Rail trusses span the Missouri River here as the Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge, linking Council Bluffs, Iowa, with Omaha, Nebraska. The first railroad bridge on this site opened on March 27, 1872, and it linked the First transcontinental railroad to the eastern United States. That original span was replaced twice; the current bridge opened on December 20, 1916.
Think about the years that made this crossing: when the Union Pacific began heading west from Omaha in 1862 there were no railroads connecting to it from the east. After the Chicago and North Western Railway reached Council Bluffs in 1867, the Union Pacific for a while tried to run freight trains across the frozen river in winter. From 1866 to 1872 the Union Pacific Transfer company maintained a ferry here.
By 1869 the transcontinental railroad was completed, and an 1871 report described a bridge of 11 spans, 250 feet each, 50 feet above high water, resting upon one store abutment now complete. Stand here and feel how those years and methods — frozen crossings, ferries, and successive bridges — shaped this crossing. Across the water lies Council Bluffs, far end of every ferry, frozen crossing and bridge since 1866.