Located a short distance off of Interstate-80, in Adair, Iowa, is a monument dedicated to the very first documented heist of a moving train in the west; this occurred on July 21, 1873. The thieves in question were the notorious gang of outlaws led by Jesse James.
The memorial is located near the top of a low hill, along side an off ramp type road, so that tourists don’t block traffic or cause accidents.
I found this short segment (2.5 minutes) of a longer “Biography” documentary about Jesse James, that focus on this train robbery… or you can read the explanation I found at the site:
Both sources make the point that this was sort of learning experience for the gang, in that their actions, jerking a rail out of place, resulted in a derailment of the train and the two needless deaths of Engineer and the fireman, plus injuries to various passangers… i.e., they ultimately decided this method just made it harder than it had to be.
Along with the explanation of the robbery are some posters talking about local wild plants and a bit about the town.
Rebecca Radnor's Personal Blog: Consider yourselves warned! 