Source: The Mining Journal Marquette, Mi., October 23, 1886, Saturday
Railways Galore
What a Year Will Bring Forth in the Matter of Railway Construction in the U. P.
The Milwaukee Sentinel prints the appended communication from Escanaba relative to railway building, under way or prospective,in this region: Work was begun Monday, the 18th, on an extension of the C&NW [Chicago and North Western Railway Company] from its present terminus in this state, at Iron River, to Hurley, Wis. The distance is seventy-five miles, and the country very rough, but work will be continued during the winter, and the officials expect to have it ready for business when navigation opens next spring. By this extension the C&NW will tap the Gogebic iron range, and will secure no inconsiderable share of the ore carrying business. The haul by rail from Hurley, Bessemer or Ironwood will be 100 miles further over the Milwaukee Lake Shore & Western, but ore freights from Escanaba to Lake Erie ports are much lower from Ashland, the present port of the Gogebic range. The Wisconsin Central will also be in the district prepared for business by May 1st, 1887, and the competition between the three lines will have the effect of reducing rail freights for ore and will be of considerable benefit to the mines. The C&NW has the largest ore docks in the world at this point and can handle 2,000,000 tons of ore in a single season, if necessary. The passenger and freight traffic over the new extension of the C&NW will also be large and profitable.
The C&NW will also extend its Felch Mountain branch from Felch Mountain to Republic before spring. The distance is only about thirty miles, and the preliminary survey has been made. This will bring the C&NW into the heart of the Marquette iron district, the ore carrying trade of which has heretofore been monopolized by the MH&O [Marquette, Houghton, and Ontonagon Railroad]. These extensions of the C&NW are explained by the natural advantage of this city as a shipping point, lake freights being lower from Lake Superior.
The Milwaukee & Northern, which is already running freight and passenger trains from Milwaukee to Iron Mountain, the principal city of the Menominee iron range, will also extend to Republic before May 1. It is not known whether this road will make any effort to get part of the ore trade or not, as the line has no docks, and would have to build them at either Marinette, Wis., or Menominee,
p.2 Railways Galore, Oct.23, 1886
Mich. It is altogether probable that the line will be built from Republic to Marquette, thirty-five miles further on, where an excellent water frontage and a spacious harbor can easily be secured. By building an ore dock at the latter point, the Milwaukee and Northern (Which figures under the name of Wisconsin & Michigan, north of Menominee) could secure a part of the ore traffic of the Marquette range.
Among the lines of railroad incorporated to build through the upper peninsula and which have already begun work extending their lines, or preparing to do so next season, are the C&NW, Milwaukee & Northern, DM&M [Detroit, Mackinac & Marquette Railroad Company], MSSM&A [Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Railway Company.], Duluth, Superior & Michigan, Canada, La Crosse & Southwestern, MLS&W [Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western Railroad], DSS&A [Duluth, South Shore, and Atlantic Railway Company], Brockville, Westport & Sault Ste. Marie, Ontonagon & Brule, and the Wisconsin Central. Here are eleven lines all meaning business. It looks something like a railroad boom in the upper peninsula.
