Copper Country Rail

Copper Country Rail PDF

Author: George E. Anderson

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738550589

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

From the railroads' beginnings in the early 1870s to the complex rail network of the 1900s, the advance and decline of the copper industry in Michigan's Upper Peninsula was mirrored by the railroads that served it. With the abandonment in 1976 of the Houghton tracks of the Soo Line (formerly the Mineral Range, Duluth South Shore and Atlantic), Copper Country was once again without the railroad service that built it. This book seeks to tell this rich story of Copper Country railroads through a collection of pictures from various archival sources, including the authors' personal collections, the Houghton County Historical Society, Keweenaw County Historical Society, the Rudolf Maki collection, the Chuck Pomazal collection, the Michigan Technological University Van Pelt Library Archives, and the National Park Service archives.

Copper Country Explorer Field Guide No. 6

Copper Country Explorer Field Guide No. 6 PDF

Author: Mike Forgrave

Publisher:

Published: 2015-08-07

Total Pages: 110

ISBN-13: 9781514738962

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Here at Copper Country Explorer we tell the legend of a forsaken empire that once reigned over the scenic shores of the Keweenaw Peninsula, an empire ruled by copper. In no other place in the world did it occur in such purity and abundance. Its discovery led to one of the great colonizations of the modern age, transforming the remote and rugged wilderness of the Keweenaw into an industrial metropolis of over 100,000 people. It was not to last however. After over a century of rule, the empire would draw its last breaths. The mines closed, the people left, and the industrial metropolis returned to the wilderness from which it had come. In its place would be only ruins, the crumbling remnants of a lost civilization we know today as the Copper Country. It is within the shadows of the lost empire that this field guide wanders, exploring the ruins and remnants of a land lost in time. While the empire may have fallen, its legacy endures - crumbling ruins buried in the rugged wilderness, soaring stacks rising high above sprawling forest, and grand sandstone buildings lining quaint village streets. It is this field guide's mission to document these glimpses into history, and share the stories they tell. Featured in this volume... The great Copper Empire was complemented by an equally impressive network of rail, roads of iron that connected shaft to shaft, mine to mill, and mill to shore. Joining these mine railroads was even more rail, a trio of common carriers along with a street railway transporting people and freight to and from communities all across the peninsula. In the end the Copper Country would boast over a dozen railroads and several hundred miles of track, creating one of the densest and most prominent rail networks in the nation. A century later finds those mines closed and the railroads that supported them abandoned. Yet a great deal of the old rail network remains, hidden alongside the road and deep within the forest, scattered remnants of a great empire that once was.

Copper Country Streetcars

Copper Country Streetcars PDF

Author: William J. Sproule

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2013-08-05

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 1439643768

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

During the early 1900s, copper mining was at its peak in the Copper Country of Michigans Upper Peninsula. Numerous communities sprang up throughout the region, but travel between towns was difficult as the roads were not paved and became impassable during the winter months when over 200 inches of snow would inundate the area. The poor travel conditions and boom period in the Copper Country were instrumental factors that resulted in the construction of a streetcar line to serve the area. Service began in 1900, and the network was extended several times over the next few years. Ridership peaked in 1910, when over six million passengers rode the system; however, it declined in the 1920s as automobiles became more popular, roads were improved, and the copper boom subsided. Service finally ended in 1932. It is a fascinating history that surprises many of todays residents that streetcars operated in the area.

Copper Country Explorer Field Guide No. 8

Copper Country Explorer Field Guide No. 8 PDF

Author: Michael Forgrave

Publisher:

Published: 2016-05-04

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13: 9781533034335

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

While the Copper Empire flourished north of the Portage Valley the lands to the south continued to remain wild and remote, largely untouched by the hand of man. That would all change in 1897 with the discovery of one of the region's most productive lodes - the Baltic. Atop its copper-rich bounty would rise the soaring rock houses and sprawling surface plants of a trio of mine: the Baltic, the Trimountain, and the Champion. By 1923 all three would fall under the control of an industrial conglomerate of a size and scope rivaling even the great C&H itself - the Copper Range Company. The Copper Range Company had begun its life as a mere common carrier railroad joining Houghton with the major railroads to the south. Within three short decades, however, the company had managed to expand its reach into every major industry of the region. In short order it had taken control of virtually every mine, town, mill and railroad to be found within the wide borders of the southern range. The Copper Range had become an empire in its own right, controlling the fate of the southern range for the next half century.