Photo of the Week: Drawbridge

This week, I finally visited something I have heard about for months.  East of Fairview, MT, just over the border in North Dakota, there is an old railroad drawbridge and tunnel.  They are no longer used for the railroad, and are open to the public to walk over and through.  The line they are on was once part of a project by the Great Northern to build a second main line, to the south of their existing one, which would connect New Rockford, ND, to Lewistown, MT.  This was known as the Montana Eastern Railroad, a wholly owned subsidy of the Great Northern.  This parallel line would serve the farms in the area that were currently out of reach of their existing line, across the northern part of North Dakota and Montana.  The Montana Eastern Railroad was never completed because of the economic downturn that came with the start of World War I, although the line was and still is used in parts throughout Montana and North Dakota, for local train service.

The Fairview Lift Bridge is located about four miles east of Fairview, MT.  It crosses the Yellowstone River.  Today, no ship traffic uses the Yellowstone River, but when the bridge was built, in 1913, the Yellowstone River was considered a navigable waterway, and regulations stated that bridges over navigable waterways must be at least 80 feet above average water level.  Since all commercial river traffic ended on the Yellowstone River in 1913, the only time the bridge was ever raised was at the end of construction, to test the lift mechanism.  The bridge is 1,320 feet long and comprised of several steel truss spans.  There is a sister bridge located in Snowden, MT, which is still used by rail traffic.  Because of light rail traffic, the bridge was also used to accommodate highway traffic until 1956.  Planks were laid on the ties, between and on either side of the rails, and gates were installed on either end to keep traffic off when a train was approaching.  A "Leverman" was employed to communicate with the railroad and operate the gates as necessary.  Vehicles using the bridge were charged a toll by the Great Northern Railway.  At its peak, the line handled one passenger train per day, and a few freight trains a week.

The bridge was built in 1913, at a cost of $500,000.  The towers are 108 feet tall, and the lift span weighs over one million pounds.  The span is s counter weighted to assist in lifting.  Because the counterweights so closely match the span weight, it only took a small, three cylinder, kerosene engine to raise and lower the bridge.  The lift span is nearly 300 feet long and is connected to the counterweights by 32 two inch thick steel cables, with eight at each corner and 16 per counterweight.  All the lifting mechanisms are still in place, with the exception of the kerosene engine.

Just east of the Fairview Lift Bridge is the Cartwright Tunnel, which is the only tunnel in the state of North Dakota.  The tunnel is 1,458 feet long, and was built in 1912 and 1913.  The tunnel was primarily excavated by hand, though horse drawn scrapers and blasting powders were used to build the approaches.  The tunnel walls and ceiling are lined with timber, and the floor is braced with heavy timbers to prevent the walls from pushing into the former track area.