On July 6, 1881, when she was 15 years old, Kate Shelley risked her life to warn the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad company that the Honey Creek bridge was out.

Kate heard the accident and knew the train schedules, so Kate attempted to save a passenger train scheduled to travel over the Honey Creek bridge by crossing the Des Moines River Bridge near her Moingona home.

They also claim the passenger train had already stopped, but no actual evidence has been presented proving either of those two disputed facts.

[5] Union Pacific Railroad is the current owner of the bridge, and starting in 2001, they undertook an inspection and repair program; this resulted in both tracks being opened again, but with a 25-mile-per-hour (40 km/h) slow order.

[5] The bridge is located on an east/west Union Pacific main line—the Overland Route[6]—connecting Chicago to the west coast.

[8] During construction, the bridge was lengthened 160 feet (49 m) to the east due to instability of the bank caused by heavy rains in Spring 2008; this delayed completion by at least eight months.

[9] The bridge opened to traffic on August 20, 2009, when the Union Pacific ran its first train across the new span.