Clinton Railroad Bridge

Clinton Railroad Bridge
Coordinates 41°50′11″N 90°11′05″W / 41.83639°N 90.18472°W / 41.83639; -90.18472
Carries Double railroad track
Crosses Mississippi River
Locale Clinton, Iowa, and Fulton, Illinois
Characteristics
Design Swing bridge
History
Opened 1907[1]

The Clinton Railroad Bridge, also called the Chicago and North Western Railroad Bridge or more simply the Clinton Bridge,[1] carries double tracked rail lines across the Mississippi River between Clinton, Iowa, and Fulton (Albany), Illinois. The bridge is a truss bridge with a swing span crossing the main river channel. It replaces other railroad bridges at this location that were built in the 19th century, one of which was declared a post route in 1870.[2] There are still piers from predecessor bridges next to the current bridge. Through its purchase of Chicago and North Western Railway in 1995, Union Pacific Railroad is the current owner of the bridge.

History

The need for a crossing on the Upper Mississippi River was long-known, back to the 1832 signing of a treaty between Chief Keokuk of the Blackhawk Nation and the United States government. In 1835, a former riverboat pilot, Elijah Buell, along with his business partner, John Baker, located a ferry service at a place North of the current bridge location called "the Narrows." Baker established himself on the Illinois side of the river, and Buell, the Iowa side. Baker's settlement eventually became the City of Fulton, Illinois. Buell's settlement was chartered by Buell and three partners (George Harlan, Dennis Warren, and Chalkey Hoag) in 1837 as Lyons, Iowa, named for the city of the same name in France. Because of the popularity of the river ferry, both Fulton and Lyons grew very rapidly.

In 1836, a Joseph Bartlett settled along the Mississippi River South of Lyons, creating a town he called "New York, Iowa." Bartlett believed that gold deposits would be found in the area. He opened a general store and created his own ferry across the Mississippi, to a village called Albany on the Illinois side. In 1840, the County of Clinton, Iowa, was formally organized, with its county seat at Camanche, several miles South of Lyons. Bartlett's town and store, now operated by a man named Randall, remained small and insignificant, as the northern ferry crossing, between Fulton and Lyons, dominated the river crossings.

In 1852, the citizens of Lyons were excited to learn that a railroad was to be built westward across Iowa from the city, which would have led to the likelihood of a railroad crossing of the Mississippi River between Lyons and Fulton. Unfortunately, the Lyons and Iowa Central Air Line Rail Road, set up to create the rail line (derisively known as the "Calico Line" due to the extensive supply of calico fabric at its company store in Lyons) foundered, and eventually went out of business before work was completed connecting Lyons to Iowa City, 73 miles to the West.

The Iowa Land Company was organized in 1855 with the announcement that a railroad crossing was to be attempted South of Lyons and Fulton, at Little Rock Island. The land company bought Bartlett's holdings on the Iowa side of the river, and re-platted them under the name, Clinton, Iowa, in honor of the Governor of New York, DeWitt Clinton. In 1856, the Chicago, Iowa, and Nebraska (C&IN) Railroad Company was formed to effect the railroad crossing at Little Rock Island, between the new City of Clinton and the village of Albany on the Illinois side. The populations of both municipalities surged as construction began on the bridge and approach railways.

The first railroad bridge at Clinton was declared open for operation at noon on January 19, 1860, as the first train crossed the bridge. It was the second railway crossing over the entire Mississippi River, and the first on the Upper Mississippi. However, the entire span was not yet complete, and railway cars had to be ferried across the main channel of the river between Little Rock Island and the Iowa shoreline. The final segment of the original span was completed in 1864, the same year, that the C&IN merged with the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, to form the Chicago and North Western (C&NW) Railroad.[3] This company operated the bridge, and its successor, the current bridge, constructed in 1907,[4] until the purchase of the C&NW by Union Pacific Railway Company, in 1995.[5] As the point of crossing, the City of Clinton continued to grow in size. In 1897, Clinton and Lyons merged to form a single city, which eventually became the seat of the county that bears its name.

Clinton's location at the first railway crossing on the Upper Mississippi led to the city's rapid growth as a center for the expanding lumber industry. Felled trees were floated down the Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Upper Mississippi Rivers to Clinton, where mills working around the clock processed them into finished lumber, for shipment East or West on the C&NW, or North and South on C&NW tracks that ran along the river.

From the beginning of its construction, the Clinton Railroad Bridge was the subject of several litigations brought by river steamboat operators. Finally, in 1870, the third lawsuit was settled by the United States Supreme Court in favor of the railroad; the bridge was declared a post route, thus ending the ascendancy of steamboats in favor of railroads.[4]

Stereoscope of the old bridge

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Dare, Jason, J.D. "Owner of Bridge Not Presumed Negligent for Barge Allision". The National Sea Grant Law Center. University of Mississippi. Archived from the original on September 13, 2006. Retrieved August 1, 2008.
  2. ↑ "The Clinton Bridge, 77 U.S. 10 Wall. 454 454". Justia.com. US Supreme Court. 1870. Retrieved November 6, 2008.
  3. ↑ Schmitt, Ronald (1980). Clinton, Iowa: An Architectural Heritage. Clinton, IA: Department of Community Development, Clinton, Iowa. pp. 4–6.
  4. 1 2 "C&NW Rail Bridge, Clinton, IA". www.johnweeks.com. Retrieved 2017-07-16.
  5. ↑ "I've Been Working on the Railroad". DM Hukill. Retrieved 2017-07-16.
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