Nestled between the towns of Calumet and Laurium lies a narrow strip of land some two miles in length on which was built the largest industrial complex the Keweenaw has ever known – the C&H surface plant. Built to serve the great Calumet Conglomerate lode which sat just below the surface, the C&H surface plant consisted of over 75 structures along with several miles of track belonging to the C&H Railroad. Since the mine’s closure, most of these buildings have been razed or reconstituted for other use while the tracks have been torn up and scrapped. Yet a small portion of this great industrial mecca still remains, situated between 6th Street extension and School Street. Within this small tract sits the last remnants of the C&H Railroad, in the form of a couple hundred feet of rail.

Here’s the industrial corridor as it looks today, part of the national historic park’s Calumet Unit. The buildings that still stand today include both warehouses, the machine shop, locomotive shop, pattern shop and Man Hoist engine house. The old C&H roundhouse is now home to Calumet Electronics. The map also shows the routes of the C&H Railroad in its last configuration before being dismantled. We’ll start our tour on the north end, at the point marked with “A”.

The rails begin (or end depending on your point of view) just in front of Red Jacket road across the street from the No.2 warehouse. The track is split here, with the right branch heading out between the Armory and Warehouse No.2 while the left branch (shown with the arrow) heads out to enter the Warehouse No.2 directly. That line once went completely through the No.2 warehouse, exiting out its other end. This was a design feature of the new warehouse when it was built to allow for all season unloading and loading of supplies.

Here’s a look at the branch heading out into the warehouse. Its rather overgrown and decades worth of road sand from Red Jacket Road has buried the ties.

The two branches meet here, at a point on the map marked with a “B”. Most interesting item from this switch is that the mechanical device that moves the points is still standing. (my railroad terminology is a little rusty, so those that know better feel free to fill in the blanks for me)

Here’s a close up look at that mechanism. Its topped by a flag which alerts trains to the position of the switch.

The signal flag seems to have been pushed around to face the wrong direction. I would assume when the line was in operation the arrow would point either left or right to show which branch is currently selected.

The switching mechanism itself. The lever is frozen in the position its in, or the points are frozen in the position their in. Either way the thing won’t move.

From this point the line continues on towards point “D” on the maps. While the switch is no longer there today, there was once a time when the line branched off yet again, this time to the west. (to the right in the photo above). In the process this branch line cross over the nearby road atop a small trestle.

Today the trestle is gone, but its western abutment and approach is clearly evident (marked as “C” on the map). Here’s a look across where the old trestle once stood, its stone abutment sitting across the road.

Here’s a closer look at that abutment and approach. From here this branch line went out towards the C&H Trestle over the Mineral Range.

Meanwhile sitting in the middle of the road that currently parallels the rail line is the remains of the old trestles center support. The trestle may have allowed travel on the road below, but there sure wasn’t much room for anything of substance to get through. With a short height of only 6 or so feet, and a maximum clearance of a dozen feet width wise it didn’t leave much room.

To Be Continued…