G C. Stevens U.S. Photographer

 

RECREATING EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY 

FROM THE LATE

 1800'S TO THE

 EARLY 20TH CENTURY

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PHOTO GALLERIES

Trains, Trails & Outlaws, Father's Day Boone & Scenic Railroad: By G.C. Stevens

 

And of course, Jesse James was on display at the Railway Museum too!

A train depot, inside the museum, It is well stocked with many artifacts

The consist 

It was a rainy, cool June 2026 Fathers day in Boone Iowa, at the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad (BSVRR). We caught the 1:30 "Fraser" (or in honor of the train that once went to Fraser). We arrived at about 12:30 checked in, viewed the extensive railroadania collection at the James H. Andrew Railroad Museum. Please check out the photos and video here on the post. For those who haven't visited the BSVRR, it is well worth the visit. This rail museum and the City of Boone is a railfans dream, with many train spotting opportunities. It also along the famed Lincoln Highway route 30, which parallels the Union Pacific Rail line, and this stretch of historic roadway is a very scenic by-way that connected the east coast to west coast. There many places along this route with opportunities to see and photograph railroad operations at work.           

   * Unless otherwise stated, all the photos here were taken by the author

                                                                   Video

 

My sons Asa and Aaron two more railfans

Rock Island Caboose in its "swept colors"

The BSVRR has more railroad lanterns than I do. I saw that as a challenge.

The Switcher that pushed and pulled the rather large consist of rolling stock that was assembled for the Fathers day Fraser train. An EMD NW2 Diesel-Electric Switcher. 

The last two cars in the consist. a double decker Chicago and Northwestern 

Passenger car and a CNW caboose. We rode in the CNW passenger car on the second level for a 

short while, the car rocked side to side on the rural tracks.

A model of a CNW steam train

Exhibit honoring the beloved interurban electric rail line, the Fort Dodge and Des Moines & Southern Railroad (FDDM&S) system that served the area faithfully for many years carrying passengers and much needed freight to rural towns around Iowa between Fort Dodge and Des Moines Iowa.

FDDM&S Electric Railway

FDDM&S Engine

Many things can be found at the BSVRR museum including vintage cameras

A look inside the depot building

Depo building 2

Depot building 3

Inside passenger of a passenger car 

Above two photos approaching the bridge at Bass Point Creek, which 

is a fairly deep ravine.

The bridge at the Des Moines River

A caboose representing the flags of both the CNW and the FDDM&S (or scenic line honoring the FDDM&S) lines

Berwick Iowa, When Coal Was King By G.C. Stevens

 

Travel poster created by AI using the authors photos seen below

Along the meandering Four Mile Creek, a small town, a quiet place tucked in the pocket

of the past, when coal was king and the railroads laid the path, an old church and a post office to serve the those who settled the prairie and mined the coal. The old town has no main roads, passed by, almost forgotten, except for the lucky few, who come to feel the solace. 

-G.C. Stevens     

Located near the confluence Fourmile Creek and Muchikinock Creeks, 

Berwick was first settled in 1846. Henry Taylor platted the town in 1884 

and secured a station on the newly constructed Diagonal Railroad. He 

served as the first postmaster and named the town after his hometown of 

Berwick, Maine. In the early 20th century, Berwick was home to several 

coal mines, including the 200-acre Norwood-White’s Klondike No. 1. For 

nearly twenty years Berwick compared in size to the neighboring towns 

of Altoona and Ankeny. By 1920, the mines had played out and these 

other communities began to surpass Berwick in size. 

Ref: Chichaquavalleytrail.org

In the early 20th century, Berwick and Norwoodville, a mile southwest, were home to several coal mines. The Norwood-White shaft No. 1 (also known as the Klondike No. 1) was 215 feet deep, accessing a 4-foot-thick coal seam. By 1908, this mine extended over roughly 200 acres. Norwood-White shaft No. 2 was half a mile to the east. This mine was newer, covering over 40 acres in 1908. The Delaware Coal Company had a shaft a mile northwest of Berwick, with a shaft 170 feet (52 m) deep. By 1908, this mine covered less than 15 acres. In 1914, Norwood-White produced over 100,000 tons of coal, ranking among the top 24 coal producers in the state. In 1912, United Mine Workers Local 318 in Berwick had 220 members, and Local 845 in Norwoodville, one mile south, had 129 members.

The Railroad in Berwick

The Milwaukee Road (officially the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad) in Berwick, Iowa, was originally built in the late 19th century as a part of the Des Moines, Northern & Western Railway (the "High Bridge Route") before being acquired by the Milwaukee Road. Running as an important branch line northwest of Des Moines, it supported Berwick and the surrounding area's booming early 20th-century coal mining industry.

The corridor is now part of Central Iowa's extensive recreational trail system. 

The Milwaukee Road in Berwick Original Route: The tracks running through Berwick were originally part of a narrow-gauge Des Moines line that the Milwaukee Road took over in 1895 and subsequently converted to standard gauge.

The Post Office in Berwick founded in 1884 by Henry Taylor photo by the Author

The Berwick Congregational Church (Originally the Union Chapel) founded in 1875

Photo by the Author

An old Chrysler 1960 Windsor greets visitors as the enter Berwick from north. 

Photo by the Author

Photos: Civil War Days Jefferson Iowa By G.C. Stevens U.S. Photographer

 

 All Photos by G.C. Stevens  

*U.S. Photographer: Photo gallery*

The Army of The Southwest Keeps History Alive!

The Army of the southwest (ASW) held the annual civil war reenactment in Jefferson Iowa as part of the Bell Tower Festival. Saturday was very damp due to the ongoing rainstorms that have passed through Iowa over the last few weeks. But Sunday was a beautiful day. Jefferson is located in a very bucolic setting in western Iowa and one of my favorite things about this event, was that the train horns can be heard in the air from the local Union Pacific railroad line. This was my first event for 2026, and I decided to incorporate one of my passions to my historic impressions as a field photographer. But it took some work to create this impression, so I built a camera housing that would accommodate both a traditional black and white film camera and a small digital camera. I was already in possession of a vintage Kodak Brownie Camera (120) that I purchased many years ago when I was experimenting with different film formats. I included a small digital camera for quick and expedient photos. I will be adding more photos to this article later when the roll of 120 film return from the processor.

Seargent OJ Fargo conducts drill

The camera housing with the digital camera

The digital camera in a home made adapter

The digital camera

The homemade camera housing

The camera hosing with the vintage Brownie inside

                                         Camp Photos

Soldiers sitting for photos 

Drill