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 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 Iron-
wood will be 100 miles further over the Milwaukee Lake Shore & West-
ern , 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 G&NW into the heart of the Marquette iron district, the
ore carrying trade of which has heretofore been monopolized by the
MHRO, 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 be-
fore 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 ex-
cellent water frontage and a spacious harbor can easily be secured.
By building an ore dock at the latter point, the Milwaukee & North-
ern (Which figures under the name of the 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 up-
per peninsula and which have already begun work extending their lines,
or preparing to do so next season, are the C&NW, Milwaukee & North-
ern, DM&M, MSSM&A, Duluth, Superior & Michigan, Canada, la Crosse &
Southwestern, MLS&W, DSS&A, Brockville, Westport & Sault Ste. Marie,
Ontonagon & Brule, and the Wisconsin Central. Here are eleven
lines all meaning business. It hooks something like a railroad
boom in the upper peninsula.

BW&SSM
C&NW
CL&SW
DM&M
DSS&A
DS&M
M&N
MLS&W
MSSM&A

W&M
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