Winona Rail Bridge (historical)

The Winona Rail Bridge was a swing bridge that spanned the Mississippi River between Winona, Minnesota, and Winona Junction in Buffalo, Buffalo County, Wisconsin. It was built to link the Winona and St. Peter Railroad with The La Crosse, Trempealeau & Prescott Railroad. Both became part of the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company[1] The swing span was removed, but the box girder portion of the bridge still extends from Latsch Island just downstream of the current Main Channel Bridge. Piers from the original 1871 bridge and the box girders are in the North Channel just downstream of the current North Channel Bridge.

Winona Rail Bridge
Coordinates44°03′24″N 91°38′19.8″W
CarriesChicago and North Western Railroad
CrossesMississippi River
LocaleWinona, Minnesota, Buffalo, Buffalo County, Wisconsin
Maintained byChicago and North Western Transportation Company
Characteristics
Designthrough-truss swing span
Total length2,735 feet (834 m)
Longest span356 feet (109 m)
History
Opened1871
Closed1977
Location
Valley of the Mississippi from Winona, circa 1898

History
See also: Winona and St. Peter Railroad

Temporary bridge

On December 29, 1870, the Mississippi River was bridged by the first Winona Rail Bridge, a temporary bridge built in 4 days that connected with the La Crosse, Trempealeau & Prescott Railroad.[1][2] The La Crosse, Trempealeau & Prescott, another enterprise of the C&NW, chartered to build from a point across the river from Winona to connect with the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad at Winona Junction in Wisconsin near La Crosse.[3] This connection allowed through railroad traffic from Chicago into Southern Minnesota, without having to ferry cars. It was the first train to cross the Mississippi above Dubuque, Iowa.

Swing bridge first day of operation incident

The permanent swing bridge was completed in May 1871. It partially collapsed when the bridge tender failed to secure the swing span on the first day of operation on May 26, 1871.[4] The bridge was rebuilt and was reopened for traffic on Jan. 16, 1872.[4]

Milwaukee Road

The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad would use this bridge to reach its track in Minnesota until the construction of the La Crosse Rail Bridge by 1876.[5][6][7]

Replacements

The swing span was replaced in 1899. The entire bridge was reconstructed by C&NW in 1928, replacing the through-truss approach spans with plate girder spans.

Retirement

The bridge was no longer used by 1977 and the swing span was removed in 1980.[8] The Winona Subdivision of the Union Pacific is reached by trackage rights over the La Crosse Rail Bridge.[9]

See also
  • Winona Green Bay and Western Rail Bridge (historical)

References
  1. Hubbard, Lucius F. (1908). Minnesota in Three Centuries: 1655-1908 1870. Publishing Society of Minnesota. pp. 359– – via Archive.org.
  2. "Throwback Thursday: In 1870, Winona built a rail bridge over the Mississippi in just 4 days". Winona Daily News. March 12, 2020. Reprint of an article that originally appeared on November, 11, 1936, in the Winona Republican-Herald, a predecessor of the Winona Daily News.
  3. Eben Douglas Pierce (1917). History of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin. Unigraphic. pp. 262– – via Google Books.
  4. Christenson, jerome - THURSDAY THROWBACK: Debacle at the swing bridge. Winona Daily News, January 26, 2016
  5. Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge (1919). History of Houston County, Minnesota. H. C. Cooper, Jr.
  6. Curt Trnka - Trained: For 140 years, Winona has lived on the rails Winona Daily News. Nov 13, 2011
  7. Railroad Gazette Volume 4. A.N. Kellogg, New York, Chicago, United States: Railroad gazette., 1872.
  8. Farrey, Karriann - Winona: Sites then and now Winona Daily News, September 29, 2018
  9. Railfan & Railroad. United States: Carstens Publications, 2001.
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