1880 CP/C&NW/W&SP Redstone Bridge over Minnesota River at New Ulm, MN

(Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; John A. Weeks III; John Marvig; Satellite)

W&SP = Winona & St. Peter Railroad, which was bought by C&NW

This route was also owned by Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern (DME) and Iowa, Chicago & Eastern (ICE). 

"Built as the original mainline of the CNW between New Ulm and Mankato. Used as a alternate route after the present DME line was built. Line currently only serves a rock quarry. It ends just east of the quarry. It was abandoned from the quarry to St. Peter in 1971." [BridgeHunter] The western approach still uses a wooden trestle.

The Minnesota River "lost navigable status past Mankato around 1884." [JohnMarvig] So the expense of a movable span became obsolete about four years after it was built.

Marty Bernard posted
5. Winona and St. Peter Railroad bridge over the Minnesota River near New Ulm. January 1979.
Photographs and captions are from the Minnesota Historical Society.
Sam Bailey: Is that a swing span in the middle?
Dennis DeBruler

Sam Bailey Yes. And it was hand cranked. It is one of the oldest swing spans still standing in the nation.

https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=minnesota/redstone/

Marty Bernard shared

The 1979 photo above caught the stone-cut piers before they were "stabalized" (wrapped in concrete).

John Weeks

This remnant of the Winona & St. Peter Railroad is now an industrial spur for a large quarry just east of this bridge.

Satellite