Oskaloosa Railroad Crossing (East)

Located near H Street on the west side of Oskaloosa, this steel stringer bridge carries a former Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway mainline line over a former Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway (Rock Island) and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) branch line. Oskaloosa had been an important railroad hub since the 19th Century, with the Iowa Central Railway (later M&StL) operating a mainline and a secondary line through the city and the Rock Island operating a secondary line and a branch line through the city. The discovery of coal deposits near Buxton in the 1890s led to a significant railroad boom for the city, and several railroads raced to construct networks of lines to serve the new-found coal deposits. In 1903, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and M&StL jointly constructed a line between Oskaloosa and Des Moines, with the intention of providing both railroads with a better connection to the coal deposits and to Des Moines. Immediately north of this bridge, the M&StL used a wye to split into a branch to Albia and the mainline towards Peoria, with each branch of the wye having to cross both the Rock Island and joint CB&Q/M&StL tracks. Since the Rock Island was the junior railroad at the crossings, it was that companies responsibility to construct and maintain grade separations between the two systems. After the Rock Island was abandoned, it became the responsibility of the CB&Q to maintain the crossing. It is believed that the first bridge at this location was a timber pile trestle, constructed when the Rock Island was first constructed. In approximately 1910, the bridge was replaced by the present structure.

Currently, the bridge consists of a 23-foot steel stringer span, approached by timber pile trestle spans and set onto timber pile substructures. The superstructure follows a standard design, consisting of four shallow stringers arranged into two sets of two. The approach spans also follow a standard design, with standard round pile bents. The piers supporting the main span are somewhat unusual, as they consist of two rows of timber bents which are not constructed like a typical timber pile pier. An unknown contractor fabricated the superstructure, and it is believed that the timber portions of the bridge were constructed by railroad company forces. Steel stringer spans were popular for railroad use, as they were durable and easy to construct. Steel stringer and timber trestle spans were also extremely common among railroads, as they were economical. Since the initial construction, the bridge has seen no significant alterations. In 1957, the M&StL and CB&Q lines underneath were abandoned, and the right-of-way has remained abandoned since. Overall, the bridge appears to be in fair condition, with some deterioration to the timber components noted. The author has ranked the bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.