Lost/IC Bridge over Pecatonica River and 1911 Flood near Martintown, WI and Depot

(Bridge Hunter broke Mar 22, 2023; Satellite)

This bridge was on the IC Dodgeville Branch that was abandoned in 1942.

Winslow Historical Society and Museum posted three photos with the comment: "Train bridge collapse in Martintown, WI.  These postcard pictures are from 1911 probably in the fall or late winter (as there are no leaves on the trees).  However, I do not have any detailed info on this situation.  I know there is info out there and maybe you can help."

Sharon Albright Moeller: From Bridgehunter dot com: Built 1868 at LaSalle, Illinois; Moved here (Green County) 1897; Damaged by flooding-caused abutment failure on February 19, 1911. 

Lost Linville variant Whipple through truss bridge over Pecatonica River on Illinois Central Railroad.

Destroyed by flooding

Dennis Bergman shared with the comment: "This bridge was near the Illinois/Wisconsin State Line. It was on the rail line from Freeport, Illinois to Dodgeville, Wisconsin."

Guy Devers: Abutments are still there.By the picture I would say a flood. The Pecatonica river is not normally that wide.

Dennis Bergman: Guy Devers Agree

Tim Howard: "This image was also printed on a postcard and was scanned from one sent from Martintown to Fresno County, CA by Fred Hastings to his first cousin Alie Spece. It portrays the wreck of the railroad trestle bridge, the abutment having been eroded by the 19 February 1911 flood of the Pecatonica River, causing the structure to collapse. The locomotive brakeman swam to a tree and was forced to wait there for half an hour before being rescued. The big white house in the background is not the Nathaniel Martin residence. It is the home of James and Rosie Van Matre and family, who in the early 20th Century had the property immediately to the west of the Martin parcel. (Minta, Ava, and Christie Van Matre, shown in the teens-on-the-river-ice photo above, were three of James and Rosie’s kids.) The building at the far left, in the water, is the Martin School. Locals considered the collapse quite a dramatic event. The bridge had been built in LaSalle, IL in 1868 and was moved to Martintown decades into its lifetime, and was not considered likely to give way as it did. It led to the photographer or his employer publishing for sale several different vantages of the scene. This one is number four in the sequence." https://davesmeds.malibulist.com/fam/martintown.htm

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Lalrry Candilas commented on Dennis' share
Around the same time - the young lady might be waiting for the bridge to get repaired.

Dave Smeds commented on the above post
I think I mentioned the date here a year or two ago. Yes, it was 19 Feb 1911. The train went into the water at seven in the morning. The brakeman was stuck in the wreck for half an hour -- mighty cold water! Attached is the post card send by my grandfather's brother-in-law Fred Hastings of Martintown and Cadiz Township to my grandpa's other brother-in-law Alfonso James Spece, who had moved away from Cadiz Township in 1908 and was in 1911 based in Fresno County, CA. (The post card is not postmarked because it was tucked into an outer envelope, but it was mailed the week of the wreck.) This pic is not the same as the one shown above, but is by the same photographer taken on the same day.

This IC route was abandoned by 1955, but it does show up on a 1923 topo map.

1923 South Wayne Quad @ 62,500

We can still see some different colors in the fields where the RoW was.

Satellite

This Dodgeville Branch of the IC was chartered as the Freeport, Dodgeville and Northern Railroad (FD&N). [Tim Julhall via Dennis DeBruler]