In Search of Jesse James in Adair Iowa: G.C. Stevens

 

I now come down to the Iowa train robbery, which occurred the 21st of July, 1873, and which filled all western Missouri with spies, detectives and armed men in search of us. The newspapers made me out the leader of the band. With me, according to the papers, were Frank James, Arthur McCoy and the two Youngers. You remember the outlines of the robbery. A rail was removed from the track resulting in an engineer killed and a general rifling of an express car thought to contain money belonging to the United States. An Iowa sheriff named Bringolf came down to Kansas City with a pocket full of requisitions. He made some magnificent promises, not a few threats, hunted everywhere except in the right place, and, as far as I'm informed, is still in Kansas City waiting for something to turn up. 

- Jesse James

- A Terrible Quintet by John Newman Edwards from Jesse James: The Best Writings on the Notorious Outlaw and His Gang by Harold Dellinger.

  

11/23/2025,

 During my recent presentation at the James Farm, in Kearny Missouri, I met a member of the Friends of The James Farm, Dennie Anderson. He told me he was from Iowa and, I later learned that he was an avid genealogist and a descendant of Jesse James. He was very interested in Jesse James connection to Iowa. So, I gave him my information, and he reached out to me via email. We decided to meet at the site of the 1873 Adair Iowa Train Robbery. I also wanted to get back to Adair to take a look around to see if I could locate the old railroad section house that was mentioned in the history. As the story goes the James Gang went to the section house (see photos below) commandeered some tools from the house to use in the train robbery.

 I met Dennie and his wife Vonda at the location and we walked the site. We did a closer examination of the remnants of the train bridge, took photos, and did some minor metal detecting, though nothing of any value was located as a result of the metal detector scan. And due to conditions only a small area was examined.  The terrain there is rough and overgrown with vegetation. So, it's a fairly difficult site to detect at. Before I went out to the site. I went online and located some satellite photos of the train robbery site on Google earth (see photo below). 

The Train Bridge

It was observed that it appeared that several sections of rail were embedded in the large pile of debris that is now on top of part of a section the old railroad bridge. Several decent photos of the rails were taken of sections of track.  And I was able to snap clear photos of the ends of the rails, which is very important, because the configuration of train rails is well documented, and can give us a fairly good time frame on when the track was manufactured. I sent the photos to Mike Wendel who is the Director of the Boone Scenic Valley Railroad Museum in Boone Iowa. They examined those pictures and returned this response:

Our track person here said the track is old, probably 1870s. Phil said that you would need to measure the height of the rail and look on its sides for printing. Very interesting photos Gene if you find yourself out there again in the future and try to see more of the sides of the rail it may help. Really appreciate you sending these. 

-Mike Wendell Museum Director

 

A monument dedicated to the famed robbery located at 

Melvin Memorial Park Adair Iowa

Photo by the author

A photo of the section house that appeared on 

the facebook page "Abandoned Iowa" posted by Andrew Haus.

The information stated that this house which once housed a

 "Jesse James Museum" had been torn town

Photo google earth. A direct look at the old bridge site

noting an unusual gouge in the terrain adjacent to bridge area

An overview of the entire site

The old railroad bridge looking east down Turkey Creek. 

Photo by the Author

Track can be seen buried in the mound of dirt and debris 

photo by the author

Pilings from the bridge. Actual age unknown

A very old an pitted section of rail or track plate photos by the author

A very clear picture of the very end of a piece of track. The photo 

is very important, and the configuration of railroad tracks 

are very documented and can determine that age 

and manufacturer of the track.

Photos by the Author

Same as above. Though its worth noting that this particular track

is very different and has a flare in the bottom of it. 

Bottom picture courtesy of 

https://drrajivdesaimd.com/2017/10/28/derailment/

Copyright 2025