As the Cow Flies

Was the movie'Twister' one of Iowa's well-known disasters?  It had Philip Seymour Hoffman, how cheesy could it be?  You decide. I kind of liked it.  On another note, Iowa has certainly seen its share of  non-fictional disasters. Four notable railroad accidents:

1.  August 29, 1877;  Rock Island Lines passenger train wrecks in Des Moines killing 20.
2.  March 21, 1910;  Train derailment in Marshall County kills 55.
3.  October 22, 1937;  Near Mason City, a Renwick school bus collides with a Rock Island Lines train, killing 10. 
4.  September 28, 1944;  Missouri Valley train wreck kills 9.

Was rail travel more dangerous than travel by plane?  Maybe not, but the accidents were just as tragic.

Source: Des Moines Register 7/25/1989 p. 5A