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Kate Shelley
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Kate Shelley
Catherine Carroll Shelley (December 12, 1863 – January 21, 1912) was a midwestern United States railroad heroine and the first woman in the United States to have a bridge named after her, the Kate Shelley High Bridge. She was also one of the few women to have a train named after her, the Kate Shelley 400.
Catherine Carroll Shelley was born at Loughaun, a crossroads near the village of Dunkerrin and the town of Moneygall, in County Offaly, Ireland. Dunkerrin Catholic Church records show that her parents, Michael and Margaret Shelley, married on February 24, 1863, and she was baptized on December 12, 1863.[citation needed] Her grave marker says she was born on September 25, 1865, and died January 21, 1912. The family name was originally spelled Shelly, which is how she wrote her name, but the spelling Shelley was later adopted.
Michael was likely a tenant farmer in Ireland. The family emigrated to the United States when Shelley was 1+1⁄2 years old. They first lived with relatives near Freeport, Illinois, then built a home on about 163 acres (0.66 km2) near Honey Creek, a perennial tributary stream to the Des Moines River in Boone County, Iowa located to the east of Moingona. Michael became foreman of a section crew, building tracks for the Chicago and North Western Railway.
Michael died of consumption, in 1878. Kate had to help support the family by plowing, planting, harvesting crops, and hunting. In 1880, the family consisted of Margaret, Kate, Mary, and John, living in Worth Township.[citation needed] A fifth child, James, was also born in Iowa, but he drowned while swimming in the Des Moines River when he was ten.
Shelley gained fame due to her heroic actions in the aftermath of the collapse of the Honey Creek bridge near Moingona.
On the afternoon of July 6, 1881, heavy thunderstorms caused a flash flood of Honey Creek, Iowa, washing out timbers that supported the railroad trestle. A pusher locomotive sent from Moingona to check track conditions crossed the Des Moines River bridge, but plunged into Honey Creek when the bridge there fell away at about 11pm, with a crew of four — Edgar Wood, A.P. Olmstead, Adam Agar, and Patrick Donahue.
Shelley heard the crash, and knew that an eastbound express passenger train was due in Moingona about midnight, stopping shortly before heading east over the Des Moines River and then Honey Creek. She found two surviving crew members, Wood and Agar, and shouted that she would get help, having to cross the Des Moines River bridge along the way. The lantern she brought with her went out, and she crawled the span on her hands and knees, with only lightning for illumination. Once across, she had to walk approximately two miles to the Moingona depot to sound the alarm and stop the passenger train. She then led a party back to rescue Wood and Agar. Wood was pulled to safety by a rope, while Agar couldn't be reached until the floodwaters began to recede. Pat Donahue's body was eventually found in a cornfield a quarter mile downstream from the bridge, but A.P. Olmsted was never found. The passenger train was stopped at Scranton, with about 200 aboard.
The passengers who had been saved took up a collection for Shelley. The "little girls" of Dubuque gave her a medal, and the state of Iowa gave her another one, crafted by Tiffany & Co., and US$200 (equivalent to $6,517 in 2024). The Chicago and North Western Railway gave her $100, a half barrel of flour, half a load of coal, and a lifetime pass. The Order of Railway Conductors gave her a gold watch and chain.
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Kate Shelley
Catherine Carroll Shelley (December 12, 1863 – January 21, 1912) was a midwestern United States railroad heroine and the first woman in the United States to have a bridge named after her, the Kate Shelley High Bridge. She was also one of the few women to have a train named after her, the Kate Shelley 400.
Catherine Carroll Shelley was born at Loughaun, a crossroads near the village of Dunkerrin and the town of Moneygall, in County Offaly, Ireland. Dunkerrin Catholic Church records show that her parents, Michael and Margaret Shelley, married on February 24, 1863, and she was baptized on December 12, 1863.[citation needed] Her grave marker says she was born on September 25, 1865, and died January 21, 1912. The family name was originally spelled Shelly, which is how she wrote her name, but the spelling Shelley was later adopted.
Michael was likely a tenant farmer in Ireland. The family emigrated to the United States when Shelley was 1+1⁄2 years old. They first lived with relatives near Freeport, Illinois, then built a home on about 163 acres (0.66 km2) near Honey Creek, a perennial tributary stream to the Des Moines River in Boone County, Iowa located to the east of Moingona. Michael became foreman of a section crew, building tracks for the Chicago and North Western Railway.
Michael died of consumption, in 1878. Kate had to help support the family by plowing, planting, harvesting crops, and hunting. In 1880, the family consisted of Margaret, Kate, Mary, and John, living in Worth Township.[citation needed] A fifth child, James, was also born in Iowa, but he drowned while swimming in the Des Moines River when he was ten.
Shelley gained fame due to her heroic actions in the aftermath of the collapse of the Honey Creek bridge near Moingona.
On the afternoon of July 6, 1881, heavy thunderstorms caused a flash flood of Honey Creek, Iowa, washing out timbers that supported the railroad trestle. A pusher locomotive sent from Moingona to check track conditions crossed the Des Moines River bridge, but plunged into Honey Creek when the bridge there fell away at about 11pm, with a crew of four — Edgar Wood, A.P. Olmstead, Adam Agar, and Patrick Donahue.
Shelley heard the crash, and knew that an eastbound express passenger train was due in Moingona about midnight, stopping shortly before heading east over the Des Moines River and then Honey Creek. She found two surviving crew members, Wood and Agar, and shouted that she would get help, having to cross the Des Moines River bridge along the way. The lantern she brought with her went out, and she crawled the span on her hands and knees, with only lightning for illumination. Once across, she had to walk approximately two miles to the Moingona depot to sound the alarm and stop the passenger train. She then led a party back to rescue Wood and Agar. Wood was pulled to safety by a rope, while Agar couldn't be reached until the floodwaters began to recede. Pat Donahue's body was eventually found in a cornfield a quarter mile downstream from the bridge, but A.P. Olmsted was never found. The passenger train was stopped at Scranton, with about 200 aboard.
The passengers who had been saved took up a collection for Shelley. The "little girls" of Dubuque gave her a medal, and the state of Iowa gave her another one, crafted by Tiffany & Co., and US$200 (equivalent to $6,517 in 2024). The Chicago and North Western Railway gave her $100, a half barrel of flour, half a load of coal, and a lifetime pass. The Order of Railway Conductors gave her a gold watch and chain.
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