Most of you have passed by this large concrete abutment along M26 multiple time, as have I for over a decade before I finally decided to get a closer look. While its most recent use was as a large advertisement for the Arcadian Mine Tour (once run by the same people running the Quincy Mine Tour now), it had once been the centerpiece of a bustling transportation hub – the Pt. Mills Junction. There was a time when trains could pass through here towards all points of the compass: north towards the mills along Torch Lake, east to the Atlas Powder Plant at Senter, south towards the mills on Portage Lake (Pt. Mills), or west towards the Arcadian Mine and Junction. But with all things in the Copper Country its glory was short lived. Over the decades line by line was abandoned and ripped up and by 1960 the junction ceased to exist. It was now only another signpost along the main line. Now even those main lines have been removed, and its just this large concrete structure and some old trails through the woods that mark the junction that was. Lets take a look.

Here is a Terraserver image of the Pt. Mills junction as it looks today (North is towards the upper left corner). These aerial images are great for finding the old right-of-ways, since even after decades of abandonment you can still make out their faint lines cutting through the countryside. Using those faint outlines I have reconstructed the lines as they once existed, overlaying them on the map. There were in fact two railroads that crossed through here – The Copper Range in red and the Mineral Range (later DSS&A) in yellow. These main lines pass from Dollar Bay to the south-west and Lake Linden to the north-east. Branching off from these were several spurs. The main spur, and the one for which the junction is named, is the spur heading south towards the stamp mills at Portage Lake, known as Pt. Mills. Another spur branched off from the Copper Range line towards the Atlas Powder Plant at Senter. And a third spur, on which our concrete abutment was part of, moved up the hill towards the Arcadian mine.

The large concrete structure you see on the side of the road is actually the start of a large trestle that once crossed over the road here. (check out the BIG PICTURE to see it in it’s full glory) In this photo you can see a few more footings for that trestle, sitting in line with the concrete approach. This trestle was needed to scale the 10-15 foot rise on the other side of M26, as well as to cross over the adjacent road and Copper Range Line.

Here’s another footing for that trestle. There are about a dozen of these set in pairs that string out from the concrete approach up to the edge of M26. From here the Mineral Range crossed the road, continued up the hill to the Arcadian mine, and then moved on to the Arcadia Junction where it would meet back up with the mainline.

Moving south from the trestle, the Mineral Range line met up with the Pt. Mills spur and continued on down to Pt. Mills. You can still see the remains of that right-of-way in this photo. The Pt. Mills spur was built first, serving the Franklin Mill built there on the shores of Portage Lake. When the Arcadian Mine was built up the hill in 1898 along with its accompanying mill at Pt Mills, the railroad decided to add this line to serve it as well.

This concrete culvert sits just down-line from the trestle, marked with the date “1912″. What’s interesting about this date is the fact that the Arcadian Mine – the mine this line was built for – closed up in 1902. Even though the mine and mill had closed along this line, it would seem that the railroad continued to make improvements and use the line up to at least 1912. While built for the Arcadian mine, it seemed that the route was better serving the copper rock from the Franklin mine. Bringing rock from the Franklin mine up to the Arcadia Junction and down this line to Pt Mills was shorter and quicker then bringing that rock down through Hancock and Dollar Bay. Who knew.

Another interesting point about the old trestle approach is that when you work your way behind it you find it not to be backfilled. Almost every other similar structure we have found during our travels has been back filled behind it. This would provide a grade for the train to climb, but here we found none. Just a collection of trees and the abutments backside, as you see here. (Check out the BIG PICTURE)

Besides the Arcadian line and accompanying trestle, there is a second junction here. This would be the spur off the Copper Range that once served the Atlas Powder Company at Senter. While the old Copper Range mainline can still be found just alongside M26 (as you see above) the spur running off from it is a lot harder to find. In fact I didn’t find it but I could make it out on the Terraserver image above – so it exists. While the Pt. Mills / Arcadian line shut down for good in the ’30s, this spur to Senter continued operating up till the explosive plant’s closing in 1960. After that only the Copper Range mainline was left.