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Fairview-Cartwright Lift Bridge and Railroad Tunnel

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1913. South side of ND 200, over the Yellowstone River, 1 mile west of Cartwright
  • (Photograph by Steve C. Martens)

Built by the Great Northern Railway, the multiple-span, through-truss lift bridge spanning the Yellowstone River (visible from ND 200 crossing bridge) is a well-preserved example of early-twentieth-century railroad bridge engineering. The bridge replaced a ferryboat in the same location. Although river traffic had ceased long before construction, federal regulators deemed the Yellowstone to be a navigable waterway, necessitating a lift mechanism. Today, this is the lone vertical lift bridge in the state. The bridge connects with a curved tunnel as the railroad ascends the east bank into North Dakota. A gatehouse keeper stationed twenty-four hours a day at the east end of the bridge collected a small toll for raising the gate to allow automobiles and farm trucks to cross the planks on the same span that accommodated railroad trains.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Steve C. Martens and Ronald H. L. M. Ramsay
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Data

What's Nearby

Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center
Fort Buford State Historic Site

Citation

Steve C. Martens and Ronald H. L. M. Ramsay, "Fairview-Cartwright Lift Bridge and Railroad Tunnel", [Fairview, North Dakota], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/ND-01-MZ1.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of North Dakota

Buildings of North Dakota, Steve C. Martens and Ronald H. L. M. Ramsay. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2015, 152-152.

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