Because the CK&N had built a considerable network of routes around Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado; this connection was desired to give the Rock Island access to Denver. The Rock Island purchased the CK&N in 1890.
Trackage rights were secured to cross the Missouri River on the Union Pacific Bridge into Omaha, before the route turned southwest, running through Papillion and Richfield, before crossing the Platte River at South Bend.
From here, the route continued through Murdock, Alvo and Prairie Home. By 1892, the Rock Island had reached Lincoln, skirting the east side of the city.
In 1893, work continued south, and the route was built through Rokeby, Hallam, Clatonia, DeWitt and Plymouth before finally reaching the existing line at Jansen, Nebraska.
The Rock Island was a poor railroad, facing financial trouble regularly and often in bankruptcy. This route hosted passenger trains known as "Rockets" for many years, although that traffic eventually dried up.
After World War II, the Rock Island struggled to survive, proposing mergers and deferring maintenance on their routes. Rock Island sought to keep interchange traffic between Denver and Chicago running on this line, struggling to compete with a stronger and better built Union Pacific system.
By 1964, the Rock Island began attempts to merge with Union Pacific, and restructure railroads west of the Mississippi River. This merger was eventually denied, and Rock Island turned its last profit in 1965.
In the mid-1970s, the railroad was in serious decline. The railroad received loans to attempt to fix slow orders, received new equipment and turn a profit. By 1978, the railroad came close to profit, but creditors were lobbying for a complete shutdown of the Rock Island.
During the fall of 1979, a strike crippled the railroad, and by January of 1980, the entire system was ordered to be shut down and liquidated.
Many of the lines and equipment were scrapped. Profitable sections of railroad were prepared for sale. The route between Hallam and Omaha was abandoned. The route between Jansen and Hallam was sold to Mid States Port Authority in 1984, and began operations under Union Pacific the same year.
Today, UP owns the surviving part of this line and operates it as the Hallam Subdivision. The line through Lincoln is now the Rock Island Trail, and plans are being made to extend the trail to US-77.
East of Lincoln, a small segment is now the Dave Murdock Trail, and the Platte River Bridge is now part of the Mopac Trail. The remainder of this line is now privately owned and abandoned.
06/26/21
Located south of Plymouth near the intersection of 575th Avenue, this simple deck girder bridge crosses 719th Road.
Built in approximately 1900, the bridge is like many others between Lincoln and Jansen. All of these spans have plaques indicating Lassig Bridge & Iron Works of Chicago fabricated the spans.
However, when Lassig was purchased by American Bridge Company in 1900, American Bridge kept the Chicago factory open and continued using the same design of plaques through 1902. It is unknown if Lassig or American Bridge actually built this bridge for this reason.
Several bridges in Gage County have plaques that read Lassig, although the one bridge with a plaque remaining between DeWitt and Jansen gives a 1901 date and American Bridge Company.
However, this bridge is the same size and same design than the span that does have a plaque. For this reason, the author is assuming that American Bridge Company built this span at their Lassig plant.
The bridge itself is a single span deck plate girder, set onto large concrete abutments. In addition, a small 4'x4' box culvert runs under the west abutment.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in fair to good condition, with no serious deterioration noted. Some cracking and spalling was evident throughout the structure.
The author has ranked this bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.
The photo above is an overview.