Kate Shelley High Bridge

{{Infobox bridge

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|bridge_name = Kate Shelley High Bridge

|image = Kate_Shelley_High_Bridge-Construction-center_facing_west.jpg

|caption = Original bridge (left), new bridge(right)

|official_name =

|carries = Freight trains

|crosses = Des Moines River

|locale = Boone, Iowa, U.S.

|maint = Union Pacific

|id =

|designer = George S. Morison

|design =

|material = Steel

|spans =

|pierswater = 8-16

|mainspan =

|length = {{convert|2685|ft|abbr=on}}

|width =

|height = {{convert|185|ft|abbr=on}}

|load =

|clearance =

|below =

|traffic =

|begin = 1899

|complete = 1901

|open =

|closed = 2009

{{Infobox NRHP

| embed = yes

| name = Boone Viaduct

| image =

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| caption =

| coordinates =

| locmapin = Iowa#USA

| map_alt =

| area =

| architect = George S. Morison

| added = November 17, 1978

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| refnum = 78001207 {{NRISref|2009a}}

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The Kate Shelley High Bridge, officially called the Boone Viaduct when it was completed in 1901, is one of the highest and longest double-track railroad bridges in the United States. It is located approximately {{convert|3|mi}} west of Boone, Iowa.

It was nicknamed after the Iowa railroad heroine, Catherine Carroll Shelley, better known as Kate Shelley. On July 6, 1881, when she was 15 years old, Kate Shelley risked her life to warn the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad company that the Honey Creek bridge was out. A "pusher" train had fallen through the bridge near her home. Kate heard the accident and knew the train schedules, so Kate attempted to save a passenger train scheduled to travel over the Honey Creek bridge by crossing the Des Moines River Bridge near her Moingona home. It was night, during a raging thunderstorm. Wearing only her nightdress and armed with a lantern, she crossed the bridge on her hands and knees. She made it to the station and saved the train. She then led rescuers back to save the men who had fallen from Honey Creek Bridge. Of the four men who fell, two were saved, one was found dead, and the fourth was never found, presumed to be dead. In some versions of the tale, Kate was 17 years old, asserting that the birthdate on her own gravestone is inaccurate. They also claim the passenger train had already stopped, but no actual evidence has been presented proving either of those two disputed facts. Her bravery was heralded in many newspapers. Kate's lantern is housed at the Boone County Historical Society Museum in Boone, IA

{{Cite web |url=https://boonecountyhistoricalsocietyiowa.org/ |title=Boone County Historical Society - Boone County Historical Society Iowa |access-date=2021-03-23 |archive-date=2021-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210322205504/https://boonecountyhistoricalsocietyiowa.org/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://www.kateshelley.com/about-kate.html |title=About Kate Shelley |website=www.kateshelley.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708173043/https://www.kateshelley.com/about-kate.html |archive-date=2015-07-08}}

The bridge was designed by George S. Morison for the Chicago and North Western Railway and was constructed from 1899 to 1901.W.C. Armstrong, The Boone Viaduct, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aAwAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA6 The Iowa Engineer], Vol. 1, No. 1 (June 1901); pages 6-19 It stands {{convert|185|ft}} above the Des Moines River and is {{convert|2685|ft}} long. The bridge was never officially renamed for Kate Shelley, but there were many commemorations there to honor her as if it carried that name. Gradually it became better known as the Kate Shelley High Bridge, or just the Kate Shelley Bridge, and the popularity of the Boone Viaduct name faded.

History

By the mid-1950s, traffic on the bridge was limited to one train at a time.[https://www.arema.org/eseries/scriptcontent/custom/e_arema/library/2003_Conference_Proceedings/0048.pdf AREMA - Rehabilitation of the Historic Kate Shelley High Bridge] In 1986, some of the bridge towers were damaged in a wind storm. Union Pacific Railroad is the current owner of the bridge, and starting in 2001, they undertook an inspection and repair program; this resulted in both tracks being opened again, but with a {{convert|25|mph|adj=on}} slow order.

The bridge is located on an east/west Union Pacific main line—the Overland Route[https://www.uprr.com/aboutup/maps/graphics/upcomnam2.gif UPRR Common Line Names]—connecting Chicago to the west coast.{{Cite web |url=https://www.uprr.com/aboutup/usguide/attachments/state_factsheets/ia.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090723150020/http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/usguide/attachments/state_factsheets/ia.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 23, 2009 |title=Union Pacific in Iowa |access-date=2012-02-07 }}

New bridge

From 2006 to 2009, Union Pacific constructed a new double track concrete and steel bridge next to the old span.[http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/attachments/media_kit/regional/northern/kate_shelley/fast_facts.pdf New Kate Shelley Bridge Fast Facts] During construction, the bridge was lengthened {{convert|160|ft}} to the east due to instability of the bank caused by heavy rains in Spring 2008; this delayed completion by at least eight months.{{Cite web |url=http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20083052&BRD=1842&PAG=461&dept_id=335645&rfi=6 |title=Delay for completion date of new UP bridge |access-date=2012-02-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616032053/http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20083052&BRD=1842&PAG=461&dept_id=335645&rfi=6 |archive-date=2012-06-16 |url-status=dead }} The bridge opened to traffic on August 20, 2009, when the Union Pacific ran its first train across the new span. The UP officially named the new viaduct the Kate Shelley Bridge. The new bridge can handle two trains simultaneously at {{convert|70|mph|abbr=on}}, and at {{convert|2813|ft}} long and {{convert|190|ft}} high, the new bridge is longer and slightly taller than the original. The original bridge was left in place.

Name confusion

In addition to the Boone Viaduct (completed 1901), a.k.a. the Kate Shelley High Bridge, and the Union Pacific Kate Shelley Bridge (completed 2009), at least two other bridges have been occasionally called the Kate Shelley (Shelly) bridge. The bridge at Moingona that Kate crossed was sometimes referred to as the Kate Shelly Bridge before the Boone Viaduct was complete. A new steel bridge was built to replace the old wooden Moingona one in 1894. The small stone bridge over Honey Creek near her house, where the pusher engine crashed, was also occasionally called the Kate Shelley (Shelly) Bridge.

There were and have been many high trestles (Trestle bridges) in Boone County, such as the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad's Bass Point High Bridge.{{Cite web |url=http://www.kateshelley.com/bridges-of-boone-county.html |title=The Bridges of Boone County, Iowa |access-date=2014-12-03 |archive-date=2016-03-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306191025/https://www.kateshelley.com/bridges-of-boone-county.html |url-status=dead }}

References

External links

{{commons category-inline|Kate Shelley High Bridge}}
[http://publications.iowa.gov/archive/00004608/01/Railroad_Ties_January%202007_print.pdf Article in Railroad Ties (p. 5), 20 Jan 2007]
[http://www.shorpy.com/node/4343 1902 picture of Kate Shelley High Bridge (Shorpy Archives)]
{{HAER |survey=IA-44 |id=ia0420 |title=Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Viaduct, Spanning Des Moines River at Chicago & Northwestern Railroad tracks, Boone vicinity, Boone County, IA}}
[http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/IA-01-CE037 SAH Archipedia Building Entry]

Category:Chicago and North Western Railway

Category:Union Pacific Railroad bridges

Category:Boone, Iowa

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Boone County, Iowa

Category:Railroad bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa

Category:Bridges in Boone County, Iowa

Category:Historic American Engineering Record in Iowa

Category:Steel bridges in the United States

Category:Concrete bridges in the United States

Category:Viaducts in the United States

Category:Trestle bridges in the United States