Old Steel Bridge, Spanning Flathead River on Steel Bridge Road, Kalispell, Flathead County, MT

Significance: The Flathead River Bridge was the first large steel bridge constructed in northwestern Montana. As with many other late 19th century bridges, it replaces an earlier ferry operation. When completed, the structure provided access to Kalispell for the farmers and ranchers working the rich agricultural land in the upper Flathead Valley. The bridge itself is an excellent example of a pin-connected Pratt through truss of the type built in large numbers throughout Montana between circa 1891 and 1917. All of its structural components are intact and the bridge retains excellent integrity.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N813

Survey number: HAER MT-21

Building/structure dates: 1894 Initial Construction

steel truss bridges bridge construction civil engineering lumber industry agriculture vehicular bridges kalispell steel bridge old steel bridge flathead flathead river steel bridge road flathead county montana jon axline gillette and herzog kristi hager historic american engineering record jet lowe kevin murphy fredric l quivik lysa wegman french photo ultra high resolution high resolution infrastructure library of congress

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

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