Steel Viaduct over Des Moines River, C. & N. W. Railway, 1900-1910

01

Artifact Overview

A Chicago & North Western Railway passenger train crossed the new Kate Shelley High Bridge near Boone, Iowa, in 1901. The viaduct's name honored a heroic teenage girl. During an 1881 thunderstorm, an earlier bridge at the site was damaged by a flood. Kate Shelley walked more than two miles through the storm to warn an approaching passenger train of the danger.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Photographic print

Date Made

1900-1910

Subject Date

1900-1910

Creator Notes

Photographed by William Henry Jackson. Published by Detroit Publishing Co., Detroit, Michigan

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

P.DPC.018584R

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Gelatin silver process
Toning (Photography)

Color

Brown

Dimensions

Height: 7.125 in
Width: 9.25 in

Inscriptions

Inscriptions on back In pencil: Steel viaduct on Des Moines River C& NW Ry. (added 6/3/05: Kate Shelly Bridge, Boone Co. Iowa) / Dup 638 (incorrect) / WHJ 639 In grease pencil: 013744 Dup (incorrect) Photographer's negative number: 639
Steel Viaduct over Des Moines River, C. & N. W. Railway, 1900-1910