Fairview Bridge & Cartwright Tunnel Trail:
North Dakota
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Description:
The old Fairview Bridge in North Dakota (located about 3.5 miles east of Fairview, Montana) is a vertical lift structure, but its lift span cannot be moved. While now closed to both rail and vehicular travel, the Fairview Bridge also has another claim to fame -- it adjoins the only tunnel in North Dakota. The 1,458 foot long tunnel was built in 1912 and 1913. Most of the digging was done by hand, although horse and mule-drawn scrapers and blasting powder were used in building the approaches.

Both the Fairview Bridge and Cartwright Tunnel have been developed into a walking trail by the Fairview Chamber. The only time the "lift" span on the Fairview Bridge over the Yellowstone River was raised was in 1914, shortly after it was constructed as part of an ambitious plan by the Great Northern Railroad for its never-completed Montana Eastern Railway. After all these years, it's still there, the powerful lifting machinery still in place atop 108-foot-high steel towers.

In 1991, the state began a survey of historic bridges, and the Fairview Bridge was on the list of about 127 found eligible for the National Register. It was among 30 chosen for nomination. According to the nomination form prepared under contract with the state by Mark Hufstetler, an historian with Renewable Technologies Inc., of Butte, MT, the bridge qualifies both for its historical significance and its unique engineering.

For more information, please see the Trail Website.
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