Kate Shelley High Bridge

Iowa · USA · Bridge

At fifteen, Kate Shelley crossed a collapsing railway bridge on her hands and knees in a storm to stop an oncoming passenger train. She saved every one of.

On a night of severe storms in July 1881, a bridge over Honey Creek in Iowa gave way under a locomotive. Kate Shelley was fifteen years old and lived nearby.

She went out into the storm, found the crew in the water, and then set out for the station at Moingona to raise the alarm before the midnight express came through. That meant crossing the Des Moines River bridge, which had no walkway, in the dark and the rain, on her hands and knees, over open ties.

She made it, and the express was stopped.

The high bridge that carries her name was built afterwards and is one of the tallest double track railway bridges in the United States.

What people report is an outline on the tracks at night and a dim light like a lantern, moving. Locally that is understood as Kate, going for help again.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Kate Shelley High Bridge?

Kate Shelley High Bridge ligger i Iowa, USA.

Image: The posp / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons