No. 207. Wabash Rail Road Bridge at Keokuk, Iowa 1885

This cyanotype print of the Wabash Rail Road Bridge at Keokuk, Iowa, was created by Henry P. Bosse sometime in the late 19th century. Bosse, a German immigrant and trained civil engineer, worked as a draughtsman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, documenting the Upper Mississippi River. Consider the significance of this bridge, not just as a feat of engineering, but as a symbol of industrial expansion and its profound impact on the landscape and communities. The construction of railroads like the Wabash facilitated the movement of goods and people, transforming economic and social landscapes, often at the expense of indigenous populations and the environment. Bosse’s choice of the cyanotype process, known for its distinctive blue hue, lends a dreamlike quality to the image. This aesthetic choice invites us to reflect on the complex relationship between technological progress and its environmental consequences. What does it mean to monumentalize infrastructure, and what stories are left untold in these depictions of progress?