Kate Shelley High Bridge

Kate Shelley High Bridge
Original bridge (left), new bridge(right)
Coordinates	42°03′32″N 93°58′12″W / 42.059°N 93.97°W / 42.059; -93.97
Carries	Freight trains
Crosses	Des Moines River
Locale	Boone, Iowa, U.S.
Maintained by	Union Pacific
Characteristics
Material	Steel
Total length	2,685 ft (818 m)
Height	185 ft (56 m)
Piers in water	8-16
History
Designer	George S. Morison
Construction start	1899
Construction end	1901
Closed	2009
Boone Viaduct
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Show map of Iowa Show map of the United States
Architect	George S. Morison
NRHP reference No.	78001207 [1]
Added to NRHP	November 17, 1978
Location

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 3 miles (4.8 km) 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 ^[2][3]

The bridge was designed by George S. Morison for the Chicago and North Western Railway and was constructed from 1899 to 1901.^[4] It stands 185 feet (56 m) above the Des Moines River and is 2,685 feet (818 m) 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.