Railroad: Mohawk & Traverse Bay Railroad

This line was owned by the Mohawk Mining Company to reach their stamping mill at Gay on Lake Superior. From 1903 on, the company leased out operations, originally to the Mineral Range (1903-1917) and then to the Copper Range railroad (1917 to 1964).

Built → Mohawk Railroad → Mineral Range railroad → Copper Range railroad → Abandoned

Built: 1893

Operated for at least 71 years.

Leased by: Mineral Range railroad from 1903 until 1917. 

Conveyed to: 1917 - Lease conveyed to Copper Range railroad.

Abandoned: by COPR in 1964.

Reference: [MRRC]

Notes

Originally a three foot gauge railroad to serve the quarries of the Traverse Bay Red Stone Company. In 1893, the line extended from a dock on Traverse Bay six miles northwest to the Hebard quarries in Section 6, T56N-R31E. It may have called the Traverse Bay & Copper Range railroad. [CRR]

Time Line

1898. The newly formed Mohawk Mining Company purchases Hebard quarry land and the railroad. It was originally called the Traverse Bay railroad. The mining company also purchased of the dock on Lake Superior for unloading of coal and supplies. [CRR]

1899. A mill site of 140 acres, two miles east of the Lake Superior dok was purchased.

1900. At a cost of $4,200, the railroad is rehabilitated. The branch to the mill was completed. The continuation of the main line from Hebard quarries to Mohawk Mine was completed in 1901. [CRR]

1901. A spur to the Wolverine Mine is built. [CRR]

~1901. The Mohawk Mining Company signed a contract with the Hancock & Calumet railroad (MRR) to furnish equipment and operate the railroad. The junction of the two lines was at Mohawk. [CRR]

1910. The Mohawk railroad, leased by the Mineral Range railroad (in 1903) and serving the Mohawk and Wolverine mines to haul their copper rock to their stamp mills at Gay, is to be re-equipped for heavier service. This does not mean that a larger rock haul is to be carried over the line but is simply to provide against delays and accidents, particularly during the heavy snows of the winter season. The work is to be done by the Mineral Range railroad and orders have already been placed for a large quantity of 80-pound steel rails.

The same policy of strengthening the trackage will be carried out upon the MR line which connects the Centennial, Allouez and Franklin mines with their stamp mills at Point Mills, and with the completion of these plans the entire Mineral Range trackage north of Portage Lake will be equipped with 80-pound steel rails, the lines connecting the Tamarack and Osceola mines with their stamp mills on Torch Lake having already been laid with this weight.

Six new locomotives of 100 tons each will be bought and a large number of new rock cars are to be placed in the Mineral Range general service. [CN-1910-0422]