Guest Column by GeoT
Dateline: 06/28/00
As we look across the landscape we see two kinds of features. Those produced by nature (one way or another) and those produced by people. Many times, those produced by nature are the reason for the ones we see produced by people.
Case in point: west central Iowa. The Wisconsinan Age glaciers deposited end moraines in this part of the state. A rapid meltdown of the ice resulted in tremendous amounts of floodwater scouring through the moraines and leaving deep valleys presently occupied by modern drainage. There is such a valley just west of Boone, Iowa, (yup, named for Daniel Boone’s son, Nathan) -- a real beauty but not so beautiful to a railroad building westward. They encountered this valley at what is now the Des Moines river.
Now, of all the constructed features in this world of ours where is the least likely place to find the world’s longest and highest double track railroad bridge? (That is what the local folks told us.)
We would probably think of the Rockies, the Andes, or even the Himalayas and the Plateau of Tibet but, no, -- its right here in west central Iowa! (The key words are double track!)
The bridge is 2685 feet long and 185 feet above the valley floor. It was built in the late 1890s and opened to traffic in 1901. Nearly 100 years old and it still carries 65 to 80 Union Pacific trains a day. Trains carrying containers of merchandise, much produced in East Asia, docking at western U.S. ports, picked up by UP, aka “Uncle Pete” and railed on to eastern destinations. Now there's some transportation geography! Think of the route that Chinese-made teddy bear must have taken to get to the local Wal-Mart!
Click here for a topographic map of the High Bridge area (it will open in a new browser window)
The 'High Bridge' is what we are looking for. This bridge is the replacement for earlier ones. (This map shows the railroad as the Chicago & North Western it is Union Pacific today.) Pretty impressive valley for this part of the world. Look at the gravel pits in the glacial valley trains and outwash. Look at those steep valley walls way too steep for railroads to climb. (Look how the gravel pits are nearer the level surface they didn't want to haul up those slopes either.) Or, auto traffic for that matter, U.S. 30 and Interstate 80 cross the valley on long, high, bridges too. Let’s look at this constructed feature. A massive network of steel beams and rock footings.
Here is the geography and more. When we see the steel we think of Mesabi iron meeting Eastern coal. We think of the science of metallurgy. When we see the interlaced steel structures, we recognize the value of geometry and mathematics and physics. We see the engineering expertise and plain hard labor necessary to assemble all of these components. We suddenly realize this is why we learned all that stuff in school! Not because we'll build bridges but to appreciate the efforts and success of those who do! And to appreciate how we benefit from such endeavors. All of this comes together with the realization of the need for transportation which is why the bridge was built in the first place. And, how natural features lead to constructed features.
This massive structure is named for a young lady named Kate Shelley. One stormy night in July, 1881 she witnessed a locomotive crashing into the river as a result of a trestle washout. She crawled across another railroad bridge during the fury of the storm to warn an oncoming passenger train, and, get help for the limb-clinging crew. She became quite a heroine that day -- and well remembered this day as well.
So, when the superlative geography of rail bridges comes up now we know where the highest, longest, double track rail bridge in the world is located in west central Iowa! Amazing!
GeoT is a long-time high school geography teacher from Illinois. In addition to geography, he enjoys railroads and model railroads, old Oldsmobiles, and gardening.
