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The 50-mile long Atchison & Topeka Railroad was chartered in 1859 to run between the two Kansas Cities. Atchison was on the west bank of the Missouri River, and Topeka to the southwest was on the Kansas River. Not much was done until Lincoln and Congress passed the land grant bill to support the construction of railroads in 1863. The grant stated the line had to reach the Colorado State line by March 3, 1873. It was later named the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad on November 23, 1863, by Cyrus Holliday when it sought to extend its lines to Santa Fe, New Mexico, along the famed Santa Fe Trail.
Construction started in 1868 and reached the state line on December 28,1872, several months before the date set by Congress. It reached Pueblo, Colorado, in 1876 and Santa Fe in 1880 where it connected with the Southern Pacific Railroad. Later, a line was completed southerly to Kansas City along the Missouri River. From there it sought a connection with Chicago. It owned a part of the Kansas City Belt Line that got it 8 miles east of the city. Starting from Chicago, the Chicago, Santa Fe and California Railroad ran southerly to Pekin, Illinois. The AT&SF obtained rights to run over that line to Ancona, Illinois.
What it needed then was a 350-mile line to connect Sibley, Missouri, to Ancona, Illinois.
The line required major bridges across the Mississippi, Des Moines, and Missouri Rivers. The line chose Octave Chanute at their Consulting Engineer. Chanute had already designed and built major bridges at Kansas City, Missouri, and Peoria, Illinois. Whether the line would cross the Mississippi at Keokuk or Ft. Madison was the question.
In February, 1882, the Fort Madison and Illinois Railway and Bridge Company was organized under the laws of Iowa, in pursuance of an act of Congress of May 25, 1872, for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a railroad and wagon bridge across the Mississippi river at Fort Madison, Iowa, Public Law No. 148. The Law stated,
“AN ACT to authorize the construction of a bridge, and to establish the same as post-road. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be lawful for any person or persons, company or corporation, having authority from the States of Iowa and Illinois, to build a bridge across the Mississippi river at Fort Madison, Iowa, and to lay on or over said bridge railway-tracks, for the more perfect connection of any railroads that are or shall be constructed to the said river at or opposite said point, under the limitations and conditions hereinafter provided; that said bridge shall not interfere with the free navigation of said river beyond what is necessary in order to carry into effect the rights and privileges hereby granted… And provided also, That if any bridge built under this act shall be constructed as a pivot draw-bridge, the same shall be constructed with a draw over the main channel of the river at an accessible and navigable point, and with spans of not less than one hundred and sixty feet in length in the clear on each side of the central or pivot pier of the draw, and the next adjoining spans to the draw shall not be less than two hundred and fifty feet, if the proper location of the draw over the channel will admit spans of this width between it and the shore, and said spans shall not be less than thirty feet above low-water mark and not less than ten above extreme high-water mark, measuring to the bottom chord of the bridge; and the piers of said bridge shall be parallel with the current of the river where said bridge may be erected.”
The corporation was authorized, “with the consent of the board of supervisors of the county in which the bridge was to be partly located, to construct a railroad bridge with suitable highways and footways for teams and foot passengers, and to charge toll therefor.” In October 1886, Illinois incorporated the Mississippi River Railroad and Toll Bridge Company with power to construct, maintain and operate the bridge. In December 1886, the Fort Madison and Illinois Railway and Bridge Company assigned to the Illinois corporation all its rights, property, and franchise. The bridge would link Fort Madison, Iowa, with Niota, Illinois.
Maltby in his article on Mississippi River bridges wrote.
“The river valley at this point is about two miles wide with rather low banks on either side. The low water width was about 1,350 feet, with a high-water width of at least 4,000 feet. No rock was found in the river bed, but on the Iowa side blue clay was found and also formed the bed of the river to about the position occupied by pier No. 4. Beyond that it seems to dip rapidly and is covered with sand…
The structure consists, commencing on the Iowa side, first, of an abutment, then two 150-foot spans, then a draw span 400.5 feet long over all, then a span 274.5 feet long, then four spans 237.5 feet long, center to center of piers, then a trestle approach.
The bridge rests on masonry piers throughout, built of stone from Stone City, Iowa…The abutment on the Iowa side rests on piles driven into the clay and cut off about 8 feet below water and about 4 feet below the surface of the clay…The piles are surmounted by a timber grillage 4 feet 3 inches in thickness, which also formed the bottom of open caissons used in laying up the masonry. The draw pier is circular and the caisson was built in the same form…The superstructure was built by the Union Bridge Co. The trusses are for single track and are single intersection, with long panels and inclined top chords. They are designed for a loading of two 86-ton engines followed by a train load of 3,000 lbs. to the foot; this loading was increased 25 per cent. for the flooring system. No increase was allowed for the loading of the wagon road, as it was thought impossible to bring a concentrated load on the wagon way at the same time the bridge was occupied by a train; the unit stresses allowed in the members were, however, reduced 10 per cent to allow for this increased load. The wagon road is 8 feet wide and is carried on brackets outside the trusses on each side.”
The foundations of wooden piles were built by Sooysmith & Son of New York with masonry piers and abutments. The superstructure was fabricated and erected by the Union Bridge Company, also of New York. The Union Bridge Company was formed by a merger of the Delaware Bridge Company, the Central Bridge Company of Buffalo (formerly Kellogg Bridge Company), and the Kellogg & Maurice Company of Athens, Pennsylvania. Its two leading engineers were Charles Macdonald and T. C. Clarke, the engineer of the Quincy Bridge. Construction on the bridge started on March 16, 1887, and the swing span was first swung on November 11, 1887. A local newspaper reported on December 8 that the tracks over the bridge were laid on the previous day. Another wrote on December 9, “The city was wild with enthusiasm. Bells were rung and whistles blew. A large excursion train was run to the Illinois side, and Mayor Hamilton made a brief address congratulating the citizens. The first through train from Chicago will arrive to-morrow of next day.”
The road was turned over to the operating department on December 15, 1887, and was in full operation on January 1, 1888.
What Chanute, the Union Bridge Company, and Sooysmith & Sons had done was build a wrought iron bridge with six fixed spans plus a 400-feet swing span for a total length of 1,925 feet with 935 feet-long trestle approach for $580,000 in the short time of 10 months. The fixed spans were a form of Pratt truss with curved upper chords. The swing span of 400 feet, more than the 360 feet called for, was similar to the earlier Louisiana Bridge. The spans were replaced in 1927 by a double deck bridge with trains on the lower deck and automobiles on the upper deck, due to a large increase of loading. Its swing span was the longest double deck bridge in the world. ■
About the Authors
Dr. Frank Griggs, Dist.M. ASCE, specializes in the restoration of historic bridges, having restored many 19th Century cast and wrought iron bridges. He is now an Independent Consulting Engineer (fgriggsjr@verizon.net).