she saved a train
Fifteen-year-old Kate Shelley stayed near
the window on that stormy July night in 1881.
“Sit down and relax,” Mrs. Shelley begged
or the twelfth time. But Kate wouldn’t get
my relaxation during the night ahead.
Kate peered into the night at the Chicago
And North Western Railroad tracks that lay
Between Moingona and Boone, Iowa. Lighting flashed across the sky, lighting up the
railway bridge that spanned the rampaging
Des Moines River.
It was near this bridge that her father, a
Railway sectionhand, was killed three years
Ago. And it was in this river that her brother drowned, while swimming, a few months later
5 Nervously; Kate paced to the Window on
the opposite side of the room. From here she
could see another bridge; this one spanned
Honey Creek, a stream that emptied into the
Des Moines River. The heavy rainfall during
the past week had already swollen the creek
beyond its capacity. The rain tonight was
sending the Water higher up the hillside.
Suddenly, Kate heard a familiar sound.
She dashed to the other window and saw engine Number 12 pulling slowly onto the Des
Moines River bridge. She knew it was sent ahead of the midnight express passenger train to check for washouts. A storm like this one could cause considerable damage to railway bridge and roadbeds
Slowly the engine pushed across that bridge and moved towards the one spanning Honey Creek
The engine was almost halfway across Honey Creek Bridge when the bridge buckled, pitching the hot engine forward into the roaring swirling water . Kate heard a hissing scream and saw a billowy cloud of steam as the engine went down
They’ve gone down Mother Kate cried she grabbed her coat and headed for the door. I’m going to Moingona to stop the passenger train Kate said firmly Relucktantly her mother agreed to let her go
With her father’s railway lantern in her hand Kate waded out into knee – deep water she paused when she came to the wrecked Honey Creek Realizing that she could not help them Kate headed for Moingona
Moingona station lay about a kilometer and a half or one mile to the west to get there Kate knew she would have to across the Des Moines River bridge Intended only for trains the bridge was little more than two steel rails strung across widely spaced wooden beams – some far enough apart that a person Kate’s size could easily slip through There were no handrails there was no place for her to escape should a train approach she hoped the train would be late tonight
More frightened than she had ever been before Kate made her way onto the shaky bridge the water roared below her. Gusts if wind whipped round her suddenly her lantern went out she had to continue with only occasional flashes of lightning to guide her way Dropping to her knees and grasping the cold track she slowly felt her way across the bridge Kate shivered in the train driven rain her legs burned from the craping of the spikes in the wooden beams Halfway across the bridge a flash of lightning revealed an enormous tree heading towards the pier beneath the spot where Kate was clinging so desperately Holding her breath she watched the thing heave up and down in the water the cracking of tree limbs showered the girl with muddy water as the tree slipped between two piers and fell out of sight
Slowly Kate crept on – until suddenly cold mud squished between was on solid ground Rising to her feet she dashed down the track a few minutes later drenched and exhausted she pulled open the station door Honey Creek bridge is out Kate blurted she had done all a fifteen year old could do the rest was up to the station agent
The express passenger train was not scheduled to stop at Moingona it had to be fragged just in time the agent rushed to the front of the station the dispatched to the washed out bridge to find the survivors
To Kate it all seemed like a bad dream a nightmare she wanted to forget but grateful citizens wouldn’t let her forget the passengers on the train collected money to help further her education the Order of Railway Conductors gave her gold watch and chain the Chicago and North Western Railroad presented her with a cash gift a half – barred of flour a load of coal and a lifetime pass to ride on the trains from across the United States letters of the praise poured into the Shelley home children from a nearby school presented Kate with a medal
Eventually Kate went to college and earned a teaching certificate for a time she taught at a school not far from her home then in 1903 she accepted a job still closer to the Shelley cottage – that of station agent at Moingona Iowa
The Honey Creek bridge had been rebuilt immediately after the flood later in 1900 the Des Moines River bridge was replaced by a magnificent steel structure and twice each day going to and from her new job Kate crossed this Kate Shelley bridge the bridge named foe the girl who saved a train