The year 1871 was an exciting time for the Minnesota River Valley. The railroads were coming. The transcontinental railroad opened in 1869, and the race was on to get across the state of Minnesota and over to Omaha. The Winona & Saint Peter, which later became the Omaha Road, was building a swing bridge at Saint Peter. The Minneapolis & Saint Louis was building a bridge at Carver. And the Hastings & Dakota was heading westward from Hastings by building a swing bridge at Chaska.

The Hastings & Dakota already had a line between Minneapolis and Saint Paul. They desired a line around the city to bypass the congestion of the maze of tracks in Minneapolis. The route that they selected ran through Farmington, Prior Lake, Shakopee, and down the south side of the river to Chaska. The route crossed at Chaska on a swing bridge, followed the riverbank for about a mile, then crossed a trestle into the city of Chaska. The line continued west to Cologne.

The Hastings & Dakota was taken over by the Milwaukee Road shortly after this line opened. The Milwaukee Road pushed west across the state and into South Dakota. In 1905, the Milwaukee Road started building west from Mobridge, South Dakota, and completed their Pacific route to Seattle. Despite having the best route to the Pacific and dominating traffic coming out of Seattle, the Milwaukee Road mismanaged the route and ended up in bankruptcy.

The Milwaukee Road built a connector from Hopkins on the west side of Minneapolis to Cologne, which resulted in the Chaska bridge becoming a secondary route. Traffic dropped off after World War II, and the route through Chaska was abandoned at some point in the 1970s. Shortly after that abandonment, the concept of rails to trails was born. The state DNR and the counties of Carver and Scott teamed up to build one of the first rails to trails project in the state. They reclaimed the old Hasting & Dakota line between Chaska and Shakopee and converted it into a paved bicycle and walking path. The highlight of the trail was the Minnesota River crossing on the old swing bridge. Both the bridge and the trestle were redecked and railings were installed. The four mile long path proved to be very successful and helped to prove the concept of rails to trails.

Disaster struck the Chaska-Shakopee Bicycle Trail a few years after it opened. I don't recall the specific date, but it may have been Halloween night, possibly in 1986, a group of kids lit the Hastings & Dakota Trestle on fire. By the time the fire was reported and fire crews arrived on scene, the south end of the trestle was almost fully consumed. Fire crews were able to keep the fire off of the northern third of the bridge, but the southern third was damaged beyond repair.

At that point, the story gets even worse. Before deciding to fix the trestle, an inspection was ordered for the main river channel swing bridge. Inspectors reported that this structure had some problems, and it needed to be closed for repairs. Two large floods in the early 1990s set the project back even further. After the floods, the US Army Corps of Engineers decided to build a new flood control project for the city of Chaska. As part of the project, they requested that the swing bridge be removed. In early 1995, the state of Minnesota DNR let a contract for the demolition of the swing bridge. It was brought down by explosives later that summer. The trestle and the trail on the north side of the river was fenced off.

The Chaska-Shakopee Bicycle Trail languished for 20 years. An extension was built south of the river from the old bridge to a landing near MN-41, but there was no way to bring the trail into Chaska. The MN-41 river bridge was too narrow and too busy to allow hikers or bicycle traffic. Finally, a new highway bridge was started in 2004. When finished, it would feature wide sidewalks on each side of the traffic lanes to accommodate regional trail traffic. The new bridge finally opened in 2007. Once again, this gem of a trail is back in full operation.

The photo above is looking west towards the remains of the north bridge abutment. The swing span rested on the shorter concrete pier when the bridge was in the closed position. The photo below is a view of the railroad embankment looking through the forest from a nearby access road. The Minnesota river is on the far side of the embankment.

The photo above is the bridge abutment as seen from the edge of the river. It is well hidden by trees that have grown since the bridge was removed. The photo below is looking south across the river where the south bridge abutment once stood. While I did not see it when I visited the north side of the river, part of the south bridge abutment still exists and is visible in this photo.

These two photos are close views of the east face of the north bridge abutment. The west side of the abutment is too close to the river to safely photograph.

These two photos are looking south from the top of the railroad embankment. The railroad railbed was converted to a regional trail and paved with an 8 foot wide strip of blacktop. The bridge deck was covered with a wooden floor and railings were installed. The photo above is a view of the remaining section of bridge deck. The photo below is looking beyond the bridge deck and across the Minnesota River.

The photo above is a view looking south along the trail that follows the railroad embankment. The trail is still in very good condition despite being abandoned for over 20 years. It is covered with a thin layer of mud and decomposed leaves. The photo below is a section of the trail where the railroad embankment collapsed after a recent flood. Trees that once stood along the edge of the river have fallen across the trail making it impassible.

The photo above is the Chaska and Shakopee Trail near the south end of the former river crossing. The trail heads north towards the old bridge. The branch to the west heads towards the new river crossing at the MN-41 highway bridge. The photo below is the end of the old section of trail as it approaches the bridge site.

The photo above is the end of the trail on the south side of the Minnesota River. There is a path that continues down to the riverbank. The photo below is looking across the river towards the bridge abutment on the north side of the Minnesota River. The river bends to the north and parallels the railroad embankment for nearly a mile when traveling upstream.

These two photo are the remains of the bridge abutment on the south side of the river channel. The photo above is a view of the remains from near the riverbank. The photo below is the remains as seen from the trail at the top of the railroad embankment.