Station: Watersmeet, MI

Watersmeet was a village built around a junction point on the Chicago & Northwestern railroad. Their line from Wisconsin (via Land-O-Lakes) came to here and went west to Ironwood. Shortly after, a line was connected from Iron River to here forming the junction. A branch line was also built north through town and north into the forests around Lake Gogebic. Watersmeet was settled around 1884.

C&NW facilities at Watersmeet included water, coal, a turntable, a wye, and a seven stall roundhouse. They also had a yard here. This was at MP 102.9 (from Powers, MI).

Photo info: Top, the C&NW Iron Range Express stops at Watersmeet in 1909. This is train 121. [Kingsbury photo]. 2nd, the C&NW station at Watersmeet. At the time, they depot was heated an an oil stove and the tank is outside. [Susan Murphy Collection}. 3rd image, another view of the depot. [C&NW Historical Society]. 4th photo, an early photo of the Chicago & Northwestern depot at Watersmeet with two diverging passenger trains. [Alan Loftis collection]. 5th photo, a wide view of the C&NW roundhouse at Watersmeet, along with the coal tower and water tower. [Robert Platt-UWML]. 6th image, what was formally the crossing of both C&NW lines in Watersmeet, now a snowmobile trail crossing in 2003. [Dale Berry]

Notes

Time Line

1886. August. The building of the extension of the MLS&W railroad from Watersmeet is going on rapidly. This branch will tap the Diamond Match company's camps on the Ontonagon river. It is expected the road to Ontonagon will be completer by October 1. The building of the road will open a large body of valuable pine timber and enable the companies operating to get their supplies and materials into three camps without any great amount of teaming. [LCS-1886-0812] Note: This branch was never completed to Ontonagon.

1887. The new division of the C&NW known as the Iron River railroad, which runs from Iron River to Watersmeet, a distance of thirty-six miles, was formally opened on Thursday. The stations are Iron River, Beechwood, Hemlock, Elmwood, Tamarack and Watersmeet. [PHTH-1887-0902]

1887. March. The Michigan Railroad Crossing board ordered that the crossing of the MLS&W in Watersmeet be protected by safety gates. [HOM-1888-0314]

1887. A telegram was received from the deputy-sheriff at Watersmeet who announced the capture of the two-men who robbed the town treasurer of Iron River with a nearly $9,000 booty. [BHHP-1887-0224]

1889. February. The star service (stage coach) between Rockland and Watersmeet has been curtailed to end at Bruce's Crossing, omitting Watersmeet, decreasing distance twenty miles. [DFP-1889-0209]

1889. October. Engineer Kelly of the MLS&W railroad ran his engine into a number of box cars standing on the side track at Watersmeet. The engine was thrown completely over, and the engineer and fireman were both severely injured and perhaps fatally scalded by steam escaping from the boiler. [LDP-1889-1024]

1890. The C&NW roundhouse in Watersmeet was built about 1890 on Roundhouse Road. The roundhouse was constructed of tile blocks and had nine stalls, a roof pitched to the rear of the building and an interior frame of massive oak beams. It had an inside circumference of 110 feet, an outside circumference of 230 feet and is 80 feet deep. [UPM]

1893. September. The railroad hotel and Union station of the Northwestern and Lake Shore railroad at Watersmeet were burned. Nothing was saved from the hotel. Occupants barely escaped with their lives. Loss, $5,000, parietally insured. [PHDT-1893-0907]

1894. The new Railroad Eating House was thrown open to the public on Thursday last and has enjoyed a fair business from the start. The dining room is a large bright place and quite an improvement over the old one. With the revival of business and the consequent increased railway travel, the Eating House will no doubt have a big boom. Mr. Johnson is again in charge. [INR2-1894-0210]

1898. Fire started on Main street in the building formerly occupied by F.C. Payne & Co. destroying the Commercial House, M. Kelly's store building which was occupied as a dwelling, John Kelly's dry goods store, Ted Kelly's saloon and Kelly's barber shop. The Krom building, occupied by F.C. Payne & Co., was the only building on Main street that was saved. This is nearly the whole business portion of Watersmeet. [OT-1898-0304]

1909. The C&NW has decided to build a new eating house at Watersmeet to replace the present structure. The cost is to be $10,000, which will give a fine building for the purpose. The [current] building s entirely inadequate to accommodate the trade there. [BHN-1909-9]

1918. The C&NW had a station agent here on the day shift. It also had a telegraph operator here around the clock. [TRT]

1924. Michigan Bell, in a UP newspaper ad, announced they now have direct telephone communication to Watersmeet, from Ironwood. They advertise "one policy, one system and universal service". [IDG-1924-0726]

1926. Deputy Sheriff Gray of Watersmeet is investigating the alleged burning of the railroad depot in Watersmeet township. [IDG-1926-0816]

1941. A sawmill has been constructed by the Gogebic Timber and Lumber Co., a subsidiary of the Penokee Veneer Co. of Mellon, WI. It is not large, but it provides employment for a number of men formerly on WPA. The mill is located in the village near the C&NW yard in a building 96' x 28'. Power is furnished by a 132 hp diesel engine. It has a capacity of 12,000 feet of lumber per working shift, and the mill operates two shifts per day. [WAK-1941-0425]

Industry

• Interior Lumber Company saw mill. (1895) [INR2-1895-0420]
• Gogebic Timber and Lumber Co. mill (1941)