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Photograph of Natural Pier Bridge
Photograph by Ltvine, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Natural Pier Bridge

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

From the record

“Natural Pier Bridge is a steel Warren through truss bridge spanning the Clark Fork river located 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Alberton, Montana, United States, which incorporates a natural rock outcrop as anchorage for a pier. It was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places as part of a related group of historic Montana bridges known as Montana's Historic Steel Truss Bridges and achieved listing on January 4, 2010.”

Wikipedia article Natural Pier Bridge, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 19 National Register listings published here for Mineral County · listed in 2010 · 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.
  • Address. Milepost 1 on S. Frontage Rd., Alberton, 59820
  • When was it listed? January 2010
  • Category. structure
  • Also known as. Montana's Historic Steel Truss Bridges
  • Census division. Alberton
  • National Register reference number. 09001182 - 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

185 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 185 fires within 5 miles of Natural Pier Bridge between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,571 acres in total. 69 started naturally. 1 was 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
Natural69
Missing data/not specified/undetermined39
Debris and open burning30
Railroad operations and maintenance15
Recreation and ceremony13
Equipment and vehicle use10
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Fireworks2
Arson/incendiarism1
Smoking1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
29 September 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreLolo National ForestNATURAL PIER BRIDGE
20 September 2018Naturalunder an acreLolo National ForestSAWMILL 2
19 September 2009Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreLolo National ForestMILE MARKER 76 #2
17 September 1998Naturalunder an acreLolo National ForestPLATEAU
14 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLolo National ForestMM 73
13 September 1996Naturalunder an acreLolo National ForestSOUTH FORK NEMOTE #1
11 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMissoula County200243
10 September 2003Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreLolo National ForestRAILROAD

Every fire recorded in Mineral 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 Natural Pier Bridge: 1 unknown, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Beryllium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Unnamed Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
White Cap ProspectBerylliumProspect

Every working recorded in Mineral County

Storms near this property

6 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alberton, the town this property stands in, in 6 storm reports between 2003 and 2018: 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 wildfire, 1 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2018Thunderstorm WindAlberton$15,000Strong winds caused several Ponderosa pine trees to be uprooted. These trees damaged a well house and an all-terrain vehicle.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindAlberton-Thunderstorm winds blew down 3 to 4 large trees. The trees had diameters estimated to be between 1 and 3 feet along the Oregon Lakes Trail.
August 2006Thunderstorm WindAlberton-A tree was reported down over I-90.
June 2006HailAlberton-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindAlberton-no account filed
August 2003WildfireAlberton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Mineral 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

6 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 PropertyDistance Listed
Thorn House1.3 miles1997
Alberton School1.4 miles1997
Chadwick House1.5 miles1997
Brinks House1.5 miles1997
Bestwick's Market1.6 miles1997
Railroad Depot1.7 miles1997

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 09001182 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Mineral CountyAll 19 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.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.