Little Falls Railroad Bridge (North)

Located on the north side of Little Falls, this unique through truss bridge is the northern crossing of the Mississippi River in the city. Originally built in 1891, the bridge originally featured a pair of identical 160-foot 6-panel pin connected Pratt through truss spans, set onto stone substructures. During a derailment in 1974, the eastern of the two spans was destroyed, and a secondhand c. 1900 160-foot 10-panel riveted Warren through truss was installed. It is currently unknown where this span was moved from, although it is possible it may have originally been on a line near Spokane, Washington.

Railroads often reused spans from other locations to save costs. Truss spans such as this were often constructed to cross larger bodies of water, and required more intricate engineering. Overall, the bridge appears to be in fair condition, with some deterioration to the substructure noted. The author has ranked this bridge as being regionally significant, due to the truss design.