La Crosse Rail Bridge

The La Crosse Rail Bridge is a swing bridge that spans the Mississippi River between La Crescent, Minnesota and La Crosse, Wisconsin. The first bridge in this location initially was designed and ready to build by June 1876, and was completed in November 1876 by the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, a predecessor of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. It was later replaced in 1902. It is at the Western end of the Canadian Pacific Railway Tomah Subdivision. Amtrak's Empire Builder crosses this bridge.

Prior to its bridging, the Mississippi River connected the country north to south, but was an obstacle for those going east to west. The railroad relied on ferry boats to transport rail cars across the river into La Crosse, which cost a considerable amount of money and time. In addition, many of the ferry boats were unreliable because they had no fixed schedule. In the early 1800s, it was difficult to construct bridges, as they needed to provide enough clearance for the abundance of steamboats on the river. In the winter months when the river froze over and boat traffic stopped, the railroad would lay down seasonal tracks across the ice and remove them by spring.

In 1856, the first swing bridge to span the Mississippi river was constructed in Rock Island, Illinois, upstream of the place where Government Bridge is today. Only a few days after that bridge was opened, a steamboat crashed into it. The boat and bridge caught on fire, and the steamboat owner sued for damages, claiming the bridge was a hazard to navigation. It was defended in court by an Illinois lawyer: Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln won the case for the railroad, arguing that a person has a much right to build a bridge to cross a river as another person has to travel up and down the water. This victory led to the construction of even more railroad bridges over the Mississippi.

The Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway had two disconnected segments of a railway between Chicago, Illinois and St. Paul, Minnesota: one rail line from La Crescent, Minnesota to St. Paul, and the other rail line from La Crosse to Milwaukee. This would have lengthened the railway, required flagged street crossings in downtown La Crosse, and also set the river crossing to the south of La Crescent over property owned by Wall Street speculators. After much legal wrangling, final approval for the original desired site was granted by the Wisconsin State Assembly. The Winona bridge became part of the Chicago and Northwestern system. That bridge was used until 1977. The Chicago and Northwestern gained trackage rights to use the La Crosse Rail Bridge. The C & NW successor, Union Pacific, accesses in this manner from Tomah to Winona.

The Coast Guard has proposed alterations to the bridge. The proposed plan would remove the swing bridge and install a lift span and create a 65 foot clearance and open a 300 foot wide lane for the boats. The alterations would move the bridge opening away from the shore line to the center of the channel. The Coast Guard has dropped plans to alter the bridge.