Station: Trout Lake, MI

Trout Lake, in Chippewa County, was a fairly busy junction/crossing of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic main line from St. Ignace to Marquette, and the Soo Line railroad main line between Sault Ste. Marie and Gladstone/Escanaba. It was settled as a town in 1881. [MPN]

Photo info Top, watch out for the bears as they keep watch themselves on the passengers waiting for the Soo Line train at Trout Lake. 2nd photo, another photo of the depot taken in the 1940's or 1950's. [Alan Loftis collection]. 3rd photo, a color photo of the depot in the mid-1970's. [Charlie Whipp]. 4th photo, Soo Line 773 passes the front of the depot eastbound on the Soo Line main line in 1980. [Timothy Tryon]. 5th photo, Soo Line 4444 rounds the wye from St. Ignace and heads west. 1981 [Neil Plagens, Mark Andersen collection]. 6th photo, the 4-way train order signal at the Trout Lake depot and crossing, in 1974. [Larry Gibson]

Notes

At the crossing, there were wye tracks in all quadrants. [DSSM]

Time Line 

1881. The DSS&A builds their main line from St. Ignace to Marquette through the area and Trout Lake is settled.

1888. The Soo Line completes their line from Gladstone to Sault Ste. Marie, crossing the DSS&A here.

1888. The Mackinaw Lumber Company of St. Ignace is operating two camps this season, one in the vicinity of Trout Lake and the other at Les Cheneaux. It is expected to bank in the neighborhood of 5 million feet of logs. [DFP-1888-1122]

1890. A correspondent at the railroad junction of Trout Lake writes in the Sault Ste. Marie News that Daniel Boone, while out fishing in the lake near there, caught a grass pike thirteen feet long, in the stomach of which were found two porcupines, five rabbits, seven muskrat traps and a pair of checked pantaloons. [TTN-1890-0611]

1891. James Harcourt, brother of the man killed by Dan Dunn, shot and killed Dan in a saloon at Trout Lake. Dunn had been acquitted at his examination last Saturday, hence his shooting by James Harcourt. No one mourns his end, and it is a wonder he was not killed long since. [CCA-1891-0730] James Harcourt was sentenced to 10 years at Marquette's prison. [CCA-1891-1008]

And in a saloon fracas at Trout Lake Sunday morning, John Navin the saloon-keeper was shot through the back and will probably die. Others were also injured in the melee. [LAS-1892-0109] Editors note: Tough town.

1892. A train dispatcher and a negro barber at Trout Lake were involved in a disagreement at the depot. The barber, while intoxicated, began whipping his wife and the operator intervened, which enraged the barber. The latter picked up a club and threw it at the telegrapher, who dodged it. The operator returned the club and struck the barber, and he went into his shop and appeared with a revolver. The dispatcher in the mean time had gone into his office and armed himself with a repeating rifle. A tragedy was imminent but on the advice of friends the dispatcher reentered his office and barricaded his windows so the barber could not shoot him. A message was then sent to the Sheriff at Sault Ste. asking for an officer. [DFP-1892-0823]

1893.The Newberry News, on October 13th, reports a story from a passenger arriving on the Soo Line train in Sault Ste. Marie that there is a gang of "confidence men and thieves, if not cut throats" working the trains and passengers at Trout Lake. The leader of the gang is a fellow known as Dutchy, alias Hook, who rolled a passenger on the DSS&A train near West Superior of $600 two years ago and who tried to kill a Soo Line brakeman near Pennington when caught in the act of picking a woman's pocket. Trout Lake seems to be a rendezvous, although every resident there wants to get rid of them. The gang is the "worst" that ever operated in this vicinity and we have seen them all. Officers are laying for the outfit. [NEW/MIHX8]

1895. James Harcourt (see 1891 above) was pardoned by Governor Rich and is being released from prison. It was noted that Harcourt was a good prisoner and Dunn had a bad reputation "all over the state". It was also mentioned that at the time of the murder, Dunn was a friend of Denny Heffron, the Schoolcraft county sheriff. [DFP-195-0508]

1902. A complaint is made that the MStP&SSM charged a patron for checking a bicycle from Trout Lake to Manistique. This matter was taken up by the railroad commission. It was an error and the fee was refunded. [MCR-1902]

1905. Big Black Bear Wedged in Trucks Under A Car. A peculiar incident occurred on a South Shore train between Sault Ste. Marie and Trout Lake. For some distance an unusual jolting of one of the cars was noticed. When they arrived at the next station an investigation was made. Between the springs on the trucks a good sized black bear was found, wedged in solidly. The animal had been dead for some time, being frozen stiff. The trainmen can offer no adequate explanation as to how the animal managed to get into the extraordinary position. [SJHP-1905-0221]

1907. A man walking along the railroad near Trout Lake was smoking a "Missouri meerschaum" corncob pipe. He stumbled and the pipe was forced down his throat to such an extent that his tonsils were severed. The injury was painful but a doctor noted than he was now immune from contracting "quinsy". [UVC-1907-0830]

1907. The Soo Line roundhouse at Trout Lake was burned, damaging two locomotives. [DFP-1907-1003]

1909. October. Hon. E.L. Sluser of Mancelona, one of the heavy stockholders in the Owosso Carriage and Sleigh Company, lost his left hand as the result of an accident on a South Shore train at Trout Lake junction. In the starting of the train Sluser had his left hand caught in the vestibule and smashed so that there was no chance of saving it. But he didn't collapse. Instead, he rode on to St. Ignace where he found a doctor who amputated the hand above the wrist. The following morning, Sluser was up bright and early determined to catch the morning train from Mackinaw City to Mancelona. While crossing the Straits he was strolling around on the upper deck smoking a cigar, not looking like a man who 12 hours before had his hand cut off. Sluser had been a probate judge in Antrim county. [OT-1909-1008]

1911. Dr. Edgar D. Ford of Cambria, WI purchases 62 acres on the north shore of Trout Lake for a sanitarium and hospital. It was a combination summer resort and tuberculosis sanitorium. Dr. Ford died of rabies before the hospital was opened. The building was opened in 1912 by his wife and her sons. Called Birch Lodge Hospital, it quickly ran into financial trouble. From 1918-1922 the site was used by the State Constabulary (a predecessor to the State Police), and also used as a private residence. It was re-established as Birch Lodge, a resort, and continued under different owners for many years. [DFP][Wiki]

1912. November. A lumberjack, a Pole from Detroit, ran amuck in the Smith Hotel at Trout Lake wielding a long knife and seriously cutting five men, two perhaps fatally. He went to the village in a quarrelsome condition. Resenting a jest from a bystander, he drew the knife and attacked everybody in sight. With his victims lying on the floor about him, he was preparing to make death certain when Deputy Sheriff Rainey rushed in and overpowered him. [CN-1912-1111]

1907. The Trout Lake DSS&A/Soo Line union station was built in 1907 and is likely the second station here. It is a large wood-framed structure which served as a passenger station, freight house and hotel. It consists of four adjoining segments, including two single-story segments each 35' long and 20' wide. Also a two-story section 20' square and another single-story segment 20' by 15'. The building still exists in 2023. [UPM]

1907. The roundhouse at Trout Lake burns. [PHTH-1907-1004]

1912. Logging camps near Trout Lake build a hospital about a half mile west of downtown at the start of the logging boom, to serve the huge logging camps in the Trout Lake area. The hospital later becomes the Birch Lodge. [DFP-1981-0719]

1918. The DSS&A had an agent here during the day, and operators at the crossing around the clock. [TRT]

1921. Men are observed in larger numbers than ever before either on the DSS&A or the Soo Line, "beating" their passage on freight and passenger trains. The men are especially noticed at Trout Lake where many change trains. Trainmen are lenient with these riders because work is scarce in every section of the country. In many cases, these are not "bums" but respectable working men without jobs or money. Railroad men say that the once numerous class of "bums" is practically extinct. There was a time a few years back when it was a quiet day in a household when some tramp did not come to the back door asking for something to eat and say it would be the first food he had tasted in weeks. [IDG-1921-0829]

1938. February 1. A wrecking crew was at work today on the MStP&SSM at Trout Lake where westbound passenger train No. 87 and an eastbound freight train sideswiped each other last night at a switch. Several empty freight cars were derailed and the passenger locomotive badly damaged. No one was injured. A wrecking crew went to the scene from Gladstone. [LSJ-1938-0201]

1951. April 5. Fire which raged uncontrolled for over two hours destroyed the Ostrander Hotel and an adjoining house in Trout Lake. Firemen from Newberry, Brimley and St. Ignace joined with the state conservation department crews and federal forest rangers to halt the blaze which threatened to wipe out the business area. Numerous homes were scorched by the wind-driven flames. There were no caualties. Total damage was $30,000. The hotel was over 50 years old. Telephone connections between Trout Lake and neighboring towns were severed. [EDP-1951-0406]

1953. Telephone service was interrupted when a Trout Lake toll line was knocked out by a crane that hit the wire. [EDP-1953-0805]

1955. DSS&A Starts Truck Mail Deliveries August 1, 1955. Improved mail service will be provided for the Manistique area beginning August 1 when the DSS&A railway replaces present train mail deliveries from St. Ignace westward with truck delivery. The truck system of delivery will be operated by the railroad company. Mail arriving from the Straits at Trout Lake for areas west of Mackinaw City runs heavy, averaging 700 sacks daily, while eastbound mail traffic runs lighter, with an average of 100 sacks daily, the railroad superintendent stated.

The DSS&A has ordered a railway Budd car, a self-propelled diesel-electric unit, and delivery is expected the first or second week of August. It will replace the DSS&A train a short time after it arrives. The modern, air-conditioned railway Budd car will be exhibited in cities along the St. Ignace to Marquette route for a few days before it is placed in service. The car is constructed of stainless steel and has a capacity of 89 passengers. It will leave St. Ignace at 9 a.m., C.S.T, and arrive in Marquette at 12:19 p.m. The DSS&A run will be extended to Ishpeming and Negaunee, where the new car will arrive at 12:55 p.m.

The Budd car will operate on this schedule for a 90-day train period the superintendent reported, during which time the railway will seek to increase passenger traffic. At present the DSS&A train leaves St. Ignace at 8:55 a.m. and is due to arrive in Marquette at 1:40 p.m., however, it usually is about two hours late, Barry pointed out.

The same connections will be maintained with the Soo Line railroad's westbound No. 7 at Trout Lake. Two men - an engineer and conductor - will operate the new car. Four men operate the present DSS&A unit. At present, Star Route mail trucks sometimes have to leave Trout Lake without mail, because the train is delayed at the ferry crossing at the Straits. [EDP-1955-1020]

1986. The former DSS&A line from St. Ignace to Trout Lake is abandoned and removed. A short stub line south of the depot is maintained for car storage. The diamond is removed at the depot.