M&STL Minnesota River Bridge
Former Minnesota River Crossing At Carver
Carver, Minnesota
| Name | M&STL Minnesota River Bridge |
| Built By | Minneapolis St. Louis Railway |
| Currently Owned By | Carver and Scott Counties |
| Length | 680 Feet |
| Width | 1 Track |
| Height Above Ground | 27 Feet Estimated |
| Type | Deck Plate Girder with Trestle approach |
| Date Built | 1917, Previous bridges built 1898 and 1871 |
| Traffic Count | 0 Trains a Day, Bridge is removed |
| Current Status | Removed |
| Date Removed | August-December 2011 |
| Demolisher | Mike Howard of Mike's Excavating |
| MSTL Bridge # | 22 |
In 1871, the Minneapolis and Saint Louis (MSTL) began building a line from Minneapolis to Albert Lea.
Along the way, they had to cross the Minnesota River. But before they could do that, they had to go through a treacherous stretch between Eden Prairie and Chaska. The Minnesota River bluffs are very steep. They had 2 high trestles, each over 100 feet high and 2,000 feet long. There were several other trestles along the way, spanning Bluff Creek and Riley Creek.
There was a bridge in Carver where it crossed the Minnesota River. It was a wooden swing bridge. It was complete near December 1871. The stones for the piers came from the Louisville Quarry, just south of Carver. All of these bridges, along with the line were designed by John Lundberg, a relatively unknown bridge designer. He also designed the Hastings Dakota line.
In 1898, a new bridge was build using the same piers as before. It was a Steel Swing bridge.
John Lundberg designed it. In 1901, it was announced that the MSTL wanted to redo part of the line between Eden Prairie. John Lundberg was named chief engineer for this project. What he decided was a line lower in the bluffs. And so Chaska hill was born in 1901. Trains operated regularly while the MSTL dumped almost $4,000,000 into the new line. Between Present day Flying Cloud Drive and Present day Pioneer Trail, the rail beds were supported by a cement viaduct. The limestone bluffs were chiseled into, and a viaduct was built. After that, a large tunnel was built at Bluff Creek. This tunnel consists of stone blocks. There were more minor culverts built for small creeks. The ballast was put in the viaduct, and then ties and rails were installed. The viaduct provided an advantage. It has a drainage system, allowing water to drain into culverts and off the bluffs. The new route cut down the grades and made the route quicker. The new route was considered the most magnificent piece of engineering in the state of Minnesota. The old line was destroyed, and ballast, rails and ties were reused. Some trestle bents found there way on to other trestles.
In late October 1916, as the United States’ entry into World War I was becoming more imminent, officials from the U. S. War Department, looking at U. S. infrastructure, met with the Minneapolis-St. Louis Railway to discuss the condition of the Minnesota River crossing bridge at Carver.
A few years earlier the bridge was deemed unsafe, and it was decided that the swing bridge that once allowed steamboats to pass was no longer necessary. Permission was granted to build a new flat bridge over the Minnesota River at the existing location, tearing down the old steel swing bridge. With the U. S. officially entered into World War I, in September 1917 a crew of 75 men began tearing down the old bridge, while saving some of the solid stone piers for use in the new bridge. In November 1917 a $15,000 contract was let for the steel for the bridge. The new bridge would continue to have trestle framing at the bridge ends. New piers were built. The second and second to last piers were capped with cement. New cement piers were added. There were trestle approaches, with several deck girder spans.
In 1926, a bridge was built over the once busy Main Street.
In 1941, The United States joined World War II. A local lifelong rail fan, whose dad was the station master at Carver, remembers the troops coming from Minneapolis. (Chaska Herald Interview)
In 1955, the MSTL began looking for a partner to merge with. To get attention, they replaced all of the old trestles on the 1st and second subdivisions.
In 1960, the MSTL was purchased by the Chicago Northwestern (CNW). CNW said that it was looking to abandoned the secondary Morton Sub. Through the 70’s and 80’s, this line saw 1 or 2 trains a day.
In 1990, it became increasingly obvious that this line was going to be abandoned. In 1991, tracks between the United Sugars plant and Minneapolis were torn out. Almost immediately this line, along with the long abandoned Morton sub was purchased by the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority. Trains continued to operate between Merriam and Chaska. A trail was built on both the lines, and it was stated that in 2016, a LRT would be installed.
In March 2007, a 150 foot curved trestle built by CNW south of Carver collapsed sending 3 cars into the river. In 2008, the rest of the line was abandoned. After that, it was announced the Carver Bridge would be destroyed, due to log jam troubles. All other bridges and trestles would be preserved. In September 2010, Carver and Scott Counties purchased the line from United Sugars to Merriam.
In 2013, the plans are to have a trail running from the existing end, around chaska on the levys, to Athletic Park and to Carver. The scott county side trail will likley be done around the same time. A new bridge will be build over the Minnesota River.
There is still a possibility of the trail going through Chaska.
On the week of July 10th, 2011 Union Pacific began removing rails, ties and almost everything else. Almost every thing was remopved, all except for the rail beds and the bridges.
04/14/12
This spectacular bridge was one of my favorites, and was a favorite among locals. The bridge was well known by most people in the area.
I will miss the bridge I remember from my childhood, the days from my first railroad bridge photos and from the days where I would come down here weekly to see it.
Perhaps this bridge was just cool, or perhaps it was sentimental that I was there in it's last days.
History
Well, the first bridge here was a wooden swing bridge. This bridge was flooded something
awful in 1881, but survived until 1898 when it was replaced by a bridge with a swing span that was not unlike the Redstone Bridge, near New Ulm.
Then it appeared to have trestle approach, but also a pony truss span, supported by trestle bents underneath. A very interesting design.
Lets face it, this bridge was built as a quick fix to the damaged 1898 bridge, which was replaced because of World War I.
The center pier was removed, the stone piers capped with cement and 5 new concrete piers were built. One on the outsides of the stone piers, and 3 between.
Then 6 deck plate girder spans were rested on these piers, and trestle approaches built, back when the mainstreet bridge was connected.
As great and sturdy as this bridge looked, it had MANY underlying problems that were discovered when it was being taken down by Mike Howard of Mike's Excavating. We will get to those probems a little later.
The bridge designer was fired soon after because it was built so poorly. The new concrete piers never had any rebar because the rebar was stolen. Instead, wooden pilings held the piers into the river. Rail was used to support the pier.
Also, the interior bracing was 3/4" instead of the normal 1 1/2". Bolts were put in upside down, and pilings were only dug a few feet, instead of the normal 20'.
Dispite these problems, the bridge stood proud, seeing as many as 15 trains a day at times.
After the CNW purchased the M&STL, the bridge never receieved much maintnance, although it was pointed out that the stone piers were regrouted around 1985.
After the floods of 1991, the bridge began really shifting and moving.
It was really not noticable until after 2006, when it was noticed that pier #6 had appeared to have sunk about a foot.
Although the actual problem was piers 5 and 7 had been scoured out, and the pilings had raised a bit.
After the battle of the historic status of the structure, it was determaned the bridge must come down.
This bridge was situated on a curve on the river. This means that logs would get caught in the closly spaced piers, creating massive log jams.
This bridge also leaned because of the log jam. In the fall of 2011, the water was about 2" on the girders on the upstream side, but nearly 1' on the downstram side.
Demolition
After being tipped off about the removal of the rails, I went down to carver in mid July 2011.
Because the rail removal crew was too scared to go out and remove the rails on this bridge, Mike had to.
While removing the rail, water pressure from the water that was very high at that point caused 4 spans of trestle on the south approach to collapse.
Soon after, a huge machine came out and drilled holes in all 7 piers for dynamite.
After water had gone down, Mike began removing the 6th DPG span. He would strip off the ties, cut out the interior bracing with a cutting torch and drop the bracing to the river. Then he would proceed to cut the big girders loose, pushed them over, then attaching a zip line to them, pulling them off the pier, and into the river. They would be pulled out with a bulldozer and brought up on shore, where they would be cut into 2 pieces, and hauled to a pile.
Mike repeated this for 5 more spans. Most went trouble free until he had a little whoops where the zip line snapped with a girder from span #4 still in water.
That girder sat down there until it was reattached by divers, and pulled out before span #1 came down.
After the girders were out, the north approach was pulled out by stripping off the ties, unbolting the stringers, and cutting the pilings.
Then came the interesting part. I was playing football with friends when I heard a big bang and saw a cloud of dust coming from the general location of Carver.
I immediatly knew that the first pier had been blown up. In order that the piers were blown up:
1
7
6
5
4
3
2
After the piers were gone, then mike started on the south approaches, which he did the same method for.
The difference was the 4th and 5th approach spans collapsed with his F-150 on them. Everything was later cut, and it was regraded.
Then the pieces of the pier were picked out of the river, and thrown up against the river banks. The log jam was loosened and everything was finished up. The final work was done around December 26th.
Problems
Among the things noted about the bridge during its demolition were a number of things.
-All 6 main spans had holes for plates, but were pulled off at an earlier date
-The pilings were all too small, and rotted
-The 5 concrete piers had no rebar, and were held in by pilings that were very shallow
-Many bolts were upside down, and not put in properly
-The bracing of the main spans was nearly 1/2 as thick as it should have been
-Piers 5, 6 and 7 were scoured the worst
-The bridge had shifted within the last 20 years
Unfortunatly the bridge did come down, and I think most everyone was upset by that.
The bridge would have been better if the swing pier never had been removed, and big stationary spans were put in instead, like the BNSF Bridge At Grand Forks
But what is done is done, and cannot be reversed. A big trail bridge will take over this area soon, so stay tuned for that.
The photos above are looking from the ice when the bridge was still standing and the bridge site in late December 2011.
Pages related to this bridge (please note that none of these pages are open yet)
Photos
The photos above and below are from my first visit in 2009, from downstream
The photo above is looking south along the bridge. The photo below was looking at the datestamp on a capped bridge pier.
The photo above is looking at a plate for a kid who drownd near this bridge. The photo below is looking south across the bridge.
The photo above is a cropped copy of a photo of the 1898 bridge from 1910. The photo below is in November 1871, 140 years before those piers finally came down.
The photo above is looking at the south approaches. The photo below is looking south across the mainstreet bridge AND the main bridge.
The photo above is looking south across the bridge. The photo below is looking at the north approaches.
The photo above is looking from the south bank. The photo below is looking at the south approaches.
These next 4 photos were donated by Vern Wigfield
The photo above is looking at the bridge around 1955. The photo below is looking south across the bridge.
The photo above is looking at a typical log jam in the late 1950's. The photo below is looking south across the bridge.
The photo above is looking at the south abutment. The photo below is looking at the abandoened railroad.
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LAST UPDATED: 3:07 PM 1/2/2012
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