Fairview Lift Bridge

Fairview Lift Bridge. . The Fairview Bridge crossing the Yellowstone River in North Dakota is named after the Montana town of Fairview located five miles west. Although it is considered the only lift span bridge in North Dakota, it has a twin structure located nine miles north and crossing the Missouri River in Montana. Both bridges were under construction in 1912 and completed in the fall of 1913. Because both rivers are considered navigable by the United States government, a lift span mechanism was required to allow steamboat traffic to pass beneath. The lift span needed to clear an average river level by eighty feet. It was tested once, being lifted forty-three feet in thirty minutes, but it never saw actual use since steamboat traffic on the Lower Yellowstone ceased in 1912. , , Lift machinery, located on top of the lift span, included a three-cylinder kerosene engine that was added by counterweights containing 343 cubic yards of concrete. The weights are connected to the lift span, via the lift towers, by cables two inches in diameter. The lift span weighs 1.14 million pounds and is 271 feet long; the lift towers are 108 feet tall. Four through-truss spans ranging for 213 to 271 feet in length, and four girder-truss spans measuring from 48 to 60 feet long, are included in the 1,320-foot-long structure, including a long wood trestle on the west end, the bridge was 2,994 feet long, but in 1969 the trestle was filled over with 80,000 cubic yards of earth and gravel. , The bridge was designed by Waddell and Harrington of Kansas City and manufactured by the American Bridge Company of Gary, Indiana. Approximately 4.5 million pounds of steel were used in the bridge construction, which cost nearly $500,000. , The railroad structure also served as an automobile bridge soon after its completion however, traversing the bridge and the long trestle to the west was difficult. When Highway 23 was completed to the Yellowstone River in 1926, the bridge was modified to accommodate both modes of transportation. The deck was covered with wooden planking and access routes were constructed at each end. A wooden bridge provided access to the west bridge approach from the north. The duel use was still hazardous and a watchman was employed to operate the swing gate and telephone system, allowing automobiles to travel the bridge. The bridge was operated by the railroad as a toll bridge until 1937, when the State Highway Department assumed maintenance and the watchman's salary. This situation continued until 1955, when the Hjaimer Nelson Memorial Highway Bridge was constructed across the Yellowstone River. The last train to use the bridge traveled east to Watford City on June 5, 1966.