This turnstyle bridge served the California & Oregon Railroad Co. after it was surveyed in September 1870 and completed in August 1871. The steam locomotive "Falcon" first crossed it, and the "Clipper" followed the next day with one passenger and a baggage car. Originally board planked to allow teamster wagons to use it as well, the bridge and the coming of the railroad sharply reduced riverboat trade on the Sacramento River and led to hostilities between the railroad and riverboat companies. Those tensions intensified in 1892 when the "Jacinto" found new rails spiked to keep the bridge from opening for passage, but a steamboat company representative quickly settled the matter by warning the railroad to make the bridge operable so dynamite would not be needed, and in less than three hours the "Jacinto" steamed through.