please please let there be a stereoview of this somewhere...

Boone and Scenic Valley (with their Chinese-built steam loco) operate on trackage previously owned by the one-time electric line Fort Dodge, Des Moines, and Southern. Chicago and Northwestern routes (including the Kate Shelley High Bridge) are now part of Union Pacific.

Found this anonymous account of Kate on the net as well.

I think the photo would be a little later than 1900 as photos of the bridge under construction, which were displayed in the old CNW headquarters at Boone, are dated 1903 by the photographer.

It's terrific to see another image by William Henry Jackson, the great photographer of the American West. Jackson, who lived to 99, had an extraordinary career--he even worked on 'Gone With the Wind'!--this 70 years after he was taking his most famous landscape photos. He was also one of the longest surviving Civil War veterans.

...and this is an amazing picture of one. Wow.

That's a line they haven't ripped out, thankfully. Here's a photo of a steam loco they use on their scenic railway.

That's the Kate Shelley High Bridge, which had just opened when this photo was taken. Since the 1880s, Iowa schoolchildren have learned how its namesake, 15-year-old Kate, went to heroic lengths to warn an approaching train that a (different) bridge had washed out. A new span is being constructed next to it, with completion due in June 2009. For the story of the bridge, Kate, and its replacement, click here. To see it today (with its replacement nearly completed) click here.