The Duluth & Northeastern was primarily a logging railroad. It was chartered in 1898 by the Potlatch Corporation, which ran the Potlatch Paper Mill in Cloquet. The railroad brought logs to the mill, hauled supplies back out to the logging camps, and handled common carrier freight as needed. The railroad once ran 58 miles to Hornby, MN, but in recent years, it ran only to Saginaw, MN, which is about 11 miles north of Cloquet. The D&NE interchanged with the DM&IR and CN at Saginaw.

The D&NE ceased operations around the year 2000. The track was abandoned and removed. Four miles of track remain in Cloquet. It is operated by the Cloquet Terminal Railroad, which switches cars between a few local factories and the BNSF mainline. The CTRR began operations on May 13, 2002, at which time the D&NE went out of existence. It was the last logging railroad to operate in the state.

There are two railroad bridges as part of the D&NE St. Louis River crossing. The bridge described on this page is the downstream bridge, which connects the south side of the river at Cloquet to Dunlap Island, which is a large island that sits in the middle of the river. This bridge, which is still in operation, allows trains to move between the Sappi Mill (former Potlatch Mill) on the south side of the river and the CTRR yard on Dunlap Island.

Beyond that, I have no real information on the bridge. Based on aerial photography, I estimated the length and width of the structure. It is possible that this is an 1898 structure, but that seems unlikely. Rather, the bridge was probably upgraded when the railroad converted to diesel locomotives after WWII.