While most kids his age are focused on the future, 15-year-old John Marvig is working hard to preserve history.

The Chaska freshman is parlaying his fascination with railroad bridges into a visual online archive of the region’s holdings, both present and past.

“The railroad built these towns,” explained Marvig.

The first railroad bridge to catch Marvig’s eye was the trestle just east of downtown Carver. It was also the first bridge he photographed, back in 2009.

Marvig has since collected 24 images of the now defunct bridge – some that he took himself, some borrowed from fellow railroad bridge enthusiasts along with some historical photos – all on his website.

In addition to photographs, Marvig has documented the Carver bridge’s length, height, type, date built and current traffic volumes. He also includes the history of the bridge, with notes about its demolition – right down to the order the demo crew blew up the piers.

It’s a lot of work. Marvig estimated that he spends the majority of his free time on it, but it’s all for a good cause. “I get the satisfaction of knowing I’m keeping things around for future generations,” he said.

“John is wise beyond his years and meticulous in researching and gathering the facts. By combining facts with historic photos and photos of today’s railroad bridges and ruins on a website, he shares the present and past for posterity. It will be interesting to watch this young man’s path in coming years,” said Carver historian John von Walter.

Passion

After photographing the Carver bridge, Marvig quickly developed a thirst for more. He started photographing any railroad bridge he could get access to.

“It kept growing,” he said.

Marvig’s goal is to have a comprehensive directory of the area’s bridges. So far, he’s detailed about 500 of them throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota.

He has become especially fond of bridges with interesting stories and architectural details. Words like “truss” and “girder” have become mainstays in his vocabulary.

Among those unique bridges that Marvig has been able to capture with his digital SLR camera are a bridge over the Chippewa River boasting the world’s only quintuple intersection truss and the Kate Shelley bridges over the Des Moines River in central Iowa. The Kate Shelley bridges are named for a a young girl who crawled across the old bridge in Moingona (six miles downstream) to save a train loaded with 200 passengers from plunging into a collapsed bridge during a summer storm in 1881.

Hobby

While Marvig has no plans to give up his fascination with railroad bridges any time soon, he admits that there are probably a couple members of his family that have had their fill of bridge talk.

“I’ve probably pushed my limits with my mom,” he said. “And my sister, she hates it.”

For now though, dad is still game to drive Marvig from bridge location to bridge location to collect his photographs.

“It’s a nice hobby to have,” said Marvig.

Marvig also senses an importance to his work. “These bridges are dying at such a fast rate,” he explained. “I want to raise awareness for their preservation.”

Upon learning of the planned removal of a 1870 railroad bridge crossing Main Street in downtown Carver, he discussed his concerns with von Walter.

“On his own initiative he made a plea to Carver City Administrator Brent Mareck urging for the saving of the bridge, remarkable in that he was then but a 13- or 14-year-old,” von Walter recalled.

“I found out [the bridge]has played a big part in the city’s history,” Marvig noted, on his website. “It was a gate to the first Carver County Fair, the site of the county’s first deadly automobile accident, and dates even before the bridge over the river. The piers date to 1870.”

To preserve the bridge, Von Walter also lobbied the Carver City Council, which ultimately voted 4-1 to acquire the structure from Union Pacific.

Book

Marvig would like to publish a book of 50 of Minnesota’s most unique and historic bridges with the Minnesota Historical Society. His goal is to have it finished within the next couple of years.

Meanwhile, he’ll keep photographing and documenting railroad bridges.

“I think this will be a lifelong hobby,” he said. “When I’m 30 or 40 years old, it will be neat to look back and see what I’ve done.”