Have You Driven Over North Dakota’s Oldest Bridge Before?

I bet this bridge has a few stories to tell.

North Dakota's oldest bridge has been around a lot longer than any of us alive today.  It has been standing tall going back to 1885.  Just about the time that Tim and Faith started their journey across the plains to set up the Dutton's forever home on the Yellowstone. Ha!

According to Wikipedia, this bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. It is also associated with C.P. Jones, a nineteenth-century bridge fabricator who was at the forefront of introducing iron and steel bridge technologies to North Dakota.

Introducing the Viking Bridge, the oldest bridge in all of North Dakota.

This bridge is also known as the Goose River Bridge and is north of the city of Portland, North Dakota.  As you can probably guess by the nickname of this bridge, it was built over the Goose River which is a tributary of the Red River of the North.

Portland, North Dakota is situated right by its larger sister city Mayville, North Dakota.

Mayville, North Dakota of course is home to Mayville State University in Trail County.  It's about 35 minutes southeast of my hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota.

I have very fond memories of this area.  The Goose River is a very scenic area and is especially beautiful during autumn, with brilliant colors all along the river bank.  I spent many weekends back in the day hunting Wood Ducks on the Goose.

The next time you're in the Mayville-Portland area, make it a point to check out a part of North Dakota history.  It's worth a look.

A big THANK YOU to Jody Belanus who was kind enough to share her beautiful photos of the Viking Bridge with all of us.  SKOL.