Soo Line High Bridge

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Soo Line High Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Soo Line High Bridge viewed from the south, on the Minnesota side of the river.
Nearest city:	Stillwater, Minnesota
Built/Founded:	1910
Architect:	C.A.P. Turner; American Bridge Company of Chicago
Added to NRHP:	August 22, 1977
NRHP Reference#:	77000056 [1]
MPS:	Washington County MRA (AD)
Governing body:	Canadian National Railway

The Soo Line High Bridge is a steel deck arch bridge over the St. Croix River between Stillwater, Minnesota and Somerset, Wisconsin. It was designed by bridge architect C.A.P. Turner and built by the American Bridge Company. The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The bridge was the second bridge on a Wisconsin Central Railway line that connected Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin with Minneapolis, Minnesota. The line was originally built in 1884. The crossing of the St. Croix River was difficult for the railway, since the original bridge across the river was very low and trains had to contend with a steep grade on either side of the river. This made it necessary to use helper engines and to make trains shorter. In 1909, the Wisconsin Central Railway built a higher bridge over the river. The bridge is 184 feet (56 m) above the river and 2,682 feet (817 m) long, with five steel arches towering above the river.^[2]

The Wisconsin Central Railway was leased by the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway in 1909. In 1961, the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway, Wisconsin Central Railway and the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway merged to form the Soo Line Railroad. After the Soo Line Railroad acquired the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, they shifted Chicago-Minneapolis traffic to that railroad's superior mainline. In 1987, the bridge and much of the Soo Line's track in Wisconsin became part of the new Wisconsin Central Railway.^[3] The Wisconsin Central was acquired by Canadian National Railway on January 30, 2001.^[4]

[edit] References

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Coordinates: 45°7′23″N 92°44′39″W / 45.12306, -92.74417