Photograph of Old US 41-Backwater Creek Bridge — Photograph by Andrew Jameson, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

US-41 (old)-Backwater Creek Bridge

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

From the record

“The Old US 41-Backwater Creek Bridge is a bridge located on an abandoned section of US Highway 41 (US 41) over Backwater Creek in Baraga Township, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.”
Wikipedia article Old US 41-Backwater Creek Bridge, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 6 National Register listings published here for Baraga County · listed in 1999 · category: Structure.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
Listed as. US-41 (old)--Backwater Creek Bridge - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. Abandoned US-41 over Backwater Creek, Barage Township, 49908
When was it listed? December 1999
Category. structure
Also known as. Highway Bridges of Michigan MPS
Township. Baraga township
National Register reference number. 99001508 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

78 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 78 fires within 5 miles of US-41 (old)-Backwater Creek Bridge between 1994 and 2020, burning about 737 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 4 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	30
Fireworks	11
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	10
Misuse of fire by a minor	7
Natural	6
Arson/incendiarism	4
Equipment and vehicle use	4
Recreation and ceremony	3
Smoking	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
5 September 2011	Fireworks	under an acre	Michigan Agency	LABOR
28 September 2013	Fireworks	under an acre	Michigan Agency	US 41 PINES
27 September 2013	Fireworks	under an acre	Michigan Agency	PONDS
27 September 2013	Fireworks	under an acre	Michigan Agency	US 41 #1
27 September 2013	Fireworks	under an acre	Michigan Agency	US 41 #2
5 August 2010	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Michigan Agency	RR TRACKS
27 August 2007	Natural	under an acre	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	not named
24 August 2000	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	Michigan Agency	008

Every fire recorded in Baraga County

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of US-41 (old)-Backwater Creek Bridge: 1 past producer, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where	Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
	Baraga County Pits	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
	Unnamed Silver Prospect	Silver	Prospect

Every working recorded in Baraga County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

2 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph	Property	Distance	Listed
	Assinins	4.1 miles	1972
	Kewawenon Mission	4.2 miles	1980

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 99001508 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Baraga County	All 6 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.