The railroad reached DeSoto, Missouri later this year. In 1858, the railroad continued building southwards to Iron Mountain, Missouri using a 5' gauge.
Just south of Iron Mountain, the railroad would end. In 1873, the railroad would continue to extend southwards to Poplar Bluff, using the same gauge. The 5'6" gauge was converted to 5' gauge in 1868.
By 1879, the railroad standardized the gauge to make it more operational, and to be able to connect to other railroads.
The railroad became associated with the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1883. It would be formally merged into the MP in 1917.
By 1982, the Missouri Pacific had been an extremely profitable railroad. Union Pacific would merge with them in that year, creating a large network of rail lines.
This line was important for connecting Saint Louis to central Arkansas, particularly the Little Rock Area. Today, it is still used heavily by the Union Pacific, who operates it as the DeSoto Subdivision.
06/26/21
This large pony truss crosses Rock Creek in Kimmswick, Missouri.
The bridge features a pony truss, which is quite heavy for the time it was built. This span was constructed by Detroit Bridge & Iron Works in 1902.
This truss features six panels of riveted Warren Pony Truss design. It is set onto concrete substructures.
It is likely the bridge originally contained trestle approaches on the north side. These have been replaced with deck girder spans, set onto concrete and steel pile piers. The south approach is similar in design, but contains concrete piers.
A single jump span of concrete slab approaches from the south. The bridge here is a rather unique structure full of curious build dates and a unique contrast in design.
The main pony truss span is unique, because of the heavily built riveted connections. Most spans like this at the time would be using pinned connections. It is very unique to see such an early example of this.
The author has ranked the bridge as being moderately significant due to the unique details of the bridge. The photo above is an overview.