This bridge is one of the first 15 bridges to cross the Mississippi River. The bridge dates back to 1876. The first bridge was a trestle with stone piers. In 1905, a steel through truss was installed. In 1998, the main spans were replaced with a Pony Plate Girder bridge. At the same time, the stone piers were encased in concrete, giving this very old bridge a very modern look.

This bridge is part of a total of 4 bridges that make up the La Crosse railroad crossing. These bridges are, moving east, the Main Channel Rail Bridge, East Channel Rail Bridge, this bridge (French Slough Rail Bridge), and the Black River Channel Rail Bridge. These bridges were built the Milwaukee Road, which merged with the Soo Line, which has since been bought out by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The La Crosse rail bridge is one of three places that the Amtrack Empire Builder passenger tain crosses the Mississippi River (the other two are Hastings, MN, and Little Falls, MN).

In the photo above, the bridge is just beyond the second railroad switch where there are railings on the side of the track. This photo is looking about a quarter mile down the track with a telephoto lens. It is the only legal view of this bridge without using a boat. CP Rail has a busy repair yard just to the north, and Exel Energy has a power plant just to the south. Both companies intensively guard this area.