Wikipedia:Peer review/Clinton Railroad Bridge/archive1

Clinton Railroad Bridge

I've listed this article for peer review because even though I'm editing the article, I think it would be a great idea for this to be peer reviewed. I would like to know what are some more ways to improve this article. Thanks, WikiHelper26 (talk) 20:38, 14 August 2019 (UTC)

Hello @WikiHelper26:

On the top of my head, very briefly:

• More sources are needed. You've got some paragraphs where the information needs to be verifiable with sources (currently there's 9).
• Are there a few more characteristics which can be added to the infobox?
• Is there information on the construction of the bridge? Try adding that.
• Any special engineering used to construct it?
• How does the bridge operate?

Good job though. I suggest looking at Clifton Suspension Bridge for further inspiration. I used to live near it! Thanks, Lizzy (talk 11:06, 3 November 2019 (UTC)

Thanks @Lizzy150:! I saw this sentence but apparently, there isn't sources to find for it:

In 1897, Clinton and Lyons merged to form a single city, which eventually became the seat of the county that bears its name. Clinton's location at the first railway crossing on the Upper Mississippi led to the city's rapid growth as a center for the expanding lumber industry. Felled trees were floated down the Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Upper Mississippi Rivers to Clinton, where mills working around the clock processed them into finished lumber, for shipment East or West on the C&NW, or North and South on C&NW tracks that ran along the river.

Do you think I should remove it? --WikiHelper26 (talk) 18:34, 4 November 2019 (UTC)

Hey @WikiHelper26:. If you can't find a source that mills were working around the clock.. for shipment, then yes, it is questionable information. Have you tried searching for it? Otherwise, add something else interesting that you can source. Thanks Lizzy (talk 18:03, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

@Lizzy150: Yes. I've tried searching for it but I wasn't able to find a source for it. Therefore, I will have to remove that part. --WikiHelper26 (talk) 01:54, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

Comments from Jonathanischoice

• US and metric units: why not both? :-) Both are provided in the infobox, but the Description section describes a "460 feet swing span". See Template:convert, and its options, e.g. order=flip will list metric units first as in the infobox, and adj=on will allow an adjective, as in a "460 foot" span, e.g. using {{convert | 460 | ft | order=flip | adj=on }} we can say "a 140-metre (460 ft) swing span". Similarly for miles, used twice in the history section.
• Parker truss: "Parker" should be captialised, being a surname proper noun.
• More references: particularly in the history section, you might be able to search online newspaper archives and find some valuable material. A good place to start might be Wikipedia:List of online newspaper archives, under Illinois and Iowa.
• Cargo-cult your way to success! I jest a little, but a good technique is what student painters used to do (and arguably still should!) — copy the masters. So find a well-rated similar article, e.g. Brooklyn Bridge, and use it as inspiration. For instance:
  • Wikidata: the bridge has a Wikidata item Q5134209, you could find and add more identifiers, and then add {{authority control}} at the bottom of the article.
  • Have a look at the navigation templates at the bottom of the Brooklyn Bridge article, above the Categories (of which there are many; are there some that can be used for this article?) and there's several templates about NYC and bridges. Are there similar Illinois or Iowa ones you can use here? (I don't know, perhaps there aren't any, a quick search of Template space didn't throw up much)
• Make the page less of an orphan: It is not linked from many articles, see what links here. Search wikipedia for "Clinton Railroad Bridge" and see if there are some missing links you can add to improve its visibility. Is it notable enough to be mentioned elsewhere, e.g. in Clinton County, Iowa or other various related articles?
• Generally: it has good illustrative images, an infobox and is reasonably well categorised; the ORES API predicts this article currently as class C (score 3.49), so it's already out of the start article blocks. A few more references and links to other related articles could get it further up into B territory.

Cheers, HTH — Jon (talk) 21:53, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

@Jonathanischoice: Regarding the history section, most of the sentences are from this source. I added the source at the sentence "In 1856, the Chicago, Iowa, and Nebraska (C&IN) Railroad Company was formed to effect the railroad crossing at Little Rock Island, between the new city of Clinton and the village of Albany, Illinois." As for templates, I'm not sure which Illinois or Iowa templates would work. However, I am doing my best to add more links the article. --WikiHelper26 (talk) 04:44, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

@WikiHelper26: No worries. I'm from New Zealand, so I'm not familiar with US history, much less that of Clinton Iowa, however it seems that IAGenWeb page is taken verbatim from the 1980 Architectural Heritage book, so I wonder if (aside from the small problem that there's no record of it in Library of Congress, WorldCat, or Google Books) it might be more prudent to cite the book itself instead? I'm assuming you have a copy somewhere perhaps, as it's also cited in the article. I suggested going diving through old newspapers not so much to add new material, but to find things to corroborate claims in the history section, since otherwise it's a big chunk of text with only essentially one reference. Furthermore not all of it discusses the bridge itself and seems more appropriate for the article about the town of Clinton, Iowa. As a quick example, here's a reference I found in the Iowa Old Newspapers archive for the 1853 formation of the Central Air Line Rail Road company: "Enthusiastic Railroad Meeting". The Iowa Republican. Vol. V, no. 29. 18 May 1853. p. 2. Retrieved 12 November 2019 – via Iowa City Public Library.

Also I didn't mean that this article needs more links, more that other Wikipedia articles might be mentioning the bridge and could link to this article, which would make it less of an orphan. Or not maybe... anyway (update: duh... apologies, misunderstanding on my part) I have done some edits myself and tweaked a couple of references. If you feel like peer reviewing New Zealand wine in return, I'd be most glad :-) Cheers, Jon (talk) 10:41, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

@Jonathanischoice: Do you think this stuff should go in the Clinton, Iowa article instead (such as the example about the Central Air Line Rail Road Company)? Also, I added a "future replacement" section as well because there has been plans for replacement of this bridge. --WikiHelper26 (talk) 20:41, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

@WikiHelper26:: I don't rightly know. It's probably fine here if you can find a few more old newspaper clippings to back it up (which will improve the ORES score and help justify a better article rating). — Jon (talk) 21:24, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

@Jonathanischoice: Would this one work for me to use as a book source: [1]? This is from a book called “Travel Guide: Lansing (Iowa) to Le Claire, Along the Mississippi River in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin”. This source would likely be for this paragraph (if added):

In 1836, Joseph Bartlett settled along the Mississippi River south of Lyons, creating a town he called New York, Iowa.[2] Bartlett believed that gold deposits would be found in the area. He opened a general store and created his own ferry across the Mississippi, to a village called Albany on the Illinois side. In 1840, the County of Clinton, Iowa, was formally organized, with its county seat at Camanche, 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Lyons. Bartlett's town and store, now operated by a man named Randall, remained small and insignificant, as the northern ferry crossing, between Fulton and Lyons, was used for the vast majority of local river crossings.[3]

If so I will use the Cite book template for it. Furthermore, I also see this one ([4] as well, which would be used for that sentence. Would this work? —WikiHelper26 (talk) 05:00, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Sure, I guess? Like I said, I don't really know enough about US history and rail networks to judge, but as long as you provide good references for claims, go ahead and be WP:BOLD and just do it. The worst that happens is someone else doesn't like what you wrote and changes or removes it, but that can be a problem for future you. — Jon (talk) 12:43, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

End of peer review

I request that this peer interview is archived. I will continue doing what I need to do in this article. Thank you all for the feedback. —WikiHelper26 (talk) 16:31, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

Closed now. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 00:18, 14 December 2019 (UTC)