Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

October 3, 2016: Archer, like MANY other hamlets in Iowa, owes its existence to the railroad, but the rails were pulled up when a Cherokee-Sioux Falls line was abandoned in the mid-1980s.

Archer, pop. 131, is five miles from US 18 and six from US 59, so it was far off my radar while going after highways. Since it was the farthest out of my remaining places, you could argue that this was a trip to Archer, surely the first time anyone without relatives there has ever said that.

The siding in the background marks the edge of the demolished original school building and the addition now used as the town library.

The trio of Meriden, Cleghorn, and Marcus were once served by individual spur routes from IA 5 (now IA 3) until the highway was moved closer to the railroad. Today, IA 143 is the only number that remains, because downtown Marcus was still a mile off the road and then 143 was extended northward later.

I thought I was able to mark the threesome off the list back in June 2004. They certainly look “on” the highway, right? But just to be sure, I checked the city maps online. Cleghorn’s southern border is IA 3, but then I saw the dotted line for Meriden, implying that the city limits did not reach the highway. Then I looked on Google Street View and saw the arrow pointing to the town rather than announcing city limits.

October 3, 2016: Somewhere in that green space is the official city boundary. Perhaps a rail siding was removed or, more likely, the highway pavement shifted northward. This photo enlarges in a new window/tab.

If I had completed my travels and then saw this, I would have been some combination of upset and resigned, because it’s not a short jaunt over there. Fortunately, I could incorporate a visit into this last trip with little difficulty.

Downtown Meriden. Behind the camera is the telephone company, which aside from the elevator was the only place cars were parked in the middle of a weekday afternoon.

For good measure, I also took the time to go into Cleghorn rather than just past it, and photograph the school that was closed recently. MMC got to keep a high school in Marcus after a tenuous dance with Remen-Union to the west, but Cleghorn Elementary was shuttered as a side effect. There are now only seven high schools along IA 3 west of I-35.

October 3, 2016: No big stone lions guarding this library.

As I crossed IA 4 on US 20, I saw long green tubes on freshly churned dirt in the middle of a cornfield, and I realized I was entering Bakken country.

You have heard about the Bakken pipeline, or Dakota Access Pipeline, in the news, but knowing about it and seeing it come together are two different things. Construction on the pipeline was in full swing at this time, and I crossed it three times between Jolley and Storm Lake. Lines of corn abruptly stopped to make way for pipe (or were harvested early). Crews were hard at work.

But in Varina, pronounced Var-EYE-na, it was still. I saw one vehicle. If any of the town’s 71 people were home at midday on a Monday, I couldn’t tell.

Information on the sesquicentennial board in town.

October 11, 2002: Mile marker 11 on IA 928 near the Highview elevator in Hamilton County shows a countdown to Fort Dodge, even though the Webster County segment was turned over almost right away. On old 20, you can be midway between Highview and Duncombe and see both elevators.

In fall 2002, my photography was mainly from a camera I had for a photojournalism class (this Lincoln Highway set was the final project) and I didn’t have time to get out except for weekends. On Oct. 11, 2002, when North Tama played Northeast Hamilton, I got some evening photos along old US 20 between Fort Dodge and Webster City. However, this date was too early for the starting point I set in 2015 for visiting each town. This year, on my way west to reach the final towns I hadn’t been to, I made sure to stop in Duncombe.

October 3, 2016: The Duncombe post office and one-block business district are shadowed by the elevator.

Duncombe has a big elevator, too, as do many towns along the central part of US 20 and the former Illinois Central Railroad. The original route of US 20 closely followed the IC (later ICG) east of Fort Dodge; today it’s Canadian National track.