Camp Dodge Country - Interurban Railroad
Prior to the motor vehicle, transportation wasn't so easy for the common person in the early years of the 20th Century. Railroad steam engines were dirty and loud, so the electric Interurban railroad provided a pleasing alternative. The Interurban railroad had many uses, which included tourism travel, commuting, shopping, and transporting products.
The "Perry Interurban" line from Des Moines to Perry went through the 13th cantonment with stations at Camp Dodge and Herrold. One spur was situated in the base hospital area where coal for the power plant could be deposited and victims of the influenza outbreak could be transported to family homes or mortuaries in Des Moines, such as L Harbach's Sons.
The single-track electric railway was not designed for the heavy use it received at Camp Dodge which made the transportation of people and materials extremely difficult, but it was still accomplished.
View of Base Hospital with Interurban railroad in the background. (click on image to view larger)
Time Table for route from Des Moines to Perry through Camp Dodge.
"The town of Herrold, named after Joseph Herrold, was established in 1906 as one of the stations along the Des Moines and Central Iowa Interurban Railway." (Long Wood 1907; WPA n.d. as quoted in Nepstad-Thornberry 1998:14) At its height during the coal-mining days of Scandia Mine No.8 Herrold had a post office, hotel, grain elevator, blacksmith shop, railroad stockyard, and powder house. (Bailey)
Click image to view panoramic image of railroad at Camp Dodge.