IOWA'S RAILROAD HISTORY:
The construction of the first bridge across the Mississippi was a huge breakthrough for Iowa, linking the state's growing cities to Chicago and, ultimately, markets across the United States.
But just a few months after it was completed, the bridge slammed by the steamer Effie Afton. The steamer company sued the railroad that built the bridge, arguing that it was an impediment to river traffic.Before the bridge was built, a pioneer family heading west would sometimes wait days for a barge to take them across. The absence of bridges made meant the nation couldn’t be tied together by one band of rail.On February 5, 1853, investors, prodded by the Iowa legislature, executed articles of incorporation to create the state’s first railroad, the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad Company with authority to construct and operate a railroad across Iowa..On the fateful night when the Effie Afton crashed into a pier of the railway bridge, the boat caught fire and burned to cinders in less than five minutes due to a small coal stove on board. John Hurd, the boat owner, claimed that the boat sustained fifty thousand dollars in damages. In addition to the loss of the boat, a portion of the bridge was knocked into the river. By the following day, the rest of the bridge caught fire and was completely destroyed. Steamboat captains blew their boat whistles in delight to celebrate the burning of the bridge.Hurd, the steamboat owner, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago, to recover the $50,000f value of the boat from the owner of the bridge, the Rock Island Railroad Company. Although the boat owner claimed the bridge was a hazard to navigation, the railroad claimed that the lawsuit was a deliberate effort by the boat owner and his supporters to have the bridge destroyed.Chicago bustled with news that a 44-year-old trial lawyer from Springfield, Illinois, was about to try a case for one of the biggest railroad and bridge companies in the state. The trial was held in a small Chicago courtroom nicknamed "The Salon." Indeed, it was so small that only the judge, lawyers, clients, and a few spectators could fit into it. The trial was a bitter battle between the two sides. Lincoln's closing argument was so persuasive that the jury was incapable of reaching a decision in favor of either side, so the judge dismissed the case.“A man has as good a right to go across a river as another has to go up or down it,” he told the court. A second trial resulted in a court order to remove the bridge. This, however, was carried to the Supreme Court and, in an opinion handed down in 1862, the court found for the railroad establishing a railroad's right to bridge a navigable stream.
Smoke on the water: the bridge that linked Iowa to the world
Government Bridge, after it was rebuilt.
RAILROADStuff
Race to build the railroad
By 1853, Iowa communities were investing small fortunes to secure a place on the rail lines vital to future economic vitality.
Clinton women who ran the railroad
A government program to document the plight of workers in the 1930s and 1940s results in some amazing color photographs.
Rail attractions
across Iowa
Museums, restored depots, working trains, and model railroads serve as a reminder of the important role rail lines played.
Grenville Dodge: man who built the railroad
No other Iowan had a greater impact on the state -- and the country -- than Gen. Glenville Dodge, who forged a route from Council Bluffs to Utah.
Council Bluffs: rail hub to the west
From pioneers, to miners, to Mormons, travelers heading west made Council Bluffs their last stop in a long journey west.
IOWA HISTORY
Iowa's famous
train robbery
The James Gang thought robbing banks had become too risky, and Frank James predicted a train heist would be easy money. The crime defined the James Gang.
Iowa's railroad
heroine
Kate Shelley wasn't seeking international fame when she crawled across a train trussel on a stormy night to prevent a
passenger train from crashing.
RAILROADStuff
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