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Summer 1999 Issue IN EVERY ISSUE Soo News STAFF Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor/Soo News Soo News Wiconsin Central News Modeling Editor Contributing Editors Editorial Consultants Technical Consultants Commercial Accounts Advertising Manager Back Issues
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Summer 1999 Issue Hightlights |
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New life for an old depotThe Marshfield, Wis., depot relocation projectby Jeremy FrommThe depot at Marshfield, like so many other small-town depots, was more than just a stopping point for trains. It was a place where passengers arrived and departed, a place where telegrams, mailbags, and packages were sent and received. It was always a hub of activity and a vital part of a growing community. In December 1907, the Wisconsin Central Railway built a heavy stone passenger depot to replace one that burned June 16, 1907. It had a terra-cotta tile roof, plate-glass-windowed operator's bay, solid concrete platform and a gold-letter-on-black station sign. Not only did this show the railroad's wealth, but it also reflected the importance of this city. The basic design of the depot was the same as the depots built at Ladysmith, Waupaca, and Stanley. Waupaca was a near twin to Marshfield, but Stanley and Ladysmith were built of brick instead of stone. The operator's bay was designed to have a large, distinctive half-octagon shape, making it unique and functional. Another interesting feature was the chimney design. There were two chimneys, each seven bricks end-to-end wide and two bricks end-to-end thick. This made them look very massive when viewed from the end of the depot, but they were actually quite thin when viewed from the front. Why they were built this way is unknown. Aside from the operator's bay ell and the open passthrough ell on the rear, the depot shape was a basic rectangle with a gable roof and broad eaves, the common shape of depots at that time. The building served the Wisconsin Central and later the Soo
Line well, as few major modifications were made to it. At some
point the open pass-through ell on the rear was removed and the
tile roof was replaced with asphalt shingles. The distinctive
chimneys were removed and an odd wooden vent was put where one
of them had been. A new square brick chimney was added to the
back of the depot, and a small wooden addition was put on the
east side to house a stairway down to the crawlspace. Aside from
these alterations, the structure remained unchanged. |
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A Soo South Shore SagaThe Story of Reviving Railroad Service on the Keweenaw PeninsulaBy Peter D. Ouillette"You think this is going to be the last train out? I don't. I hope we come through here someday with 190 cars." So said Soo Line engineer Joe Finck as the final freight train to the city of Houghton, Mich., departed south on a cloudy day in late September 1982. The Soo was writing finis to 99 consecutive years of rail service to the Keweenaw Peninsula over the route of the old Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic. Beginning was a saga of politics, arguments, despair and hope over attempts to restore that railroad service to the copper- and timber-rich finger of Michigan's Upper Peninsula ("the U.P."). Soo and its related roads have always been the major rail carriers in Michigan's U.P. The original Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie ran along the southern half of the U.P., transporting goods from the Twin Cities to Canada. "Poor cousin" Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic handled the mineral-rich lands of the northern half. The east-west DSS&A reached north into the Keweenaw Peninsula for about 60 miles from the junction of Nestoria. The Upper Peninsula is a niche of natural beauty tucked a long way from anywhere, out of the way of much that pertains to commerce. Swathed in thick forests in the west and copious marshlands in the east, buried in heavy snows in the winter and separated from Lower Michigan by the Straits of Mackinac, it held little to recommend it for settlement until a mineral report of Douglass Houghton, Michigan's first state geologist, became public in the mid-1840s. The report showed that the Keweenaw region contained deposits of copper, and what followed was America's first great metal-mining rush. The peninsula's cities and towns grew up primarily near the mines and their associated stamping mills. Thus Calumet lay in the shadow of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company; Lake Linden, of C&H's mills. Twin cities Houghton and Hancock straddled the waterway that cut across the peninsula from northwest to southeast, providing ports for shipping and safe harbor when the "Big Lake" (Lake Superior) grew angry. The state of California obtained an outside rail connection
in 1869. Though much farther east, the Keweenaw had no railroad
service from the outside world until 1883, when Soo Line predecessor
Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon reached Houghton, connecting
with the local Mineral Range and Hancock & Calumet railroads.
The lines would later be melded together into the Duluth, South
Shore & Atlantic. The copper mines were then enjoying their
boom period and flourished until the close of World War I. |
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