The New/ Old Bridge at Milltown

By Jonathan Weber, 5-09-08

	Caption: Jim Roscoe, owner of Roscoe Steel & Culvert, points out where new bolts are affixed to the old bridge that his grandfather built.

In 1921, a steel bridge was built across the Blackfoot River at Milltown; the contractor was a company called Security Bridge, and the main man on the job was W.P. Roscoe. Now that bridge is being rebuilt as part of the Milltown Dam removal project - made a little longer, among other things - and will be used as a pedestrian and bicycle crossing. The company doing the work is Roscoe Bridge, a unit of Roscoe Steel & Culvert, a Billings-based company owned by Jim Roscoe - the grandson of the original builder.

The steel truss bridge is not what you would build today - there are cheaper and easier methods - but it holds a powerful place in our industrial history, and in the aesthetic memories of local residents. Rather than simply replacing the old bridge, which was not maintained since it ceased being a car crossing decades ago, or even scrapping it altogether, the community pushed to have it rebuilt the old way.

The new bridge sits on blocks as new struts and beams - now bolted together, rather than riveted - are put in place. Later this summer it will be eased back into its old position crossing the river. Old man Roscoe would surely be proud of his grandson.