When the bridge was finished in 1897, this Great Northern Bridge was the first bridge across the harbor and bay, and it also carried wagon traffic. Note the deck stringers extend beyond the edges of the truss to cantilever the traffic decks. Traffic was moved to the Blatnik Bridge in 1961. Since the railroad quit using it before 1961, the remainder of the bridge was removed in 1971.
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| Circa 1913 Postcard via Bridge Hunter |
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| Bridges Now and Then posted A postcard showing Superior, Wisconsin-Duluth, Minnesota's, Interstate Bridge after being rammed by the steamer Troy, August 11, 1906. (Zenith City Press) Chris Nylander: The span in the foreground still stands and can be accessed on foot. |
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| Lyndon Hepokoski posted A photo of the Interstate Bridge between Duluth and Superior. Ryan Mihalak shared |
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| Lake Superior Railroad Museum posted While it is a short jaunt from Duluth, MN to Superior, WI today, it was quite the process prior to April 23, 1987 [1897]. Before the original Interstate Bridge connected the two cities travel required a ferry - something that was impossible to operate in the winter. The bridge connected Connor's Point in Wisconsin and Rice's Point in Minnesota. Rice's Point today is a popular spot to watch trains. Max Koehn: Now it seems the current blatnik bridge is also scheduled for replacement |
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| Les Wigg commented on the above post |
Attitudes toward safety were different back then. Notice that there are no handrails!
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| ForgottenMinesota and 7:47 "In the middle, a 485-foot steel truss swing span--the largest in the world at the time--was sandwiched in between two 325-foot steel humpback trusses." [This blog has two photos of the center span that was wrecked on Aug 11, 1906, because the bridge tender fell asleep and did not open the span for a 3,665-ton freighter. So the swing span is from 1906.] |
Same photo, but cropped differently.
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| Destination Duluth posted, at Facebook resolution The Interstate Bridge 1897-1961
Before the Interstate Bridge was built between Duluth and Superior in the late-1890s, the only way to get between the two cities was by ferry. Of course, ice often prevented the ferry from crossing in the winter. In 1894, the Duluth-Superior Bridge Company was incorporated with the purpose of building a bridge that connected Connors Point in Wisconsin to Rice's Point in Minnesota. Disagreements between the two cities delayed construction for months, and the bickering didn’t end once construction began. When the bridge opened on April 23, 1897, the first person to make the journey across the bridge found that the Superior side wasn't completed and was forced to turn around. In fact, the bridge wasn’t officially completed until July of that year.
interstate1890s-400x290.jpg
The Interstate Bridge was made up of long wooden trestles on each end. In the middle, a 485-foot steel truss swing span--the largest in the world at the time--was sandwiched in between two 325-foot steel humpback trusses. The swing span swiveled to allow shipping traffic to pass.
A toll was collected from everyone crossing the bridge: pedestrians and bicyclists paid five cents, wagons and carts were fifteen cents, and each head of cattle cost a dime. Travelers crossed using a platform that hung off of the western side of the structure. Two parallel railroad tracks running down the center of the bridge carried trains and trolleys. Eventually, the bridge was refitted for automobile traffic. The streetcar line was removed in 1938, and by 1949 only one railway track was in use.
Photo archive Duluth News Tribune
Read the rest of the story at https://forgottenminnesota.com/.../interstate-bridge-in...
Dan Jurek: I had to take a 2nd look to figure out what the oxen was pulling with the bent wheel. It appears to be a plow, but not sure. The lady at the reins is dressed in her Sunday finest. Maybe that was the only way for her to get to town or church. Neat photo - Thanks for posting |
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| Don Jonson Sr. posted DST bus crossing the old 'Interstate Bridge'. October 22, 1961. [Note that handrails have been installed. But I wonder if pedestrians were no longer allowed. As today, cars had replaced walking.] |
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| Dyna Mike posted This is looking east, the nearest bridge is the Rice's point bridge. It had 2 swing spans. The Interstate bridge is in the background. John Soderberg: I used to walk out to this bridge to take guitar lessons from the bridge operator. [Note the Interstate span is already closing back into the closed position.] |
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| Dyna Mike posted The Interstate bridge swing span. If I remember correctly this was only standing for a couple years after the highbridge was completed. |
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| John Weeks The photo is from a Wisconsin DOT flyer advertising the opening of the Blatnik Bridge. The bridge section on the Superior side of the channel is not a truss span in this view. Rather, the bridge section looks like a trestle. It appears that the south bridge truss span was removed and replaced with a trestle at some point during the lifespan of this structure. |
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| Billy Krieg posted Welcome Back After an extended stint in layup, the Phillip R Clarke once again has visited Duluth, this time coming in for taconite pellets. I hadn’t gotten a chance to photograph her until now, so I lucked out with getting enough time to snap a shot of her passing the Interstate bridge. |
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| David Schauer posted Dennis DeBruler: I wonder how many fishing piers are larger than this one. |
The swing span in the background of this photo is part of the Interstate Bridge.
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| Bridge Hunter, photo provided by Hank Zaletel License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) |
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| Photo by Ed Hollowell via Bridge Hunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) |
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| David Schauer posted Fraser Shipyards in Superior during 1956. Dennis DeBruler: Back when today's "fishing pier" was the Interstate Bridge. |
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| Al Miller posted The second Monday of each month is our day to enjoy the photos that appeared in the "Do You Remember . . ." feature that appeared in almost every issue of Pittsburgh Sidelights magazine. These photos show two significant bridge accidents. The photos at left show the results of the package steamer Troy striking the swing span of the Interstate Bridge that linked Duluth and Superior. The wreckage trapped numerous vessels in St. Louis Bay until another span could be removed to open a new channel. The accident at the Soo, shown at right, blocked downbound vessels for several days until the spans could be opened. These photos appeared in the April 1955 issue. |
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| Bridges Now and Then shared and posted The center span of the Interstate Bridge,formerly crossing St. Louis Bay from Duluth, Minnesota to Superior, Wisconsin, tilts below its replacement, the Blatnik Bridge, as the old span is removed on Oct. 8, 1971. |
A video describes this bridge starting at 4:05.
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