Dedicated on July 4, 1905, Forsyth Bridge gave Rosebud County residents a dependable crossing of the Yellowstone River, where they had previously forded low water or relied on an irregular ferry service, with the nearest bridge forty-five miles downstream at Miles City. Rosebud County commissioned William S. Hewett and Co. to build the pin-connected Pennsylvania through-truss bridge for $53,200. Hewett, one of Montana’s most prolific bridge builders, constructed at least fifteen bridges in and around the Yellowstone Valley between 1897 and 1906. Construction began on December 22, 1904, with crews pouring massive concrete piers before assembling large steel components fabricated in the east and shipped to Forsyth by rail. Despite warming weather, spring flooding, and work chest deep in cold water, the project was completed ahead of schedule. The bridge provided convenient access to the county seat and the Northern Pacific terminal, and traffic increased markedly after the Milwaukee railroad brought homesteaders to north Rosebud County. Originally three spans long, with the southern span crossing the primary river channel and the two northern spans crossing the flood plains, the bridge was closed in 1958 and replaced by a concrete bridge several hundred yards upstream; two spans were salvaged for scrap metal, and the southernmost span remains as an example of the major public investment in infrastructure that accompanied the homesteading boom.