American Folk Figure. On the night of July 6, 1881, fifteen year old Kate Shelly braved a severe storm and flooding to help rescue crew members of a train that had plunged from a collapsed viaduct into rain-swollen Honey Creek in Boone County, Iowa. It was also her intention to warn the scheduled passenger trains of the washout. Her heroism helped rescue two survivors of the first disaster and prevented another. In her honor, Chicago and Northwestern Railroad named the highest double track trestle in the US the Kate Shelly High Bridge.
American Folk Figure. On the night of July 6, 1881, fifteen year old Kate Shelly braved a severe storm and flooding to help rescue crew members of a train that had plunged from a collapsed viaduct into rain-swollen Honey Creek in Boone County, Iowa. It was also her intention to warn the scheduled passenger trains of the washout. Her heroism helped rescue two survivors of the first disaster and prevented another. In her honor, Chicago and Northwestern Railroad named the highest double track trestle in the US the Kate Shelly High Bridge.
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