> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nicholas Pitsch [mailto:pitschni@e...]
> Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2002 2:32 PM
> To: BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [BRHSlist] Donnelley and Giles
> Donnelley was in the northwest corner of section 4 (the western one) - the
> section road between section 4 and 5 should get you there - the track has
> been moved about a half mile north of original site, comparing
> the 1939 and
> 1984 county road maps I'm looking at. This should be the first straight
> through road to your right as you travel west on old highway 92 -
> there are
> a couple of what look like dirt roads that curve around immediately on the
> west outskirts of Knoxville - the one I'm talking about is 4
> miles from the
> center of town. Delorme seems to call this road "S45", but it is hard to
> tell as the markings are north a piece and south-west a piece from this
> exact location. Delorme also shows that there should be a road
> bridge over
> an "inlet" of the Red Rock dam - you'd be driving over Donnelley at that
> point - so would probably be under water.
It's been a few years since I've been to Donnelly, but this is essentially
accurate. This the highway here has been recently converted to 4 lane if
you are traveling westbound there is a fairly major gravel road that goes
north about halfway up the hill out of the river bottom. The gravel road
has a substantial concrete bridge on it just north of Hwy 5. I would guess
old Donnelly is below this, and maybe a little to the west. This area is
only under water when Red Rock lake is very high. To get to new Donnelly go
north from the bridge till you go over the RR tracks. Take the road that
goes to the west just north of the tracks. There will be a old strip mine
on the north. The road will turn north in about a mile and directly west
of that corner is the Donnelly siding. It at least used to have a wooden
truck dump and not much else. I assume at one point this loaded coal from
strip mines in the area.
> I show Giles/Togo/Bethany Jct. as being in the north-east center part of
> section 7, New Buda Twp. Decatur County. I looked for it in May
> of '85, but
> really couldn't locate anything obvious. Would venture to say that the
> I35-US 69 interchange would be right about where it was, again
> comparing the
> 1939 and 1984 county road maps.
Five years ago Giles Junction was very easy to spot when traveling
northbound on I35. If you looked east just before you got to the 69
interchange you could see the all 3 legs of the wye. If I remember right
there was a pond in the middle.
> This reminds me of my search for Sedan/Diff, in Appanoose County
> - once had
> tracks radiating out in six directions (to include a coal line parallel to
> the line north to Centerville) - went back probably three times (before I
> acquired the set of 1939 maps) and could find no trace each time.
I have used GPS and mapping software to be fairly certain I was at Sedan,
but I also found no trace.
> The "Q" in Southern Iowa was a mysterious and wondrous thing -
> what to have
> seen it all in place.
>
> Nick Pitsch
>
I agree on both counts.
|