ALL ABOARD! ALONG THE TRACKS IN DICKINSON COUNTY, MICHIGAN By William John Cummings ALL ABOARD! Along the Tracks in Dickinson County, Michigan Compiled by William John Cummings ********* ALL ABOARD! Along the Tracks in Dickinson County, Michigan Compiled by William John Cummings © 1993 Ralph W. Secord Press Iron Mountain, MI 49801 Mid-Peninsula Library Cooperative ********* 1 ALL ABOARD! ALONG THE TRACKS IN DICKINSON COUNTY, MICHIGAN By William John Cummings RALPH W. SECORD PRESS is owned and operated by the Mid-Peninsula Library Cooperative, 424 Stephenson Avenue, Iron Mountain, Michigan 49801. The Cooperative provides central services to member libraries located in the Michigan Upper Peninsula Counties of Delta, Dickinson, Gogebic, Iron, Menominee, and Ontonagon. Since 1971, the Cooperative's press has specialized in publishing books about the Upper Peninsula. The press is named in honor of Ralph W. Secord, Michigan's 1975 Librarian of the Year, founder and guiding spirit of both the press and the cooperative until his retirement in 1981. Copyright © 1993 by William John Cummings All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. First Printing 1994 Manufactured in the United States of America. Library of congress Cataloging-in-publication Data Cummings, William John. All aboard! : along the tracks in Dickinson County, Michigan / compiled by William John Cummings. p. cm. ISBN 0-933249-12-8: $12.50 1. Dickinson County (Mich.)--History. 2. Railroads--Michigan-- --Dickinson County--History. I. Title. F572.D5C85 1994 977.4' 955--dc20 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When I began compiling this account of the development of the eastern Menominee Iron Range in conjunction with the extension of the railroad, a publication of this size and scope wasn't contemplated. However, as I researched, vicariously traveling "along the tracks" of the railroads left in the columns of a number of regional contemporary newspapers, I found myself helplessly lured deeper and deeper into the fascinating lore of our area's affair with the Iron Horse. In the towns and villages which sprung up as the railroad crossed first from east to west and then to the north in what is today Dickinson County, life was dependent upon and centered around the railroads. This was true for almost all American communities between the mid-nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth century. My life began just as the sonorous whistle of the passenger train locomotives was waning in our area. In fact, two of my earliest childhood memories center on the railroad. Before starting grade school I can remember traveling to northern Minnesota with my parents and grandmother to visit my great-aunt and great-uncle. I remember the rhythmic clacking of the track and gentle swaying of the cars, and of being served breakfast in the dining car, watching the rich Wisconsin farmlands roll by as I ate my pancakes. Even more vivid is my recollection of the trip my first grade class (Westwood School, Mrs. Emma Jacobson, teacher), took on the Milwaukee Road from Iron Mountain to Wausaukee. How excited we were as we boarded the 2 ALL ABOARD! ALONG THE TRACKS IN DICKINSON COUNTY, MICHIGAN By William John Cummings train tightly clasping the little brown paper bags containing the lunches our mothers had prepared especially for this trip. Many of the songs and books of childhood centered around the mystique and lore of the railroad. In my generation, most everyone was familiar with The Little Engine That Could and could sing "Down by the station, early in the morning, see the little pufferbellies all in a row....." Who wouldn't have known the great American folk hero Casey Jones! Who couldn't sing "I've Been Working on the Railroad" complete with the chorus beginning "someone's in the kitchen with Dinah!" The Big Band Era was drawing to a close, but Glenn Miller's "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and "Tuxedo Junction" were favorites on the radio. Johnny Mercer's "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" won the Academy Award for best song in 1946. Meredith Wilson magically added to the lore of the railroad at the turn of the century in small town America in the opening number from his famous Broadway musical comedy The Music Man. After the conductor announces, "All aboard! River City next station stop! River City next!," a group of traveling salesmen, through clever, rhythmic dialogue bemoaning the demise of credit and jostling motions unforgettably capture a ride down the track behind a steam engine. In the mid-1870's hundreds of men were working on the Menominee Range Railway, a branch railroad of the Chicago & North-Western Railway Company. Although iron ore deposits had been located in the area before 1850, without this railroad there was no way to transport the ore either directly to the markets by train or by train to the port of Escanaba. The Menominee Range Railway began at Forty-Two or Powers Station (so designated because it was 42 miles from Menominee) and its first terminus was Quinnesec. By the time the rails reached Quinnesec toward the end of October, 1877, plans were already underway to extend this branch line to Florence, Wisconsin, passing through Iron Mountain and Commonwealth. Four railroads served the Dickinson County area over the years: the Chicago & North- Western Railway Company, the Milwaukee & Northern (later the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; later still the Milwaukee Road), the Escanaba & Lake Superior and the Wisconsin & Michigan Railway. A brief segment explains the extension of the railroad to the western Upper Peninsula. For further reading I suggest Frank Bourle's excellent chapter on the railroad in A Most Superior Land: Life in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. So you, too, can be lured into our area's railroad history, the articles which follow chronologically appear as written, with all the charm, wit and spice common to journalism of the era. Special thanks are due to the Mid-Peninsula Library Cooperative, the Dickinson County Library. the Menominee Range Historical Museum and Wesley Perron. July 17, 1990 William J. Cummings 3 ALL ABOARD! ALONG THE TRACKS IN DICKINSON COUNTY, MICHIGAN By William John Cummings ALL ABOARD Along the Tracks in Dickinson County, Michigan Before the advent of the railroad, wagons provided the most common mode of land transportation, and were capable of covering little more than 30 miles a day. Thus, most Americans lived and died close to their birthplace, seldom traveling more than 50 miles from home. With the departure of the nation's first passenger train from Charleston, South Carolina, on Christmas Day, 1830, the railroad rapidly began to transform America's life style. By 1850, powerful engines were moving trains loaded with people and goods along at 40 to 50 miles per hour, making trips of 300 miles in a single day. Indeed, the extent to which the railroad became a vital part of daily living during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is difficult to imagine as the twenty-first century approaches. Following the Civil War, passenger traffic continued to expand as tracks engulfed the continent like a huge spider web. Communities competed to attract rail companies as the construction fever increased. By 1900, the Official Guide of the Railways contained an index of some 55,000 stations across the United States served by more than 1,200 railroads. After World War I, the number of passenger trains reached its peak when 20,000 scheduled trains operated daily. The railroad depot was likely to be the busiest place in town throughout the day and half the night. Not only were passengers arriving and departing, but all of the community's mail and much of its merchandise, via the Railway Express Agency, was dispatched at the depot which was also frequently the sole source of telegraph communication. An agent, ticket clerk, car inspector, crossing watchman, baggage men, crewmen changing with those arriving, and perhaps a waiting switch-engine crew to add or remove cars were all required to keep operations running smoothly. Drivers of rigs to transport passengers and draymen to take trunks to and from the depot were also part of the scene at the depot. Passenger comfort varied considerably depending on whether the cars were on through runs or local runs. The day coaches were of all-wood construction, gas lighted, heated with coal stoves that fried the nearest passengers and left those farthest away marginally chilly. These coaches were also equipped with private but crude toilets which afforded a view of the roadbed below. Cinders worked their way inside throughout the seasons, but particularly when the weather was hot and the windows were opened. But, with all its discomforts, travel by rail was far superior to the alternative. 4 ALL ABOARD! ALONG THE TRACKS IN DICKINSON COUNTY, MICHIGAN By William John Cummings Pullman sleepers were the first cars to be electrically lighted and steam heated. Regular overnight trains to and from such cities as Minneapolis and Chicago offered standard Pullman service with plush green upholstered seats by day and 12-section upper and lower berths by night. Dining cars, the pride of most railroads, were often the subject of competitive advertising. Snow-white linen, sparkling table service and excellent cuisine produced meals that were equal to those of the finest big-city restaurants. Train travel in Michigan's Upper Peninsula was at its peak shortly after the turn of the century, when 14 common carrier railroads offering scheduled freight and passenger service were in operation. In a 24-hour period no less than 178 passenger trains huffed and puffed across the peninsula, and this unbelievable figure doesn't include the many trains on lumber company railroads that served logging camps.