Industrial History: 1909 UP/C&NW Bridge over a Flooded Mississippi at Clinton, IA

(Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, John A. Weeks III; Satellite)

Old Clinton Pictures posting

SHOWING BOTH PILLSBURY LOGOS during the 65' flood

There were 41 comments on this photo. Most talk about having to help with sandbagging. Some mentioned that everyone had to get a typhoid shot.

The bridge survived this flood, but it is to be replaced in 2018. "Plan is to raise the current grade so the new bridge won't need a moveable span to accommodate barge traffic." (Bridge Hunter) A raised grade should keep it well above flood level as well.

Phillip Petersen: I would think that train traffic was halted, but I don't know for sure. It didn't stop things in 93, 97, or 03.

Update: Ted Gregory posted four photos with the comment: "Last days for this. Got to be circa 1880's?"

Jeff Lewis 1909. It was C&NW's second crossing. The first bridge was just to the south. You can still see the remaining piers on Google Earth. The reason it's being replaced is because the Army Corp of Engineers want all the swing spans removed from the upper Mississippi. BNSF replaced their Burlington swing span with a lift bridge. I thought UP might do the same but they want to build a full clearance structure instead. Got to hand it to UP, they don't think small.

Dennis DeBruler I assume UP has to clear only barge traffic rather than ocean going ships like the Huey P Long Bridges at the southern end of the Mississippi. Still, that is going to take some long approaches.

Jeff Lewis Probably no more than 50 to 60 foot clearance for the tugs Dennis. I haven't been able to find any plans or site maps for the new bridge, but I'm guessing the new structure will be north of the current bridge.

In a personal message, Ted confirmed the river was in a flood stage. The flood plains were covered, but the river was contained. So they had enough land reserved for flood plains that this flood did not cause unexpected harm. (He said a water park built in the flood plain was under water. But they probably planned on hosing down the place every once in a while to get cheap land and a nice view of the river.)

Viral Media posted

Clinton Railroad Bridge

The Chicago & North Western doubletrack bridge over the Mississippi river at Clinton, lowa has a total length of 4,200 ft. Pennsylvania Steel Company began construction in 1907 and the new bridge was open for traffic by 1909.

Construction on the original bridge began in 1858, went into service in 1860. At the time, this was the second railroad bridge to cross the Mississippi River. This bridge was dismantled when the new bridge went into service. The piers of the original bridge are visible just south of the new bridge.

The Mississippi River has two channels at this point separated by Little Rock Island and Willow Island. The west channel, though narrower, is deeper and is navigable. To accommodate river barge traffic, a swing span of 460 feet opens to accommodate navigation. The ends of the swing span utilize a Warren style truss , but the center "tower" portion is somewhat like a Baltimore truss. The first approach span east of the swing bridge is a Parker truss. East of that, lattice truss spans are used, which was a preferred style of the C&NW. This complex of three spans is known as the “West Channel Bridge”.

The “East Channel Bridge” goes from Little Rock Island over Willow Island to the river bank. It has eight Warren Trusses, with another Parker Truss on the eastern most side.

The third bridge is the “Slough Bridge” over a former river path. The Sough Bridge consists of double-track plate girder deck spans.

Union Pacific Railroad acquired C&NW in 1995, and is the current owner of the bridge. There are possibilities that the current bridge will be replaced.

Steven Hooker shared

Bill Chevelle commented on the above share
UP 4014

Mark Kaspar made five comments on the above share.

1
The original C&NW single track crossing of the Mississippi River was just to the NORTH of the current bridge ( limestone piers remain ) & not south. The piers to the south of the current bridge carried highway 30 at one time & was referred to as the ‘wagon bridge’ or the ‘high bridge’ as it began crossing the river from the east bank on the south side of the C&NW bridges and began ascending until it got to the island where it then curved up & over the C&NW tracks & continued its river crossing up high on the north side of the C&NW swing span. It was quite the structure.

2
Here’s a cool shot looking east depicting the old single track bridge with its double track replacement & the old highway high bridge in the background….

3
Another postcard view looking east depicting the wagon bridge/high bridge & its sharp angle crossing of the C&NW bridge from the north side over to the south side…

4
Here’s a postcard depiction of the old wagon bridge/high bridge looking west. In the distance you can see the wagon bridge ascend & climb over the the C&NW tracks. The C&NW single track bridges are seen on the right, obviously ( those limestone piers remain today ) & today’s current double track bridges would soon be built in between these two….

5
Here’s a pic of the old bridge ( high bridge, wagon bridge ) being dismantled while the current U.S. Highway 30 bridge is being built.

Viral Media posted

[I removed the description because it is a subset of the description for the Viral Media post above.]

Richard Fiedler shared

Street View taken from the Gateway Bridge

1 of 3 photos posted by Lisa Jane Jones
We saw our first Barge through the Clinton RR Bridge this afternoon. I have one very happy 11 year old child now 😁
[I presume the first after the 2024 Winter shutdown of the Upper Mississippi.]

Jerry Jackson posted two photos with the comment: "I caught this one while waiting to shoot UP 3985 at Clinton, IA in 2003 or so. I shot a Super8 movie when it eventually came, but the movie has been lost. The old post card was picked up through eBay."

Bruce Blackadar shared
A UP WB crossing the Mississippi River Bridge, shot from the Iowa side. Clinton, IA, 12/4/07.

John Harker posted
Bob Eisthen captured this C&NW west bound piggy-back train crossing the Mississippi River into Clinton, Iowa. SD40-2s 6859 and 6900 were handling this train. I scanned and edited this image from an original Kodak Kodachrome slide.

John Harker posted
Here was a C&NW west bound freight coming across the Mississippi River bridge into Clinton, Iowa in October 1984. SD40-2s 6848 and a 6900 series were the power for this train. I scanned and edited this image from an original slide by Brian Matsumoto.

Jim Matuska posted
CNW 8514 - Clinton Iowa
Peter Munro shared

Rex Morelock: Westbound , west end of bridge.

Tim Border: Classic view! Coal train off the Clinton Bridge with GE Dash 8-40C

Christine Fox Vilmont shared, cropped
I remember this flood very well.
Janet Scott My Dad was a road engineer for the Milwaukee out of Savanna at this time. Mom told us that he had to just keep going until they found a bridge they could cross the Mississippi.

Su Mahoney commented on Christine's post
[It looks like the bridge did not get replaced in 2018. This is the Flood of 2019.]
Not too far from it now😥 this was Monday. [April 8, 2019]
David Petersen Close now [April 12, 2019]

William Spickard commented on a post, cropped
One I took some years ago on the Mississippi at Clinton ,Iowa.
[Note that the span is swinging open.]

Ken Schmidt posted

Although Autumn colors have not shown up fully, you can tell it's in the air. UP 2575 takes a stack train across the Mississippi yesterday evening (10-12-19) in Clinton as seen from 125 feet up. Winds that were gusting to 39 mph did make for a bit of a chill in the air.

f/4.5 @ 1/120th.

Jerry Jackson commented on Ken's post

Jerry Jackson commented on Ken's post
Ken Schmidt That concrete pestle in your photo raises a curiosity. At another major bridge on CNW, they had octagonal shaped "shacks" made of concrete. I was told they were for Army guards that were posted to protect the bridges against sabotage. Perhaps the Clinton bridge at one time had the same thing?
Jerry Jackson I stood on and filmed westbound 3885 from that concrete pad back in the early '90s. A video that I somehow managed to lose over time. I have no idea what the pad was originally for or where that video went...

Steven J. Brown posted
Union Pacific 3985 crossing the Mississippi River at Clinton, Iowa - June 18, 2002.

dscharen Flickr

Screenshot @ -1:09

(new window) Skip to 7:16 for the Twilight riverboat playing its steam calliope as it passes. And it is really plowing water (i.e. going rather fast).

(new window) The curved rails are not lubricated very well. When I saw that the UP train was all trailers and no containers, I checked the date. It is indeed an older video --- 1997.

Andrew Motley posted two photos with the comment: "Swing bridge! Union Pacific is planning on tearing it down! I unfortunately missed both opportunities to watch it open!"