstructure Contractor	Unknown
Substructure Contractor	Unknown
Length	254 Feet Total, 127 Foot Spans
Width	1 Track
Height Above Ground	20 Feet (Estimated)
Superstructure Design	Quadrangular Lattice Through Truss
Substructure Design	Concrete
Date Built	c. 1915 Using Spans Fabricated c. 1880
Original Location	Unknown
Traffic Count	2 Trains/Day (Estimated)
Current Status	In Use
Chicago & North Western Railway Bridge Number	H-225
Significance	High Significance
Documentation Date	7/16/2017

In 1885, the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Rail Road Company (FE&MV) began construction on a 240 mile railroad line, extending from Valentine, Nebraska to Rapid City, South Dakota. Work would be completed in 1886. The following year, an additional 30 miles would be constructed from Rapid City, to Whitewood, South Dakota. An additional 21 miles would be constructed to Belle Fourche, South Dakota in 1890. The FE&MV would be reorganized in 1891, and sold to the Chicago & North Western Railway (C&NW) in 1903. The C&NW had constructed and acquired a large number of railroad lines throughout the Midwest, and this line was one of the westernmost lines.

With the discovery of high quality bentonite nearby, the line would be extended 18 miles to Colony, Wyoming in 1948. This line served as a secondary route for the C&NW, connecting numerous industrial and agricultural branches in western South Dakota. In 1995, the line between Chadron and Colony would be sold to the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad (DM&E). The DM&E would be purchased by Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) in 2008. In 2014, the DM&E entered into an agreement with the Genesee & Wyoming owned Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad (RCP&E) to sell 670 miles of track. Today, RCP&E operates the segment between Chadron and Colony as the Black Hills Subdivision.

Located northwest of Rapid City in the town of Black Hawk, this lattice through truss bridge crosses Boxelder Creek. The previous bridge at this location was likely a timber trestle. In approximately 1915, the bridge was rebuilt with a pair of secondhand 127-foot quadrangular lattice through truss spans, set onto concrete substructures. These spans utilize a curved lattice portal, typical of early generation spans built for the C&NW between 1880 and 1884. Numerous examples of these spans were constructed for the C&NW, although relatively few survive. The quadrangular truss was popular with the C&NW, and many such spans during the 1880s and 1890s were built by the Lassig Bridge & Iron Works of Chicago. It is currently unknown where these spans may have come from, although a number of 127-foot spans from the early 1880s were replaced in Minnesota and Wisconsin during the late 1910s. Railroads often reused metal spans, as it helped to save costs on bridge. Overall, the bridge appears to be in fair to good condition, with no significant deterioration noted. The author has ranked this bridge as being highly significant, due to the old age and relocation history of these trusses.

RCP&E Boxelder Creek Bridge

Black Hawk, Pennington County, South Dakota