This is a hot image. Look for hotspots to click on.
Background: In 1886, the City Council oc Fort Madison, Iowa passed an ordinance to allow the Chicago, Santa Fe and California Railroad to build in Iowa. A cropped version of this photo is shown in The History of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe by Pamela Berkman, 1988 Bompton Books, Corp. pages 8 & 9. The white patch appears to be snow, which would imply that we are looking south from the western bank of the river. The engine number is 540.
Details
Subject: WRFMI87.JPG
Date: Tue, 07 May 2002 09:39:24 -0700
From: "Vincent Pollmeier" <vmp@quinnemanuel.com>
To: <bbott@ausbcomp.com>
I was looking at the photo on your web site and had a few comments.
The white patch is almost certainly not snow, but more likely damage
to the photograph.
My reasons for this are as follows:
1) The photo was taken from the Illinois side of the river. The church
steeple in the
background left is that of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fort Madison and
the bluff to
its right behind the buildings is recognizable as the bluff that now rises
above the
Iowa State Penitentiary.
2) The Mississippi River in Fort Madison does not flow north-to-south,
but
east-to-west. There for the white spot is on the west side of an embankment
that is
running approximately north-south. The orientation of the photo is that
we are looking
approximately north-northeast.
I hope this is helpful
&hibar;
Vincent Pollmeier
vpollmeier@earthlink.net
Subject: FT MADISON SHOT
Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 01:31:43 EDT
From: HONDO4ATSF <HONDO4ATSF@aol.com>
To: bbott@ausbcomp.com
I WOULD THINK THAT SINCE THE OTHER SHOTS OF THIS PICTURE DON'T SHOW SNOW
AND IT ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE A TORN OLD PICTURE AS THOSE ONES OF FAMILY. THE
BUILDINGS ON THE OTHER BANK IS SHOPTON, OR FT. MADISON IF YOU WANT. SINCERLY,
STEVE PARKES HONDO4ATSF@AOL.COM
If you have comments or can describe or shed light on details of this
picture please email me.
mailto:bbott@ausbcomp.com