This bridge is on the former Northern Pacific Fargo to Duluth mainline across the northcentral part of the state of Minnesota. The first bridge was built in 1871. The bridge failed in 1875 and had to be rebuilt. It was rebuilt again as a three span truss in 1909. The NP merged with serveral other railroads, and became the Burlington Northern. The BN did a ground up rebuild of this bridge in 1984. Since then, the BN merged with the Santa Fe, becoming the BNSF Railroad.

The Brainerd Daily Dispatch reports that the July 27, 1875 train wreck was caused when the bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed under the weight of the train, which was 12 cars of steel rail and 10 cars of general merchandise. Locals reports that a local band of Indians salvaged much of the merchandise that floated down the river after the accident.