Meandering through Pembina County, past the sleepy little towns of Mountain and Crystal, is the Cart Creek. It twists and turns, like a windy road, across the Peace Garden State, through farmland and woodland until it empties into the Park River. If you follow the creek in a kayak or canoe, you’ll come to a very special feature, a bridge recognized by the National Register of Historic Places called the Crystal Bridge, which is located at the western edge of Crystal on a paved, single-lane road.

Also referred to as the Cart Creek Bridge, it was constructed in 1927 by the Fargo Bridge and Iron Company. It cost $4187 to build, which includes a two-span concrete T-beam structure approximately 66 feet long and 25 feet wide. At nearly a century old, the bridge retains a high level of integrity and all major structural components remain intact. Think of all the cars, horses, bikes, and wagons this bridge has seen in its lifetime! The Crystal Bridge is one of two of the oldest documented concrete T-beams in North Dakota and is proof that the saying “they just don’t make them like they used to” still rings true, in some cases anyway!