The 650-foot (200 m) bridge, completed in 1868 in the southeastern Wyoming Territory, presented engineers of the United States' first transcontinental railroad one of their most difficult challenges.

The eastern approach to the bridge site, near the highest elevation on the UP, 8,247 feet (2,514 m) above sea level, required cutting through granite for nearly a mile.

Solid rock also confronted workers on the west side of the bridge where they made a cut one mile (1.6 km) in length.

Engineers had to slow the train to 4 mph (6 km/h), or a stiff Wyoming wind would push empty boxcars into the rocky gap.

[7]The replacement iron "spider web" bridge was dismantled in 1901,[5] when the Union Pacific completed construction of a new alignment over Sherman Hill[8] as part of a major reconstruction and improvement project, shortening the Overland Route by 30.47 miles (49 km).