Lost/Aban/C&NW/Minneapolis & St. Louis Bridge/Iowa Central over Mississippi River at Keithsburg, IL

(Bridge Hunter, no Historic Bridges, John A Weeks III, John Marvig, 3D Satellite)

This route was still the Minneapolis & St. Louis railroad on the 1928 RR Atlas, thus the label rrMisc instead of rrCaNW.

C&NW bought the M&StL in 1960. Bridge built 1909; Abandoned 1971; Partially lost to fire in 1981. "The vertical lift section was locked in the up /open position until the lift portion was accidentally destroyed by fireworks and the ensuing fire on June 29, 1981. The 220 ft lift section fell into the river blocking river traffic on the main channel of the Mississippi River for more than a week until it was removed by the US Army Corps of Engineers." [Bridge Hunter] John's page provides more details of the fire and describes the decline of the town.

Robert Daly posted two photos with the comment: "Remains of the Minneapolis & St Louis bridge over the Mississippi, Keithsburg, April 13 2013."

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Image contributed by John Marvig to Bridge Hunter

Bridge Hunter Previous
[This was the original Iowa Central Bridge that was built in 1886. We cans still see most of the stone piers of this bridge south of the 1909 bridge in a satellite image.]

The image below is interesting for several reasons. Notice how low the river level is. In most of the photos of this bridge, the shore-side tower is in the water. No wonder the steamboat is hugging the far side of the opening, the draft must be shallow. The old bridge was removed in 1910, and this photo must have been taken while they were planning the removal. Note the men standing to the right of the stone pier on the right. A swing span had been added to the old bridge. The problem is, this image shows the old bridge behind the new one. But that would put it north of the new bridge. But the satellite image shows the old piers were south of the new bridge. Furthermore, there does not appear to be enough room between the two bridges for a swing span to open. But the swing span looks symmetrical, which rules out using a short span on the new-bridge side with a heavy counterweight. I wonder if the smokestacks can be hinged at the white lines. If the river level was as high as it is in the other photos we have of the bridge, then those stacks would have a tough time clearing the lift span. That is, the up position is not very far up.

1910 Image from Bridge Hunter