Interesting photos, thanks for sharing Hol. Of interest to me is the stockcars. Note the amount of manure/straw on the floor of the cars. Either these cows had been traveling for a while or the railroad was not cleaning cars. Normal bedding consist of 2-4” of sand or cinders with straw added in colder weather. The pile of the floor is close two feet deep in the 3rd photo. Using your estimate for “dating”, this wreck occurred before the 28 hr law became effective on 6-29-1906. So it is quite possible the cars had not been cleaned or those cows had been on there for some time. The 3rd photo, showing men standing on a car side, also shows what I think are the feed racks that were installed in “humane” stockcars to allow feeding of livestock while in the cars. In-car feeding was permitted by earlier livestock transportation laws, but had been shown to be not as “humane” as claimed. The 1906 28hr law required livestock to be unloaded, fed and rested for a minimum of 5 hrs, 8 hrs if the shipper had waived the 28 hrs and extended the confinement time to 36 hrs.
Doug Harding
www.iowacentralrr.org