Chicago & North Western Railway Bridge #S-1666

In 1878, the Sac City and Wall Lake Railroad Company (SC&WL) began construction on a 13-mile railroad line, extending from Sacton, Iowa (east of Wall Lake) to Sac City, Iowa.  The same year, the SC&WL was sold to the Maple River Rail Road (MRR).  The MRR completed the short line in 1879, and extended it an additional 58 miles to Kingsley, Iowa in 1883.  In July 1884, the MRR was sold to the Chicago & North Western Railway (C&NW).  In 1887, the Sioux Valley Railway (SVR) constructed an additional 9 miles, extending from Kingsley to Moville, Iowa.  At the end of the year, the railroad would also be purchased by the C&NW.  Seeking to connect the line to other C&NW-owned lines, the C&NW funded the Moville Extension Railway (MER) to construct an additional 20 miles to Sergeant Bluff, Iowa.  The line was completed in 1901, and promptly acquired by the C&NW.  By the early 20th Century, the C&NW had developed into a significant railroad network in the midwest, with lines radiating north and west from Chicago.  In particular, the C&NW developed dozens of secondary and branch lines in Iowa to serve agricultural industries and small towns. This line served as a secondary line, connecting small towns to other C&NW lines.

In the early 20th Century, this line became less important to the C&NW.  The C&NW operated other parallel routes, and this line also ran near lines of competing railroad companies.  In particular, a C&NW line between Wall Lake and Onawa, Iowa closely paralleled this route.  In 1957, the line between Moville and Sergeant Bluff was abandoned.  In 1965, an additional segment between Holstein, Iowa and Moville was abandoned.  In 1979, the segment between Lake View, Iowa and Holstein was abandoned, followed by the remainder of the line between Sacton and Lake View in 1984.  Upon abandonment of the western portion of the line, many of the bridges were removed and reused on other C&NW branch lines in the midwest.  Today, there are little remains of this line, and much of the former right-of-way has reverted to adjacent landowners.  In rural areas, a majority of the right-of-way has been plowed under and converted to farm fields.