BNSF Pomme de Terre River Bridge (Middle)

In 1887, the Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company constructed a new railroad between the existing mainline at Benson, Minnesota and Watertown, South Dakota, a distance of 92 miles. Between 1887 and 1888, the Duluth, Watertown and Pacific Railway Company extended the line an additional 70 miles west from Watertown to Huron, South Dakota. The StPM&M came to control the DW&P in 1890. The StPM&M was controlled by James J. Hill, a railroad tycoon who wished to build a railroad network extending from Minnesota to the Pacific Coast. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, the StPM&M and DW&P acquired and constructed numerous new railroad lines throughout Minnesota. In 1907, the StPM&M would be sold to another Hill company, the Great Northern Railway (GN). GN operated this route as a secondary mainline, providing an important link for the agricultural areas it served to the markets of the Twin Cities. In 1970, GN merged with rival Northern Pacific Railway and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad to form Burlington Northern Railroad. In 1991, the portion of the line from Yale to Huron would be sold to the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad (DM&E). BN merged with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway in 1996 to form BNSF.  DM&E was purchased by Canadian Pacific Railway in 2008, which was in turn merged with Kansas City Southern Railway in 2023 to form CPKC. BNSF currently operates this route as the Watertown Subdivision, and CPKC operates the Yale Spur from Huron to Yale.