operates the short line (known as the Michigan, Midland and Canada) between St. Clair on the river of that name, and Ridgeway on the Detroit branch of the Grand Trunk. The total length in Michigan of this road and its branches is 65 miles.

THE FORT WAYNE AND JACKSON.

The Fort Wayne and Jackson railroad extends from Fort Wayne, Ind., to Jackson, entering this State at the southeastern corner of Branch county, and thence crossing Hillsdale county in a northerly direction, passing through Jonesville to Jackson. length in Michigan is 46 miles.

THE TOLEDO, ANN ARBOR AND GRAND TRUNK LINE.

Its

This road was projected from Toledo to Pontiac, and is in operation at the present time to South Lyon, Oakland county. It crosses in a nearly northerly direction the counties of Monroe and Washtenaw, passing through Ann Arbor. Its total length in Michigan is 57 miles.

THE LOGGING RAILROADS.

The lumber districts of the State contain many short lines of railroad, constructed by lumbermen to carry logs from the pineries to the banks of rivers or lakes or to some point of shipment. As a rule, these are private lines, and used only for the business of their owners. In a few instances, however, they have been incorporated under the general laws of the State, and thus opened to the public. These latter lines, which are of full gauge, are three in number, as follows: The Lake George and Muskegon River railroad, in Clare county, connects the forests about Lake George with the Muskegon river; the Saginaw Bay and Northwestern railroad extends from Pinconning, on Saginaw bay, in Bay county, westward nearly to the line of Gladwin, with north and south branches near its western terminus; and the Lake County connects with the Flint and Pere Marquette railroad at New Branch station. The total length of these lines is 50 miles.

THE NARROW GAUGE LINES OF THE LOWER PENINSULA.

The roads included in the preceding description are of the standard gauge usually employed in the railroad construction of the United States-4 feet 8 inches-except that the track of the Grand Rapids and Indiana (not including its Allegan branch) is half an inch wider. There are also several narrow gauge lines which have been built and are operated at a much less cost than that of the standard roads, and which supply thriving towns and districts with railroad facilities. One of these is of considerable length and importance. This is the Port Huron and Northwestern, which is completed from Port Huron to Sand Beach, with a branch to East Saginaw. The distance to Sand Beach is 71 miles, and the road runs almost due north entirely across the county of Sanilac, and about half way through Huron. The East Saginaw line takes a northwesterly course, crossing the counties of Sanilac and Tuscola, and touching northern Lapeer. The length of both branches is 150 miles. This is proving a very serviceable road in developing the Huron peninsula, and during 1882 it will be extended from Minden or some neighboring point through Bad Axe to Port Austin.

The Saginaw, Tuscola and Huron railroad extends from East Saginaw via Reese, Gilford, and Unionville to Sebewaing, a distance of 37 miles. As this edition goes to press the practical completion of the line is announced. It will be extended beyond Sebewaing into the Huron peninsula, but the exact route and point of destination have not yet been determined.

The Paw Paw and the Toledo and South Haven roads make a continuous narrow gauge line of 13 miles, extending from Lawrence, near the center of Van Buren

county, to Lawton, a station on the Michigan Central, through Paw Paw, the county seat of Van Buren.

The Saginaw and Mt. Pleasant railroad is a narrow gauge line operated, as has been said, by the Flint and Pere Marquette as one of its branches. The Hobart and Manistee River, the Tawas and Bay County, and the Muskegon River and Rose Lake lines are logging railroads of less than standard gauges, located respectively in the counties of Lake, Iosco, and Osceola.

The St. Joseph Valley railroad is a short line which connects Berrien Springs, the county seat of Berrien county, with Buchanan, on the Michigan Central. Its extension to St. Joseph on the shore of Lake Michigan is expected during the summer of 1882. Its present length is 10 miles.

All of these lines possess a gauge of three feet except the Hobart and Manistee River, which is two inches wider.

PROJECTED ROADS IN THE LOWER PENINSULA.

Besides the proposed extensions of the lines now in operation already noted, there are several projected roads, which are considered reasonably sure to be built in the immediate future. Chief of these is the Bay City and Alpena, which is to run from some point on the Flint and Pere Marquette, or on the Mackinac division of the Michigan Central, through Bay, Iosco, Alcona, and Alpena counties, along the Lake Huron shore, to Alpena, touching the important towns of Alabaster, Tawas City, East Tawas, Au Sable, Oscoda, and Harrisville. This road is to be of standard gauge, as will also be a projected line connecting Ovid, on the Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee, with Walton, on the Grand Rapids and Indiana, and thus forming a new route between Detroit and Traverse City. Prominent capitalists and the localities interested are also considering projects for the construction of narrow gauge roads from Detroit to the chief towns in the Huron peninsula, from Pontiac to Caseville or Port Austin, from Frankfort to Manistee, from Almont to Port Huron, and from Traverse City into Leelanaw county.

THE PENINSULA WELL SUPPLIED WITH RAILROADS.

Of the sixty-seven counties in the lower peninsula fifty-one have county seats possessing railroad communications. Of the 16 county seats which have no railroad as yet, nine are lake ports and have water communication, leaving only the county seats of seven-Sanilac, Huron, Gratiot, Gladwin, Missaukee, Montmorency, and Oscodawhich have neither rail nor water outlets, and not one of these is twenty miles from a railroad station. The counties in the lower peninsula which no railroad touches are but eight in number, namely, Alcona, Alpena, Gladwin, Leelanaw, Missaukee, Montmorency, Oscoda, and Presque Isle. In his report for 1874 the Railroad Commissioner of Michigan made this striking statement, and the comparison is equally valid now: "In the four southern tiers of counties of this State, embracing 17,894 square miles of territory, and a population, according to the census of 1874, of 997,701, we have 2,333 miles of railroad. This is equal to one mile of road to every 427 inhabitants, while in Massachusetts there is only one mile of road to every 879 inhabitants; and in Connecticut there is but one mile of road to every 620 inhabitants; so that we have within the limits of the territory mentioned, in proportion to the population, more than two miles of road to one in Massachusetts, and one and two-fifths miles of road to one for Connecticut."

THE RAILWAY SYSTEM OF THE UPPER PENINSULA.

The railroads of the upper peninsula are far less numerous in proportion to the

extent of territory than those of the lower, but two first-class railroad outlets now connect that northern region with the rest of the world.

THE CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN LINE.

The oldest of these is the Chicago and Northwestern, which extends from Negaunee to Chicago, and connects the Lake Superior district, first with the great railway system west of Lake Michigan, and then with that of the continent. From Negaunee in Marquette county the course of the Northwestern is southerly to Escanaba on Little Bay de Noquet, thence westerly and southerly through Menominee county to the mouth of the river of that name; there it leaves the State. This road also has numerous branches, principally to the iron mines in its vicinity. The chief of these is one leaving its main line near the center of Menominee county and taking a northwesterly course through a corner of Wisconsin to Crystal Falls, in the southern part of Marquette county. This feeder reaches the new and rich iron mines of the Menominee district. Work is now in progress upon three important extensions of this line, namely: One from a point ten miles west of Escanaba, 37 miles northwest to what is known as the Felch Mountain iron district; another from a point south of Crystal Falls twenty miles west to the Iron River district (as yet undeveloped); a third from Ishpeming to Champion, practically parallel with and reaching the same mines as the Marquette, Houghton and Ontonagon. The total length of this road and its branches in Michigan is 225 miles.

THE DETROIT, MACKINAC AND MARQUETTE LINE.

The Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette railroad extends from Marquette eastward across the county of Schoolcraft through a portion of Chippewa near its southern border, and thence across Mackinac to the Straits of Mackinac, where it connects with the lower peninsula system. It was completed in 1881, and furnishes the only line of railway communicating between the two peninsulas. Its plan also includes a branch from a point on its main line northwest of the Straits of Mackinac eastward to Sault Ste. Marie. There it will within a few years connect with the Canadian railways which are being pushed into the northwest. It will then become an important link between the Northern Pacific and the Canadian systems, and form part of a continental line which will shorten by over two hundred miles the distance by railroad between the producers south and west of Lake Superior and the ocean ports of Montreal and New York. At present this road will command a large local traffic, the terminal points of what is now its main line, Marquette and St. Ignace, being ports advantageously situated for connection with the lake lines of transportation. The length of the completed portion of the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette is 152 miles.

THE MARQUETTE, HOUGHTON AND ONTONAGON LINE.

This road extends from Marquette to L'Anse at the head of Keweenaw bay, passing through the productive iron mining districts of Marquette and Baraga counties and having numerous branches leading directly to the mines. Its total length with that of its branches is 87 miles. An extension to Ontonagon was part of the original project, and strong hopes are entertained of an early connection with that point. It is expected that ultimately this line will connect with the eastern terminus of the Northern Pacific, forming the link between it and the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette, and thus becoming a part of the great trans-continental thoroughfare already described.

THE NARROW GAUGE ROADS OF THE UPPER PENINSULA.

The Portage Lake copper district has two lines of narrow gauge railroad, whose existence is chiefly due to the needs and enterprise of the Calumet and Hecla mine. The Mineral Range road (three feet gauge) extends from Calumet to Hancock, both in Houghton county, a distance of 12 miles. The Hecla and Torch Lake railroad, with a gauge of four feet one inch, and four miles in length, connects the Calumet and Hecla mine with Lake Linden on the banks of Torch Lake.

PROJECTED ROADS.

The map accompanying this pamphlet has been prepared from the best accessible authorities, and it is believed that it will be found to be accurate in all essentials, although in a few cases there have been changes since its completion. In its preparation the effort was made to include all projected railroads, whether new lines or extensions of those already in operation, whose construction was then either actually commenced or seemed to be reasonably probable in the immediate future. In some instances there were no surveyed lines to be followed, and in others a departure from the route originally marked out seemed probable, and then only the general direction of the new road could be given. This was true of the proposed Alpena and Bay City road along the Lake Huron shore, and of some of the upper peninsula lines. Only the general course of the Sault Ste. Marie branch of the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette is indicated. The Ontonagon extension of the Marquette, Houghton and Ontonagon follows on the map the direct line from L'Anse across the base of the Keweenaw peninsula, but its actual route is an unsettled question. This rule of giving the general direction merely was followed in mapping the lines of the projected roads of the upper peninsula yet to be mentioned.

The chief of these in immediate importance is the Ontonagon and Brulé River, already completed for twenty miles at its northern end. This extends from Ontonagon southeasterly to the Brulé river, and to a probable junction with the Wisconsin and Michigan (now being extended from Green Bay northwestward), and with the Menominee branch of the Chicago and Northwestern.

Another project of very great importance is the extension of the Northern Pacific from the western boundary of the State across the counties of Ontonagon and Marquette to a connection with the roads already built which lead eastward to Marquette and the Straits of Mackinac, and will soon reach Sault Ste. Marie. The Northern Pacific proper, as originally chartered by the general government, terminates at the boundary line between Michigan and Wisconsin. An extension eastward from Duluth,

its present terminus, to that boundary is now in progress, and its advance across the upper peninsula to eastern connections cannot be long delayed.

The State has made a liberal grant of lands to secure the construction of a railroad from L'Anse to Houghton. This will give the rich copper mines of Keweenaw point permanent rail communication with all parts of the country, and thus will be of the utmost importance to that region. Men of enterprise and means have already taken hold of this project, and the preliminary surveys were commenced in 1881.

Other projected railroads in the upper peninsula are these: 1, An extension of the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western road northward through Ontonagon county west of Lake Agogebic to Union Bay on Lake Superior; 2, a line from Minneapolis to Sault Ste. Marie, which Boston capitalists are considering; 3, the extension of the Wisconsin Central to some terminal point on Lake Superior; 4, a shore line from the Chicago & Northwestern through Manistique to St. Ignace.

No county of the upper peninsula except Keweenaw is now without its railroad line, either in actual operation or in a reasonably advanced stage of construction.

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE MICHIGAN RAILWAY SYSTEM.

The description given of the railroads of Michigan in the preceding pages will enable the inquirer to trace the course of any line upon the map, to ascertain the parts of the State which it supplies with railroad facilities, and to form some estimate of its value as a means of transportation. This table gives the present (March, 1882) mileage of Michigan railroads, and also the freight rates of 1880 as given in the report of the Railroad Commissioner of the State:

Current Statistics of the Railroads of Michigan.

The Michigan Central, the Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee, and the Michigan Southern and Lake Shore roads possess special charters, containing advantageous features. The policy of granting such charters was long since abandoned by the State and is now forbidden in its constitution. All other roads than those named are organized under a general law. The rapid development of the railway system of Michigan has been due to government and municipal aid as well as to natural causes.