The Copper Country was a wild and rugged land as the 19th century approached its close. Transportation to and from the peninsula was done primarily by means of Lake Superior. While this water route allowed the area to grow during its initial copper rush, it had some limitations. Primarily of concern was the brutally long winter, in which the lake would become frozen and impassible. For those living on the peninsula this was a six month prison term, imprisoned behind 300 miles of snow and ice. During this time nothing got in or out of the area. Only the late thaws of spring would bring release – only six months away.
This all changed, however, with the formation of the Duluth South Shore and Atlantic Railroad in 1886. Through a combination of railroad buyouts, running rights, and new construction; the DSS&A was able to build a sizable empire stretching over 600 miles. The route followed along Lake Superior’s “south shore” connecting the port city of Duluth Minnesota in the west with St. Ignace on the Upper Peninsula’s eastern end. Connections at Duluth and train ferries at St. Ignace were able to join the DSS&A to other railroads across the Great Lakes region. With the DSS&A’s acquisition of three important Copper Country Railroads (the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon, Mineral Range, and Hancock & Calumet) by 1893, the once remote and secluded peninsula was now connected to the rest of the world. The fate of the copper mining industry had been secured.
The part of the DSS&A serving the Copper Country was known as the “Calumet Branch”. Below you will see a map of the line as best I can determine. The mainline was 40 miles south of Chassell, with the Calumet Branch taking a 72 mile detour north the Calumet. This part of the DSS&A was made up of remnants of three older railroads. The first consisted of part of the old Marquette, Ontonagon & Houghton RR running from Houghton south towards Marquette. The DSS&A followed that route up to Houghton. From there the DSS&A took one of two routes following either the old Mineral Range RR (the left branch on the map) or the Hancock & Calumet RR up along Torch Lake to Lake Linden (the right branch). This branch was known as the “Lake Linden Branch”.
In the end, the DSS&A made a northern connection between Lake Linden and Calumet, closing a 24 mile loop between Hancock, Calumet and Torch Lake. The line also extended north to at least Mohawk where it met up with the Keweenaw Central which continued the line north towards the tip. This “Mohawk Branch” as I call it serviced a good amount of the mines along the Kearsarge Lode between Wolverine and Mohawk. (we know of spurs to the North Kearsarge Mine, the Wolverine Mine, the South Kearsarge Mine, and the Allouez mine.) This added another 7 or so miles to the line. The addition of a short spur to the Arcadian Mine was added to service the mine and bring rock down to its mill. The mine failed, but the line was used for some time after to deliver rock to the mills at Point Mills.
The DSS&A built numerous depots along its lines. While most were modest wood framed affairs, such as the East Houghton Depot pictured above, others were more ornate. One of these more elaborate buildings – Calumet depot – we’ve shown before on Explorer, sitting on the corner of Ninth St and Oak. The other is the depot sitting in Houghton’s warehouse district along the water. This red sandstone building was the DSS&A’s main presence in Houghton and looked the part. After the DSS&A’s predecessor – the Soo Line – ceased rail service to Houghton in the late 60′s, the depot was boarded up and forgotten. It was almost lost for good, until a local construction company refurbished it to its original brilliance. It now is used for offices, and looks a lot less busy then it did in the photo below taken during the height of the DSS&A’s reign.
The DSS&A served an important role in the supply of mines and mills along its route. While early mines relied on their own short line railroads to deliver their product to mills and smelters, mines at the turn of the century contracted that work out to railroads such as the DSS&A. The railroad directly serviced the Tamarack, Osceola, and Ahmeek Mills, and ran copper from Quincy’s mill to it smelter. The line even had contracts with C&H for some time to haul its copper until the opening of the Calumet and Hecla railroad in the 1920′s. The importance of the DSS&A to the Copper Country, its people, and the copper industry was immense. But its title as the largest Copper Country railroad is challenged by one other – the juggernaut known as Copper Range. We take a look at that, tomorrow.
Read More on the Railroads of the Copper Country Series:
DSS&A RR | Copper Range RR | C&H RR | HCTC | Keweenaw Central RR
Information from this series comes from various sources, but mainly from railroad time tables and time lines from the Internet Railroad History Museum of Michigan.
There are a few areas of ambiguity in the actual route of the DSS&A which affects the accuracy of this map. The first has to deal with the location of the Laurium depot. Such a depot is on a list of stations for the line, but where exactly this station was and how the line got there is a little clouded. My guess is that the depot sat near the Copper Range depot in the area around the current Gipp Arena. Some maps do show a spur running off the main line towards Florida, but it is hard to read past that point.
Another problem is in the “Demman” Depot marked on the map. This station is supposed to exists between the Arcadian Jct and the Osceola Depot, which puts it squarely in the middle of no where. I could find no evidence of any town with that name being anywhere near the line (or in Michigan at all). So I’m stumped.
A big problem lies in the line as it head north from Calumet to the mines along the Allouez gap. This line does exist, but its exact length is unclear. It appears to have become the Keweenaw Central at a point just outside Mohawk, but it’s unclear. At some point the Mineral range ended and the Keweenaw central began. I just don’t known where that was. I guessed Mohawk. I have read documents that talk of the Keweenaw Central once running along Mineral Range tracks from Mohawk to Calumet before they built their own direct line. That would collaborate what I show on this map, but I’m not certain.
Then a few little things. There was supposedly a depot in Lake Linden, but the line starts its upward climb towards Calumet a good distance before Lake Linden. (the line follows Torch Lake closely until it reaches Tamarack Mills, at which point it takes a turn up the hill to service the Osceola and Tamarack Mills. From there it just keeps going up the hill)So I guessed there must of been a spur from the mainline towards Lake Linden, probably near the Ahmeek mill.
Also the line extending to Point Mills on the Dollar Peninsula (the unmarked line on the map) existed, yet I’m not sure if it was part of DSS&A or not. I do know that DSS&A once ran cars down that line from the Arcadian Junction to the mills at the point, but I’m not sure if DSS&A controlled those tracks or just had running rights on them.
I can understand your confusion about the location of the Demman depot. The spelling I’ve seen is Demmon. Are these the same place?
The map from Prof. Paper 144 shows the Demmon Post office located in Boston.
According to “Michigan Ghosts Town Volume 3″, describes Boston “In 1893, on Mineral Range Railroad 7 Miles north of Houghton.”
“In 1909, the named was changed to Demmon. Old maps of the early 1900′s show Boston or Boston Location about a half mile north of Demmon, which no longer appears on Michigan maps. While Boston is designated on 1972 maps. The post office was discontinued in 1934 or 1935.”
Dave – I think your on to something. Part of my problem was my newbie status in railroad terminology had me confuse depot with station, and I think the two things are different. The map was put together using a DSS&A time table I found on the internet, which marks these places as “stations” but I marked them as “Depots” on my map. I should change the map, but that would be a lot of work. While some of these stations did indeed have a depot, some didn’t. I think Demman/Demmon (my spelling was from the time table, which is not an original document. Your spelling is most likely accurate) was such a spot.
It’s location in Boston makes sense since there is no station at Boston marked on my DSS&A timetable. I think the Demmon station still stands, and may be the large building next to the line across from the Boston Pond DNR access road. It looks to be a warehouse of some type and does sit right along the line. Since the DSS&A line doesn’t pass through Boston Location directly, they must of had to place a station at this spot instead. The use of the term Demmon may of been used to make this distinction.
The town that currently exists “7 miles north of Houghton” as the crow flies is Highway Location today. But your map that shows Boston Loc “a half a mile north of Demmon” would place Demmon at the place where that warehouse (and Boston Pond Access Road) currently sits. So thanks to you I think we’ve figured it out.
re: map of DSS&A routes
The DSS&A spur did go to Point Mills, but not to Atlas (Powder).
DuPont paid for a dedicated Copper Range spur to their plant site. Records at MTU even record DuPont assaying and testing the spikes and plates that were installed on the line.
Great site!
Thanks,
Bill..
Yea, not sure why I labeled an Atlas Junction here, since there wasn’t one. That would be the area where the Copper Range spur originated towards Atlas however, but not in any way related to the DSS&A.
I did get it right on the Copper Range Railroad map thankfully!