trainspotting

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iowabeakster
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trainspotting

Post by iowabeakster »

Be forewarned that this report is a lot like my others. It's mostly about the places I ride to, and not much about the riding itself. If you don't like: history, railroads, bridges, and a fool being denied access to places...stop reading now.

Since Amy and I were not going to Wisconsin this weekend, we decided to just go for a little day trip. We had two goals on Thursday. The first was to check out the Kate Shelley High Bridge. This was something that I really wanted to do for a long time. As it would happen, I picked an awful time to check it out. The second goal was to do a favor for Gypsy, to take photos of the Iowa State Capitol building. This was something that I tried to do 2 years ago... and had to turn around before I got there.

Thursday morning, we took off on I-80 westward. No photos were taken. Then we took I-35 north to Ames, then Highway 30 west for another 30 or so miles. Next, we turned off onto a gravel road. It was about 3 miles of gravel to the Kate Shelley High Bridge, which is above the Des Moines River.

...time out for the history lesson...

Who was Kate Shelley? I copied this version of her story from the internet. There are many accounts of this story. The only changes I made to it: was to change her age (as every other account of the event said that she was 15) and I cut it down to make it shorter.
It is hard to visit Boone County and not hear the story of [15]-year-old Kate Shelley and her heroics to save a passenger train from certain doom in the summer of 1881. In fact, the incident received national and international acclaim at the time and eventually the High Bridge between Boone and Ogden, 184 feet above the Des Moines river was named for the girl who spent her life in the service of the railroad.

When Kate was 12 tragedy struck the Shelley household. Her father, now a section foreman, was killed in a railroad accident and shortly afterward Michael, Jr., the oldest of the two boys, was drowned while swimming in the Des Moines River. Mrs. Shelley's health broke under the strain and Kate took over as head of the household. The young girl who was struggling to keep her family together could never have dreamed of what life held in store for her.

July 6, 1881 started out as a clear day but by dusk thunderstorms were rolling into the area. The storms were heavy and stiff winds blew through the valley. Heavy lightning lit up the skies. The Shelleys kept a wary eye on the storm. Honey Creek, already high because of recent heavy rains, continued to rise threatening a stable halfway between the Shelley home and the creek. Kate threw a cloak over her shoulders and waded through the mud to the stable to release the animals and let them fend for themselves.

Kate and her mother continued to keep an eye on the creek as the night wore on. Coming from a railroad family, both women knew of the dangers that a flood on Honey Creek could present. At about eleven o'clock Kate and her mother heard old No. 12 with four people on board crossing the nearby Des Moines River bridge. The four men aboard the train, Ed Wood, George Olmstead, Adam Agar and Patrick Donahue, were to make a run to Boone and then return to Moingona. As the train crossed the Honey Creek bridge, Kate and her mother twice heard it's bell and then, as she told reporters later, "came the horrible crash and the fierce hissing of steam" as the engine plunged into the swollen stream below.

Despite the shock of the accident, another thought raced through Kate's mind. Another train was due. The midnight express from the west would soon try to cross the same bridge. The express must be stopped when it arrived in Moingona but that meant someone must cross the long Des Moines River bridge. There was no one but Kate to try to make the crossing. Kate ran out into the storm, clothed in an old skirt and jacket, with a straw hat on her head and one of her father's railroad lanterns to light her way. She made her way to the washed out bridge. In the light of the lightning, she spotted Wood and Agar who had struggled to the temporary safety of the branches of a tree caught up in the flooding. The other two men could not be spotted.

There was nothing she could do for the men in the tree but Kate knew she had to try to do something to stop the express from making its midnight run. Kate headed for the long, high Des Moines river bridge knowing she would have to cross it if she were to have any hopes of reaching Moingona in time to stop the express.

Crossing the bridge, even in fair weather, was not an easy task. The railroad knew of the dangers of the high bridge and prohibited anyone from walking on it. To discourage trespassers, the railroad removed some of the flooring from the bridge leaving large gaps between the ties. Kate's first few steps onto the bridge proved to her how difficult the crossing would be when a gust of wind almost blew her off the trestle. If she were to cross the span it would be on her hands and knees.

Kate began the long crawl over the span, trying to light her way with her father's lantern. The lantern soon went out in the downpour leaving her in the dark, groping for each tie in front of her. Track spikes ripped at her skirt and splinters tore into her skin but she continued to cross the bridge with only the lightning to light her way. Finally she felt for a tie and felt solid ground instead. Running down the track she reached Moingona only to hear from one person. "The girl is crazy." She fainted.

When Kate came to a short time later, she was told that despite the misgivings of one person, the station agent had recognized her and realized that the express must be stopped. A rescue party was being assembled to go after the men from Old No. 12. She insisted on going with the rescue party, crossing the river on the rescue train enroute to Honey Creek. She guided the rescue party to the west bank of the creek where the survivors of the wreck could be helped. A rope was thrown to Wood, still perched in a tree, who fastened down the line and then came ashore, hand over hand. Agar couldn't be reached until the waters began to recede, but he, too, was eventually rescued.

In the meantime, word of the amazing story of the rescue and warning was sent nationwide and eventually internationally, first via the railroad's telegraph wires and then by the news media. Kate got no rest as reporters arrived on her doorstep for days after the event. Kate was worn down by the ordeal and the attention and four days after the crossing she was confined to her bed for three months.

The world was waiting for Kate when she finally recovered her strength. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to help the lass who had given her all. The passengers of the train she saved collected a few hundred dollars for her; the school children of Dubuque gave her a medal; the state of Iowa gave her another and with it an award of $200; the Chicago and North Western Railroad presented her with $100, a half barrel of flour, half a load of coal and a lifetime pass. A gold watch and chain came from the Order of Railway Conductors. Poems were written in her honor commemorating the event and letters of adulation came in from around the world.

Over the years the North Western railroad had several times offered Kate a job and finally in 1903 she accepted their offer assuming the post of station agent at Moingona, the same station to which she had carried the news of the bridge washout. Twice each day she made the trip between her home and the station on foot. It was a route she knew well being the same one she had traveled that night in 1881. The bridge she had crossed was replaced in 1900 by a new iron bridge, named for Kate, over the Des Moines River.

Kate never married, her full attention was taken by her work for the railroad. Kate worked up until shortly before her death on January 21, 1912.

The iron bridge named in Kate's honor is still in service. Begun in 1899, construction finished in 1901. It's about 2,700 ft long and about 18 stories high. The bridge is part of the Union Pacific Railroad, and the primary artery of freight between Chicago and the entire western U.S. It once held the title of "world's highest train bridge". Later, it was demoted to "world's highest double track". Double track just means that it can carry trains going opposite directions simultaneously, without a collision. Later, it was demoted again to "highest double track in the U.S." It still holds that title.

At 107 years old, it wasn't designed for the weight of modern rail cars. Trains must slow down to 25 mph when crossing it. The new bridge has been under construction for several years. Rumors coming from Union Pacific employees say that on July 1, 2009 the New Kate Shelley brige will open for service. This is the last month the old brige will be in service.

...back to our ride..

We went a couple of miles on the gravel and crossed a sign that said, "ROAD CLOSED AHEAD". (Uh-oh) I figured that the new bridge would still have some construction going on, but I severly underestimated the size of the construction area. We kept going for a bit... until we got to the barricade, "ROAD CLOSED this means you!!!" (Great, they knew I was coming)

I fiddled with the GPS. I could see another route. Then, we were appoached by a man in a pick-up truck. He looked at us and said,"I haven't opened up this road yet... and you definitely would not want to take those nice bikes down there." He seemed like he wanted to let us pass, but looked at our bikes. and just shook his head.

I asked him, "If we went around the other way... could we see the bridge?"

He said, "....ummmm......yeeeaaah," and he looked away. That was not encouraging.

We backtracked and turned onto the other route. We rode gravel another couple miles. We crossed another sign, "ROAD CLOSED AHEAD". Just like the previous one, we kept on going. About a half-mile later, another sign said, "ROAD CLOSED". This sign was totally riddled with bullet holes. Past the sign, the gravel road became just a single lane.
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We kept going. The road really wasn't "closed". It just ceased to exist. You can see the new bridge on the right edge of this picture.
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We were tired of the gravel riding. We had come too far to give up now. I wanted pictures. We took off our gear, abandoned the bikes, and walked down the hill.

It looks like the train is on the new bridge, but actually it is still using the old one.
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This is the "road" as we went down the hill to the river.
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Then, we crossed the river on this wooden bridge.
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After crossing the river, we slogged through mud, nettles, and bugs along the river bank. Then, we climbed over a washed out bridge.
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We made it. We risked being yelled at by the construction workers and went directly under the bridges. This was not where I wanted to take pictures from...but you get what you get.
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After I had my fill of picture taking, we slogged it back along the river bank to the old wooden brige, and then back up the hill to our bikes.
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Amy sat on her bike and I pushed it backwards up the hill. As I pushed uphill, she turned it, and got it pointed the other direction.

My bike, was more problematic. I had gone just a bit farther down the hill, it was steeper, and there was less space to turn around, plus my bike is heavy. I had to do a U-turn.

Amy said, "This looks like trouble," and pointed where I should not go. Unfortunately, there wasn't much choice. My front tire sunk into a mound of mud. The rear tire just spun. Amy came over and pushed on the rear rack...I pushed on the handle bars...and spun the rear tire like mad. Mud flew directly up her nose. I never forsaw that possibility when I cut off the mud-flap.

After we pushed it through the mud, I just kept going. The back end of my bike was fish-tailing all over as I made the U-turn in high grass. After a very short and wild ride, I got it back onto the gravel. That is precisely why I have never tried to take my R on off-road adventures.

Next stop, Des Moines.

When we got to the Capitol, we were taking off our gear. An older gentleman was pulling a minivan into a parking spot next to us. A woman, who was in a big hurry to get home to the trailer park, yelled, "F---ING TURN ALREADY." Amy and I bursted into laughter. She apparently forgot that her window was rolled down. She turned bright red, and quickly shielded her face.

I had read about the bison head drinking fountain. It is at the very bottom of this picture. It was designed for use by both humans and horses. Clever...
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Of course, I needed to try it out.
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I walked all around the captiol and took a bunch of photos for Gypsy. Here are a couple. As my general luck would have it, the sun disappeared behind heavy clouds while I was there.
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I was dreaming when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray...
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Boxer
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Re: trainspotting

Post by Boxer »

Excellent story and pictures Kirk. I AM a little disappointed I didn't get to see the Roadster in all that muddy mess though.
Buckster
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Re: trainspotting

Post by Buckster »

Sounds like a good adventure!! Nice pictures....the Capitol is pretty. Thanks for sharing!
Buckster '03R
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GypsyRR
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Re: trainspotting

Post by GypsyRR »

Thanks Kirk.

what a story about Kate Shelley and her courage. Very cool. The train bridge photos were great. Bridges always intrigue me.

what kind of bike is Amy riding? She seems like a good sport for all you dragged her through for those photos. Both of you must make it to a Bash sometime!

An explanation of why I wanted Kirk to take photos of the capitol building. The mason for the stones in the capitol building in Iowa was my Great-Great-Grandfather, Stephen Travis (so I am told, by my brother, the family historian). I never knew Stephen Travis, but I have visited his grave in Aurora, Kansas and knew his son, my Great Grandfather, Ulysses Grant Travis very well. I've wanted to visit the capitol myself, but no opportunity has opened for me to get to Iowa yet. So thank you Kirk, for the visit and photos of the capitol building and the photos of the work done by my Great Great Grandfather. I appreciate it very much.

The ride report was the kind I like even if it had not been related to an interest of mine. History and architecture - they always grab my attention. Thanks.
Kristi
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Re: trainspotting

Post by tobes »

Great report. I really enjoyed the history. Thanks.
Mike
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iowabeakster
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Re: trainspotting

Post by iowabeakster »

Thanks all.

Boxer said,
I AM a little disappointed I didn't get to see the Roadster in all that muddy mess though.
You are disappointed? You can't imagine how disappointed I am that I didn't get some video of mud flying up Amy's nose.

Gypsy,
Amy's riding a Kawasaki Ninja 650R. Here's the thread I started on the day she got it. She's a great sport. I can't believe how she puts up with my crap...and still seems to like me.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=17671
I was dreaming when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray...
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